Unreal Engine VS Browser Engines: A Battle for the Future of Gaming

The number of AAA-level games is growing every year. Players are no longer surprised by exciting gameplay and crisp graphics. After the release of Unreal Engine 5, it seems that games on browser engines will fade. 

However, game developers, including those on blockchains, can use browser-based engines to bring unusual solutions to the gaming market that allow users to immerse themselves in the AAA level without a powerful PC or video card.

What are the differences between Unreal Engine and browser engines and whether it takes a big budget and sophisticated equipment to develop and play an amazing game?

King of Game Development: Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine is a game engine developed and maintained by Epic Games. The first game created on this engine was an online shooter in 1998, but later the library of genres expanded globally.

By the beginning of 2023, more than 400 games had been developed with Unreal Engine in the UK, USA, Sweden, Australia, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Japan. The engine is popular all over the world, and there are several reasons for this.

Since the launch of the first Unreal Engine game, there have been 5 key updates. The latest - Unreal Engine 5 - became available to all developers in 2022.

So, Unreal Engine 5 can truly be called the "king" of game development and there are many reasons for that.

Pipeline Integration - FBX, USD, and Alembic are supported in Unreal Engine 5. Developers can use standards without time-consuming full imports.

Worldbuilding - In this engine update, a lot of attention is paid to the environment and visuals in general. With Unreal Editor, artists, designers, and developers can make changes to the project, modeling, UVs, and baking all at the same time. Blueprint allows you to create unique custom brushes, and procedural generation tools can optimize the process of creating a game world. 

Characters and animations - Control character skeleton animation, set up simulated muscle movement and vein position, and create custom character animation. Thanks to the tools of Unreal Engine 5, animation takes on photorealistic qualities.

This update released Lumen, Nanite, VSM support for 60 fps, the Nanite Programmable Rasterizer, virtual assets, Automated PSO caching for DX12, and, an Artificial intelligence (AI) toolset. All this allows you to more easily create AAA-level games that attract users around the world.

What can Browser Engines do?

In addition to such game engines as Unreal Engine and Unity, there are also layout, or browser engines. The best known for game support are Trident (Internet Explorer), Gecko (Firefox), WebKit (Safari), Presto (Opera), and Blink (Google Chrome).

These browsers are combined in several ways.

• Steward - Most are run by Google, but also by Microsoft and Opera. The only one listed that is managed by Apple and compatible with iOS is WebKit.
• Image and media formats - All browser engines support the most common image formats, except, perhaps, JPEG XL. The same can be said about media formats like FLAC, HEVC, VP9, and AV1 which are available on every browser engine.
• Items - Another option is support for items such as Shadow DOM, WebGL, SVG and XHTML. This is important because the ability of browser games to work depends on them. 

Compared to Unreal Engine and other similar engines, browser engines are inferior in several ways. 

Cross-platform functionality - Games on browser engines are supported in browsers. They are simpler than those developed for PC and consoles. Unreal Engine allows you to install games on various devices. However,  not everyone has access to the hardware needed for a complex AAA-level game. Browser games do not require high costs or a high-quality video card. Standard browser settings are enough to support images and media in order to play the game.

Visualization and graphics - Unreal Engine is known for its powerful graphics system that allows you to create games with cinematic effects, realistic graphics, and detailed models. Browser game engines, depending on how they are implemented, are often inferior to the capabilities of the known engine.

Programming language - Browser games are most often developed in JavaScript or HTML5, while Unreal Engine games are created with C++ and Blueprint. This determines both the gameplay and the visual component.

Engine functionality - Unreal Engine offers many game development tools, such as realistic custom animations, sound customization, and artificial intelligence. Browser game engines, on the other hand, often provide more limited functionality, but may have a simplified interface and a clearer development process.

Distribution and availability - Browser games created with browser game engines can be easily published and accessed over the internet. The Unreal Engine requires more complex installation and deployment, and games built with it are often distributed through digital game stores or packaged in separate installation files.

AAA games: Unreal Engine Games vs. Browser Games

Even though browser engines are not as common for game development as Unreal Engine, Unity, or Constructor, they have a huge potential these days. In 2020, especially with the advent of Web3 technologies and AI in the gaming industry, browser games have seriously improved in quality.

Let's compare two AAA-level games: one of them is developed on Unreal Engine, and the other one is developed using a browser engine. 

I picked up Proxima Royale and SIDUS Heroes as both AAA-level games. Both games are based on sci-fi lore. Proxima Royale takes place on the exoplanet Proxima Centauri B, where the robotic protagonist must fight others in order to survive. The game has a maximum of 60 participants per match, which allows for large-scale battles. There are several first-person modes. 

SIDUS Heroes is a cosmic meta-universe of several fantastical planets inhabited by creatures of different races. You can fight in the Nidum Arena Battler in 3v3 mode, play the Xenna Battle Royale RTS or try new Asterally game. Tembazar 3rd person Shooter is coming soon as well.

To play Proxima Royale, you need Windows 7 or higher, 6 GB RAM, and a GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7850 graphics card. To play SIDUS Heroes, you only need your browser, but since the game is on the blockchain, you will also have to add a browser extension with MetaMask to log in.

Proxima Royale boasts fast-paced combat with a heist system, multiple weapons, and an amazing FPS GUI powered by Unreal Engine 4. SIDUS Heroes is developed using WebGL and AI technology for animation control, character voice acting, and image enhancement.

In general, the Unreal Engine 4 game and the WebGL browser game are hardly inferior to each other in terms of graphics and gameplay quality. 

Final thoughts

Game engines differ in graphic potential, programming languages, and tools for creating game worlds and characters. Unreal Engine is recognized in the world as one of the highest-quality engines for creating realistic AAA-level games.

Although browser engines may be inferior in graphics potential, lack of C++, and a cross-platform feature, in the 2020s, they allow you to create a product that will not differ in quality from AAA-level games. Browser games are often more accessible to users, do not require powerful hardware, and the content generated with their help attracts users just as well.