“Unreal Paris,” a portfolio-builder from level designer Dereau Benoit, is a quietly flashy piece of work. It’s low on the particle effects and cityscapes, but impressive in capturing things we know well: the reflection of sun off a kitchen counter, the way shadows fall across the rough fabric of a couch. By pulling in high-quality textures and models from elsewhere, and taking advantage of Unreal’s manifold lighting options, it creates something that feels surprisingly lifelike.
This Paris apartment is a better Unreal 4 demo than Epic’s own trailers
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
It’s not the first well-made 3D environment, and rendering a room isn’t nearly as difficult as making, say, a human face. But it’s arguably better at showcasing the possibilities of Unreal 4 than Epic’s official releases. Those miniature action movies are a lot more fun to watch in a press conference, but their fantastical environments usually stay far away from things viewers would be able to contrast with reality, unless your reality has a lot of space warriors and lava demons.
There’s a downloadable build of the demo on Benoit’s site, so you can walk around in it yourself if you’re so inclined. It’s harder not to notice the little flaws — like the slightly stiff fabric and some repeating props — but it still holds up pretty well.
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