Welcome to my tutorial on how to create realistic environments using Unreal Engine 5. It can be tricky to give living spaces in hyper-realistic video games a grounded look. You have to find the right balance between enriching a place with details that make it believable and interesting to explore, and not making it overly grungy, unless that was the ultimate goal. To engage with the player, these environments need to have an instantly readable atmosphere and cohesive look throughout.
In this article I’ll walk through my process for recreating the apartment from Silent Hill 4: The Room, originally released back in 2004, with Unreal Engine 5. I’ll discuss the different steps that go into creating a detailed cinematic look for an environment like this. I’ll share my thoughts on making the geometry, details, textures and lighting, and my approach to building the atmosphere and presenting your work.
