UE5: What if it actually works?

I’m gonna start this with a little bit of context as It’s more of a sentimental post than a technical one.


I started Project Entropia a long, long time ago with my cousin. It was way back, when the internet was new, it was when I had my first ever PC. We were learning about computers, modding GTA Vice City, downloading at 40KB/s, making videos on Metacafe lol anyone remember Metacafe?

Then comes along a little thing called Propject Entropia, fuck me, it was everything we wanted to do and more. Immerse ourselves in this digital alternate reality, play games, and of course, the RCE…. WE. WERE. HOOKED.

We played a lot. We explored for days on end, got stranded by the Oil Rig and those fucking Araneatrox… man, thank god for CRT! The potential was overwhelming at times. It was so fucking good.

But then time passes, you move onto other stuff, pop back in for a few kills to keep your account alive. But it’s always there…. Always.

Then one day, you log in for a few kills and don’t log out till you wake up, face in keyboard, WASD imprinted on your forehead. Hooked again!!

This time… it was fucking CRY ENGINE! The same engine that made Crysis look the way it did all the way back in what 2008 ish? Then cars, and proper space. All this new exciting stuff. We played a good few years when we came back. Then my cousin stopped playing for other reasons and I was cracking on solo.

Still very very very green by the way. Even after years playing. We were just happy exploring things, shooting things we shouldn’t be, hoping to land a HOF and not really paying attention I suppose lol

Then came the final day. I was out for about 5 hours straight, killing Argonauts behind Twin Peaks, down the winding path and onto the green plain over the hill…

“This creature didn’t carry any loot.“

“This creature didn’t carry any loot.“

“This creature didn’t carry any loot.“

…

…

“Click”

I logged off for the very last time with Lonny DANGER Saskobar.

5 hours without a single drop, I shit you not. I had no ammo left, and nothing to recover from.

Lonny starved of hope that day, with only his blue mohawk and eyes that were unsettlingly close together to sustain him. May Lootius rest his soul.

This is where the context I mentioned at the start plays it’s part, because I didn’t try to log back in again until October 2025, Lonny was dust and my account was gone. I was gutted, I thought I was almost uber with my Kallous 5 xD

That’s a pretty long time for shit to happen, and it did. I missed a ton, and can’t speak on most things that happened while I was away. I feel there’s a lot of trust lost and shit like that.

So when it comes to things like UE5 being announced for christmas and there’s people who aint as excited as I am, I get it, I just don’t share the feeling due to not being here.

Anyway.

This is what I think.

Entropia is about to undergo something UNREAL! Pun intended!

It’s about to move to it’s 4th engine technically. And why is that? Because the old engine is not able to step up to the plate anymore. The universe is evolving.

Does Cryengine have issues? bugs? things just totally not working or removed?

Fuck yeah.

And I’m really fucking glad it does to be honest. Change breaks things. Code has limitations. So if you try and do something the engine can’t do, you will end up with shit, half baked shit, that is released because that what the universe wanted.

Now, I don’t want this to go into money territory, I know people are heavily invested and there have been real big losses due to change. That’s not what this is about.

That’s a separate issue on the same topic.

So yeah, the 4th engine. I don’t really think there are any other games out there that have done what Entropia is about to do. This whole reality is gonna change. The laws of physics will be different. Things we’re used to not working will suddenly work, because they were made ahead of their time on an engine that didn’t support it.

And now were coming into an engine that is seriously well document, tested, used, maintained…

Do not think of this as an upgrade, you have to think of this as a technical extinction event. The old is dead. And that’s exactly what Mindark calls it.

We have to think not only about the future, but we should also mourn the past. Because Cryengine 2 did well. Maybe not recently, but it got old, old things don’t work proper all the time. It brought us from Gamebryo to now. And we’re all still here because of it. We are the survivors of this Technical Extinction Event.

The new generation of civilisation will come, hopefully, new colonists will land and we will start again. We will rebuild. It’s up to us to make this work.

Mindark provide the Universe. We bring the life.

And we will, better than ever before. Maybe this time, the universe can be fully realised, and that spark that brought us all here in the first place will re-ingite and bring in the next generation.

Maybe this time the universe will be ready, maybe not.

But, can you imagine?

What if it actually works?