Epic Games will release “The Matrix Awakens,” an interactive tie-in to “The Matrix Resurrections,” a movie starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. You can preload the demo to your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S console ahead of its December 9 debut at The Game Awards. Epic built the experience using Unreal Engine 5, and you can see what the next-generation engine is capable of in a teaser the company shared. “How do we know what is real?” asks a life-like Reeves partway through the clip. The tech demo could be equally impressive, with the teaser claiming it will offer “a glimpse into the future of interactive storytelling and entertainment with Unreal Engine 5 in this free, boundary-pushing cinematic and real-time tech demo.” It arrives just ahead of “The Matrix Resurrections” theater release on December 22. Members of the original movie team, including Lana Wachowski, have worked with Epic Games to create “The Matrix Awakens.” The Xbox store listing promises “a wild ride into the reality-bending universe of ‘The Matrix.’“ It’s a rare movie experience that’s any good, but that might not matter with “The Matrix Awakens.” For most people, this will be their first chance to see Unreal Engine 5 in action. Epic previewed the latest iteration of its popular game engine part way through last year with a stunning PlayStation 5 demo that showed off what it could do. It included photo-realistic lighting, incredibly visual quality, and a level of game detail that Unreal Engine 5 promises to deliver for next-generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. In May, the company released an early access version of Unreal Engine 5 to PC, but the system requirements meant most people couldn’t experience the “Valley of the Ancient” demo with the hardware they had.(SD-Agencies) | 