''The Matrix Awakens'' is a 2021 open world

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

and

technology demonstration A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of ...

developed by

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, ...

using

Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genr ...

in partnership with

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of l ...

, The Coalition,

Wētā FX Wētā FX, formerly known as Weta Digital, is a New Zealand digital visual effects company based in Miramar, Wellington. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for ...

, Evil Eye Pictures, SideFX, and others for

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North A ...

and

Xbox Series X and Series S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020 ...

, serving as a marketing tie-in for the 2021 film ''

The Matrix Resurrections ''The Matrix Resurrections'' is a 2021 American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski, and being the first in ''Matrix'' franchise to be directed solely by Lana, without her sister, Lilly. It is the ...

''. Released during the 2021 Game Awards on December 9, 2021, it features

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...

(

Carrie-Anne Moss Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000) for w ...

) and Neo (

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in ''Youngblood'' (1986). H ...

), along with photorealistic 3D-scanned models of both Moss and Reeves from the present time, portrayed by themselves, in cinematic and

QTE In video games, a quick time event (QTE) is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen instruction/prompt. It allows for limited control of the ...

shooter scenes where the player can take control of IO, a character which Epic introduced with Unreal's MetaHuman creator tool. While the demo did not get a PC release, Epic released the city environment in the demo as a sample project titled "City Sample" in their Unreal Engine 5 workshop. This was immediately used by fans to generate a Windows executable package in which the city can be navigated, offering the ability to control several parameters of the game engine. The assets were also reused later in several fanmade demos featuring characters such as Spider-Man and

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...

Background

The demo was written and directed by ''Resurrections'' director

Lana Wachowski Lana Wachowski (born June 21, 1965, formerly known as Larry Wachowski) and Lilly Wachowski (born December 29, 1967, formerly known as Andy Wachowski) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans ...

, with many members of the team that worked on the first three ''

Matrix Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** '' The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchi ...

'' films participating in the project, including

John Gaeta John C. Gaeta (born 1965) is a designer and inventor best known for his work on the ''Matrix'' film trilogy, where he advanced methods and formats known as Bullet Time. Career John Gaeta was born in New York City and grew up in Shoreham, Long ...

James McTeigue James McTeigue (born December 29, 1967) is an Australian film and television director. He has been an assistant director on many films, including '' Dark City'' (1998), the ''Matrix'' trilogy (1999–2003) and '' Star Wars: Episode II – Atta ...

Kym Barrett Kym Barrett (born 11 August 1965) is an Australian costume designer of Hollywood films. She is a regular collaborator with The Wachowskis and was the costume designer of their films ''The Matrix trilogy'', ''Speed Racer'', ''Cloud Atlas'' and '' ...

, and Kim Libreri, the chief technology officer of Epic Games.

Reception

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

'' commented that the game looked a "suitable 4K" on PS5 and Xbox Series X by using temporal super resolution TSR technology for sub-native rendering. ''

Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sc ...

'' praised the demo's particle effects, ray tracing and lighting, and range of its

draw distance In computer graphics, draw distance (render distance or view distance) is the maximum distance of objects in a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional scene that are drawn by the Rendering (computer graphics), rendering engine. Polygon (comput ...

. ''

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. It publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. History The ''VentureBeat'' company was founded in 2006 by Matt Marshall, ...

'' opined that this technology demonstration was "a pretty good sign that Epic Games is serious about building its own

metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

." ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' commented that ''The Matrix Awakens'' was "an impressive tech demo that does a lot to further blur the lines between games and films, and maybe even reality" as the narrative of the demo suggests.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matrix Awakens, The 2021 video games Action-adventure games Epic Games games The Matrix (franchise) video games Open-world video games PlayStation 5 games Unreal Engine games Video games developed in the United States Video games about virtual reality Video games directed by The Wachowskis Xbox Series X and Series S games Technology demonstrations