Unreal Engine’s Siren Demo Is Realistic, It’s Creepy

Gamers have been drawn to beautiful cinematics since the first CGI cutscenes were first introduced in video games back in the late 80s. As time passed, each generation of games became more and more realistic, and Epic Games just unveiled the future of this endeavor. Showcasing a demo involving a digital personality called “Siren,” it was realistic to the point of being uncomfortable to watch.

The demo was meant to show off the capabilities of the company’s Unreal Engine paired with advanced motion capture technology, pushing graphical qualities and performance to the absolute limit of current technology. Based on the video that Epic published exhibiting the result, the days when people could tell which was a real human and which was CGI is coming to a close.

For context, the figure featured in the footage is a digitally-generated skin that follows the movements and expressions of a motion capture actress in real-time. While this may not sound particularly impressive, what with Hollywood already having done this multiple times, the process actually involves no further adjustments on the part of the editing team.

This means that the motion capture actress could walk onto a stage and move, as well as speak in tandem with Siren as she currently looks. There’s no need to add further visuals, which is usually the case with conventional CGI technology.

Of course, there are still some discrepancies for those who pay close attention, but these are just details at this point. The bigger story is how close video games are coming to featuring characters that look like living, breathing humans.

This technology was actually hinted at as far back as 2016, with the previews of the critically-acclaimed indie game Hellblade, Engadget notes. That particular title employed similar technology to capture and convey the emotions of the actress playing the main character, which was crucial to the success of the game.

It seems the technology has advanced even further since then and boy, is it unsettling. Then again, so was the thought of having one’s information being out there for anyone to see and social media is still a thing.