While we're yet to see Epic's first game that makes use of Unreal Engine 4, Fortnite, in the wild, the Gears of War developer has already gone ahead and updated it to Unreal Engine 4.5, adding new effects for ray traced distance soft-shadows and sub-surface scattering, giving us much more detailed shadows at the edge of the draw distance and much more realistic looking skin.
While this trailer gives you a rough idea of the shadowing improvements, they're far more obvious in the second video which gives an up close impression.
The sub-surface scattering is predictably disturbing, but that's partly to do with the character model's lack of eyelashes rather than its close to human-likeness.
Other updates to the developmental platform include Unreal Motion Graphics, which makes creating user interfaces far easier, as well as giving more options - like creating one that's independent of game resolution so that it's always readable.
On top of that, there's a new C++ compiling system which means you can do so without restarting the editor and for those just getting started with more complicated game design, you can now look at two of Epic's template systems, which show how vehicles can work, as well as a twin stick shooter title.
For the full update list, have a read of .
