A week ago, we caught wind of Epic's brand new Fortnite update that began to bring some fresh Unreal Engine 5.1 elements to the long-running battle royale title. In short, a selection of big 'next-gen' UE5 features like Nanite, Lumen, Virtual Shadow Maps, and Temporal Super Resolution all arrived with Fortnite's latest update, and the effect these all have on the overall experience is pretty remarkable.
Unsurprisingly, the tech team at Digital Foundry has undertaken a deep dive on Fortnite Chapter 4 in the week since the update, looking at all the big changes across current-gen platforms including Xbox Series X and Series S. The results show a transformative experience that almost looks like a brand new game, with the new lighting technique in the form of Lumen proving particularly impressive.
"It's a transformative upgrade, and one that deserves a close look - both in terms of its visual accomplishments and its performance impact on all supported platforms, from PC and PS5 to Xbox Series X and S."
"The concept of getting UE5's high-end features running on console at all is impressive, but to hit the 60fps target - even on Series S - is a serious achievement well worth a more in-depth analysis and it's also interesting to see how the tech scales still further on PC."
"This combination of Lumen and Nanite is potent then and Fortnite really demonstrates what is possible with the new engine - even when retrofitting an existing title."
As mentioned by DF, to make use of all the new UE5 features you'll need to play in the 60FPS mode, regardless of whether you're on Xbox Series X or Series S. Running in the high-frame rate, 120Hz mode disables the game's new next-gen features, so drop it down to 60 and you're good to go!
Don't forget as well that Fortnite is completely free to download, with the Chapter 4 update featuring a new island, the ability to ride a dirt bike, new boosts called Reality Augments, various new weapons and a whole lot more.