If creative director Steven Sharif has split an 18-minute demo to showcase the first improvements offered by the new generation of the engine, the trailer below allows you to get to the point while revealing a new region of the world of Verra, a snow-capped mountainous area. The first alpha test that took place last summer can therefore already be considered obsolete since it was still running on Unreal Engine 4. Since then, improvements are already visible in the rendering and visual effects, of course, but also in the character animations.
The team is also hopeful of optimizing the game code to more effectively achieve its goals in terms of the number of characters displayed simultaneously on the screen, and ensure that the tools of Unreal Engine 5 will allow it to develop the rest of the game faster. This does not prevent the studio from continuing to expand its workforce. The alpha 2 test, which will take place somewhere in 2022, will be an opportunity to experience the game in a form that approaches its final ambitions.
Besides the shape, Ashes of Creation is also interested in substance, proof of this is the recruitment of Wynne McLaughlin who joined the team in September as a narrative designer. This veteran MMO novelist went through Tabula rasa and Star Wars: The Old Republic was mainly in charge of the main frame of The Elder Scrolls Online for 9 years.