Unreal Engine 5 Train Station Has Gamers Convinced It's Real Life Footage

You know, sometimes, technology is terrifying. Amazing, but terrifying. I probably sound like I’m being dramatic, but look, we’re now at the point where people can create things in game engines that genuinely look like they could have just been filmed in real life, which makes me wonder, where do we even go from here? Is there even any point in going outside anymore? 

Well, yes, obviously. But that’s not stopped Reddit from going absolutely wild over this Unreal Engine 5 creation, which is so realistic that some people have been questioning whether or not its just an elaborate joke made in the hopes of earning that sweet, sweet internet clout. 

People can make some phenomenal stuff in Unreal Engine - take a look at this gorgeous (but unfortunately unofficial) Ocarina of Time remake below.

Behold, this virtual train station. Which looks exactly like a real train station. No, seriously, just look at it and tell me that’s not impressive. It was shared over on r/nextf**kinglevel earlier today, and has already rocketed to fame - check out the original video below.

“People are gonna just starting filming sh*t and posting it with the caption 'Wow. Someone just made this in Unreal 5',” wrote DouglasWFail. “That's kinda sorta how UE5 works. You can scan real world objects and turn them into assets. The polygon count is no longer a limiting factor, which is the meat and potatoes of why this version is so crazy good,” replied TonsilStonesOnToast.

The video was made by 3D environment and prop artist Lorenzo Drago over on ArtStation, who explained that the work is based on the Etchū-Daimon Station in Toyama, Japan (be sure to give it a quick Google so that you can compare the two - it’s amazing). 

“For this project, I wanted to get as close to photorealism as possible. I used camera matching to get accurate proportions and made careful use of reference. I adjusted the measurements afterwards to help with modularity,” they wrote. “Aside from detail textures and alphas created from photographs, I created all textures from scratch in Painter and made custom materials in Unreal for use with vertex painting or masks to break up repetition.”

I think it’s safe to say that they achieved their goal of photorealism, anyway. UE5 only became publicly available last month, so there’s no doubt that people are going to be brewing up a whole load more unbelievable creations with it - we’ll just have to stay tuned to see them.