What will the games of the future be like? Graphics, physics and scale

In this article, I will not list the previously announced video games for the ninth generation of consoles, but rather speculate about the technical aspects of interactive entertainment of the future.

It is with the transition to PS5 and Xbox Series X that the developers will finally untie their hands, which theoretically will make it possible to implement a photorealistic picture with improved detail, scale and an advanced physical model. What can you expect?

1. Particles and destructibility

After the end of the PS3 era, we forgot about the defeated opponents instantly disappearing from the earth. Now I want to see how physics in games is transformed taking into account the trends of the times.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, we were first shown realistic snow that could be modified and it remained stable for a very long time. Even in God of War , where the quality of the effect is decent, the traces of Atreus and Kratos were quickly erased and carried in the wind.
In the future, Rockstar Games’ hit-level attention to detail should also migrate to lower-budget releases. The ninth generation of consoles will help with this. I want to see the result of the player’s activity, which is permanently stored at locations.

2. Scope

I want to see battles of the Total War level not only in strategies from Creative Assembly. Imagine a full-fledged military action in Call of Duty or the new part of Operation Flashpoint , where a panorama is displayed on the screen with hundreds or thousands of fighters running to attack. Or imagine Battlefield VI multiplayer with maps for thousands of people. Sounds cool, doesn’t it?

A large number of loadable objects and models are easier to implement thanks to a quick connection from RAM and an SSD-drive that has direct access to video memory. All this together provides unprecedented opportunities in the hands of developers.

3. Ultimate photorealism

The CGI-level picture is already visible in many video games today. The graphics in The Last of Us 2 , Final Fantasy VII Remake and others are absolutely delightful , but they can still be distinguished from video footage.

Thanks to neural networks, developers will be able to automatically increase the resolution of textures to 8K, calculate shadows falling on a character’s face in real time and work more meticulously with other special effects.

And NVIDIA HairWorks technology , which made Roach ‘s beautiful mane in The Witcher 3 , will find wider application. Or its counterpart from the future.

The upcoming home consoles from Sony and Microsoft will be the last representatives of their form factor, and in 5-10 years “cloud” services will take over. And physics in games is just one of the areas of their application.

Early ideas Crackdown 3 with a complete miscalculation of physics and other calculations somewhere in the “clouds” is no longer a fantasy, but a question that rests on the development of 5G networks and minimizing signal delays on the way from server to client.

Share your own opinion on what features the PS5 and Xbox Series X will bring to the gaming industry in the comments.