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While not a traditional game, The Old West: Northwood is certainly giving off a lot of Red Dead Redemption vibes. It's a walking simulator designed to fully showcase Unreal Engine 5 and showoff what can be done with the engine. Though with its Wild West setting, it could very well be channelling Rockstar Games megahit.
Red Dead Redemption is a big inspiration for many creators
In this stunning demo, you play a local sherif in an abandoned town. It can be played in first or third-person and you're equipped with a lantern which, of course, shows how gorgeous the lighting systems are through Unreal Engine 5. This is very much a tech demo - you can control the weather and the time of day, to really get a sense of what is possible in the graphics engine.
Just a few of the things implemented in the demo are:
- Water ripples (character interactions)
- Snow trails with VFX
- Dynamic wind (trees, grass) depending on weather conditions
- Clothing becomes wet when it rains or comes into contact with water
- Buildings and objects become wet in the rain
- Water dripping from roofs (during and after rain)
- Accumulation of snow and dust on clothing
- Accumulation of snow and dust on buildings
- Ragdoll physics when the character falls from a height
You'll need a pretty beefy PC to experience the demo with all bells and whistles ramped up, but you can just watch the YouTube video is you want a taster. If you do however have a 40 Series Nvidia cards, you'll get all those beautiful visuals and weather effects.
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Demos like this are great to get a feel for what's possible throughout this current generation of games and what could come next. The Old West: Northwood was made by a solo designer and it is breathtaking, imagine what could be done with a huge team and large budget.
Topics: Red Dead Redemption, Indie Games, Unreal Engine