Have you ever found yourself deciding against a game you would otherwise check out because of what game engine it uses?
i’d say yes to a degree, games with a custom engine usually seem to be better optimised than those made with some standard engine
The only time I notice is when it is pointed out that they are reusing an engine for a game sequel and the prior game was a bit clunky or had bugs. More of a concern about it carrying forward parts that I didn’t like than an inherent dislike of the engine itself. Really more of an issue about how the studio uses the engine.
After getting burned by the Dead Space Remake shader stutter i am very wary of UE games and check the reviews.
Honestly? I like to think it does. I dislike unreal 5 and if I could I would avoid games developed/running on it, but at the end of the day the game itself is what sells me on the idea of buying it or not, the engine isn’t the reason why a game will look like shit, people are making incredible things on cube dash or whatever that game is called, it’s the developer that decides how good a game looks and runs. Yes the engine can definitely help the dev in those factors.
Having said that, I do have a game that I will not pay a single cent for if it is on an engine. If elder scrolls 6 is on the same engine as Skyrim, fallout 4, 76 and whatever that space flop was called, I will either never play it or at worst pirate it and never give them a single cent. That engine was held together with duck tape and prayers before it was "upgraded the first time, nevermind by the time that Skyrim came out! And this year it’ll be 15 years since Skyrim came out, it’s time to let go of it and develop a new engine or customize an already out there one so that we can finally be free of most of the bugs and limitations of that pre 2000 engine (the creation engine is a fork of gamebryo, which was launched in 1997, so yes, it is a pre 2000s engine)! There are PLENTY of other problems with bethesda but the engine problems are such a blatant and needed change that I will not trust their next game unless they show that they are seriously trying to fix the issues that they have ignored for dar too long (combat, proper RPG choices instead of just accepting every single quest thrown at you and all of them being linear, no actual choices, no consequences for choices, extremely repetitive quests where they’re all get h quests that inflate the game time by just having you travel to he other side of the map and back (but then you can fast travel there anyway and now you are no longer immersed) and so many other problems that I cannot even be bothered to remember RN)
I forgot that this was about game engines and ended up ranting about ESO and bethesda, but honestly, the real problem with the game’s engine isn’t which one is used, it’s almost always who is using and how
I would say indirectly, if the game engine does not work on Linux then I’m not interested.
At this point I almost entirely write off UE5 games. I assume they’re smudgy upscaled underperforming dogshit until proven otherwise. Unreal Engine 4? Cool, no problems. Unreal Engine 5? Fuuuuuuckkkk no.
Nope.
Personally yes, but I have a good reason I think. I am a Godot gamedev, so I feel a sort of kinship towards other Godot games. Like I really want to support them for whatever reason haha.
I have huge respect to Mega Crit for this. After the Unity Engine controversy 2 years ago, they re-made all of Slay the Spire 2 (StS2) that was currently on the work to Godot and becamse sponsors of the project.
Currently I’m loving StS 2. The changes are mainly content and a bit of QOL, so it’s clear that changing engines represented a huge effort for them with respect to the noticeable impact to the players, and yet they still did it.
I was about to say “no” but saw your comment. If I am not sure about buying a game, seeing it was made with Godot makes me want to buy it. I am not a game developer but I support Foss and just love how good and clean Godot is.
The game engine should not be a factor in my opinion, but sometimes I have some feelings. In the end ultimately the game itself and how fun it is is the most important factor.
- Unreal Engine 5: This engine has such a poor reception for me, that whenever I see it I dislike the game before even having a chance to play. Its not fair I know, but its also not my fault that I think like that. Often games with this engine have stutter issues, require lot of resources and for whatever reason, most AAA games launching with this engine are in a bad state. In the end I will buy a game if its good, obviously, but the engine has a little deciding factor to look deeper or not… even if its just a little factor.
- Unity: I personally don’t like Unity anymore for the bullshit they did. But if I am honest, if the game is good then I do not care if its in Unity.
- Godot: I really want to like games made with this Open Source engine. But if I am honest again, I would not buy a bad game even if its made with this engine.
- RPG Maker: I am a fan of oldschool RPG Maker, so I don’t mind that. But whenever I see made with RPG Maker (or suspect it), the value of the game goes dramatically down for me.
- any custom engine: I highly respect good custom engines, made specifically for the game or company. They often feel and look different, so its actually a factor. Or at least it will make me curious and look deeper into the game.
Custom engines are my kryptonite when you end up with games like animal well and balatro
There some some very efficient games using UE5, like Satisfactory.
On the contrary, I’m afraid of custom engine games. Even if they ultimately turn out okay, the dev hell required to get them there often sinks the game. See: ME: Andromeda, Cyberpunk 2077. And Distant Worlds 2 (even though it wasn’t technically fully custom).
IMO the best path is choosing the game engine for your niche. As an example, Cryengine was practically made for KCD2’s European forests and medieval towns. Larian’s Divinity engine is literally made for a D&D-type game like BG3.
I’d argue it doesn’t influence the decision making process, but is a good indicator of your taste in video games
If a games is made in UE5 I will definitely double check if the game can even run on low end hardware. And even if a game can run they often look like dogshit on low settings. Like I tried Exit 8 and it ran like shit on my low end PC. And that is a game that just takes place in a hallway.
Same for Steam Deck. UE5 games can ‘technically’ run, but they look a lot worse than other games. It’s the only game engine I check for.
No. You can make just about any engine do just about anything, especially if you’ve got low-level access to it. If this question is implying something about Unreal, just level set your expectations for the performance things that usually come along with that, but it’s not a foregone conclusion either.
I agree - An engine at the end of the day is just a tool.
This isn’t intended to be a bash a specific engine thing. I recently had a discussion with a friend who noted they very specifically avoided certain engines and I was wondering if that was a common sentiment or if he’s just odd.
Certain engines form certain reputations, but those people need to see enough counter examples to realize that the engine is just a contributing factor to what the resulting game is. Unity had “a look” for years, because so many devs used the default lighting, but then you realize that stuff like Cuphead, Hollow Knight, and Subnautica all run on Unity, and that reputation fades.
One of my favorites is Batman: Arkham Knight. It uses Unreal Engine 3 and looks shockingly good despite it. Goes to show how much art direction matters.
If you played it at launch though, it did have a rough time scaling up to PC hardware that was better than consoles. It was pretty infamous for that back then.
Fortunately, no. I played after a few years.
Nah. Good games can be made on any engine. So can bad games.
Yes. I heavily favour Godot.
Unity games give me pause, what with the opt-out rather then opt-in data collection and that there’s so many games lazily thrown together with the default assets.
If it’s anything other than unreal engine then no. If it’s UE then I will wait and then read about issues. If I see the same lazy bs then I’ll pass.
