The Summer Games Fest calendar kicked off today with Epic Games, and their “State of Unreal 2025” event. This chunky showcase is overwhelmingly geared towards developers, and much of it is dedicated to new advancements in Unreal Engine technology that is far above the head of your humble writer. However, despite being a tech-oriented event, there was nonetheless a healthy dose of announcements and trailers.

Game Announcements (and One Movie)

The Witcher 4

The event kicked off with a brand new look at The Witcher 4, using the game’s engine as a tech demo to showcase a bunch of new Unreal Engine technology, while also giving us a new look at the game. The Witcher 4 will take place in the new region of Kovir, and while the tech demo focused on graphical and technical fidelity, it is nonetheless a satiating look at the world of the upcoming RPG.

Predator: Killer of Killers

Animation company The Third Floor, Inc., well-known for their work on Marvel properties such as Avengers: Infinity War, provided a rundown of how they utilized Unreal Engine for their upcoming film Predator: Killer of Killers, due to be released on June 6th, 2025, on Hulu and Disney+. The Third Floor, Inc. supplied Epic Games with a sneak peak of the film, showcasing an action scene that sees the Viking warrior Ursa fight her way through a bloody horde of opposition.

Mongil Star Dive

The South Korean developer Netmarble Monster announced an exclusivity deal for the upcoming Mongil Star Dive, a follow-up to their popular 2013 mobile title, Monster Taming. The title features the ability to tame and nurture monsters into formidable companions. Mongil Star Dive will launch on PC exclusively via the Epic Games Store, as well as on consoles and mobile. There is currently no release date.

Fortnite

The Unreal Editor for Fortnite, which allows players to create user-generated content for the hit Epic Games title, is receiving a torrent of new content ranging from new assets to development support. This will allow players to continue to build more complex experiences, and push the bounds of what the Fortnite engine can do.

• The Scene Graph beta will go live on June 7th, unifying various sub-editors into a centralized and organized editor.
• A wide range of new intellectual properties will make their assets available to the Unreal Editor for Fortnite over the next year, including Squid Game on June 27th, Avatar: The Last Airbender next year, and Star Wars in the future.
• Users will gain access to data on user-made islands via the Fortnite API, starting June 9th.
• A digital A.I.-powered assistant called the “Epic Developer Assistant AI Chatbot” is now available to aid players in programming their UEFN creations.
• Epic Games is working on the ability for players to add their own A.I.-powered chatbot NPCs to their games via the LLM-empowered “Persona Device” feature.

Fans of LEGO Fortnite will soon be able to properly play with LEGO within the game, as the ability to build with individual LEGO pieces arrives on June 17th. It will include 50 brick types, and 40 different colors.

Unreal Engine Announcements

Unreal 5.6 (And Beyond)

The next version of Unreal Engine will be available to developers today, and features a bevy of improvements and new features.

• A new Unreal Animation Framework, including a range of features such as Multi-Character Motion Matching.
• Improved asset streaming, including on mobile.
• Upgrades to Chaos Physics, including improvements to Chaos Cloth technology for more realistic cloth materials and less taxing interaction between clothed surfaces.
• Fluid surface data can now be baked into lightweight assets to be played back at low costs, allowing for improved water without the performance cost that comes with real-time fluid simulation.

There was also a look ahead to Unreal 5.7, namely via the “Nanite Foliage” technology, which allows for wide-sweeping, fast-rendering foliage density that permits artists to design “down to the pine needle” of each tree, without sacrificing performance. This can be done via a process called “Nanite Assembly”, which allows for thousands of instances of foliage to be built from a small pool of parts.

MetaHuman

MetaHuman Creator, the tool which allows for the fast creation of human models, has left early access and is now integrated natively into Unreal 5.6.

• This will allow developers to work with MetaHuman directly from their Unreal project file.
• The parametric body system will extend MetaHuman’s customizability to the body of these models, allowing for easy alteration of the size, shape, and mass of a MetaHuman.
• As of today, MetaHumans and accessories will be available on Epic Games’ asset store, FAB.
• MetaHuman Animator now supports real-time footage from any 2D video source, including a webcam or phone.
• Two tools released: Expression Editor for facial expressions, and Groom Tools for manipulating hair.
• MetaHumans are now included in the Unreal Engine license.

With this integration comes a number of general improvements to MetaHuman, including 6x faster exporting using local assembly, and significant improvements to visual fidelity.

RealityScan 2.0

RealityScan is a 3D scanning app that allows the user to create 3D models from photos taken with a camera. RealityScan will recieve a 2.0 update “later this month.”

• This will integrate the mobile and desktop experience.
• The 2.0 update will allow “better mesh accuracy with fewer manual steps.”
• Many new assets created via RealityScan will be uploaded to FAB alongside the update.

Epic Games Store Announcements

The Epic Games Store itself will be the target of a range of improvements and additions in the coming months. These vary from storefront additions to integrations with other Unreal features, and they all focus on providing a more seamless experience for both the customers and developers.

• FAB, Epic Games’ digital asset marketplace, will be integrated into the Epic Games launcher.
• A number of quality of life improvements are inbound to the Epic Games Store, including the ability to preload games and gift titles to friends.
• A new social feature is coming, including game-independent voice and text chat, and a party system.
• Epic Web Shops will launch in July, and will give developers an easy way to set up a shop for in-app purchases via Epic Games Store, on both mobile and PC.
• Q4 will see Epic Games open up Epic Games Store for all mobile developers, and launch self-publishing tools for mobile games.
• Unreal Engine revenue share has been altered so developers “keep 100% of net revenue on the first million per title, per year, then 88% thereafter.”

In Closing

Epic Games had quite a lot to showcase this year. From their big 5.6 Unreal Engine update to huge upgrades to their MetaHuman tools, there was a lot there for those interested in the tech side. Those looking primarily for new info about Epic Games-related gaming announcements would also not leave empty-handed, as they showed off a bit more of The Witcher 4, Mongil Star Drive, and a ton of Fortnite news. It had a little bit of everything.

How did you feel about the State of Unreal 2025 event? Do you think Epic Games knocked it out of the park? Were you hoping for more? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Epic Games

Featured Image Credit: CD Projekt RED, Epic Games

---