No matter what upcoming plans Dishonored developer Arkane Studios has hidden in a velvet-lined box somewhere, it looks like CryEngine will be a part of it. A recent hiring push by the Austin-based Arkane and Battlecry Studios for artists and programmers to work with the Crytek game engine has surfaced, pointing to a project separate from the Unreal Engine 3-based Dishonored.
Crytek's CryEngine already had most of the graphics sown up with its third iteration, and now its (unnumbered) fourth has returned for the stragglers, adding impressive-sounding things like "realistic deep facial skinning", "physically based shading" and "complex simulations" to its bulging bag of tricks. Thankfully, they also released a video demonstration to explain that those things mean 'better lighting, weather and physics effects", including puddles that will actually evaporate in the sun. To see this in action, either go outside or join me after the break.
In this week's debate, Evan argues that Crysis 3 is the best-looking game in gaming, while Tyler isn't wooed by its tessellated vegetation and volumetric fog shadows. It's undeniably impressive tech, but does Crytek still wear the graphics crown?
Warface closed beta sign ups are now live! If you're interested a chance to check out Crytek's upcoming, CryEngine powered, free-to-play shooter with the silly name then you can head over to Warface.com now and enter your details into the empty fields on the right. You'll also be able to sign up for a "Gface" username, but you'll have to be quick if you want to take "W4rF4ceIsAS1llyN4m3" before anyone else does. In fact, I'm on my way in to do just that. Let's race.
The 2.5 update for Aion - Empyrean Calling - is now available. The game was already easily one of the most graphically impressive MMOs on the market, being built on the CryEngine that powered the original Far Cry. There's also an expanded character customisation tool and several other touches and alternations to further improve the game. You can see them all in motion in the video above.
Players can access the new content on the games test server now.
[via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
