At its State of Unreal occasion in Chicago, Epic Games formally unveiled Unreal Engine 5.8, and one in every of its key new options is Lumen Lite: a scalability setting that targets using ray-traced world illumination for the Nintendo Switch 2, with the objective of 60 fps. As the function additionally works for PCs, I believed I’d dive in and take a look at simply what the fuss is all about. Or if certainly any fuss must be made.
By default, the Unreal Engine editor provides builders a simplified means of testing varied graphics settings to see how they have an effect on efficiency and visible high quality. There are 11 separate choices that may be tweaked, however the brand new Lumen Lite mode solely impacts world illumination (GI) and reflections, as these are the primary issues that Epic’s ray tracing system impacts.
In older variations of UE, switching to ‘Medium’ GI and reflections totally disables Lumen, however within the newest launch, the identical setting permits Lumen GI, although reflections are nonetheless screen-spaced, i.e. SSR. Ray-traced world illumination is generally the protect of the ‘High’ or ‘Epic’ settings, so to make it extra performant for low-end GPUs, Lumen Lite replaces a key stage within the lighting course of with one thing faster however decrease in high quality than the same old system.
I first caught a glimpse of this in motion by way of Skydek’s YouTube channel, earlier this yr, and the tip outcomes regarded actually promising, as Lumen Light was giving as much as 40% extra efficiency for little or no distinction in visible high quality. But watching the demo, set in a reasonably easy atmosphere and utilizing software program Lumen, I stored questioning how a lot of a distinction it could make when {hardware} Lumen is used and in a graphics-heavy state of affairs.
To that finish, I fired up Unreal Engine 5.6 and 5.8, and used Epic’s Electric Dreams Environment demo to see Lumen Lite in motion. Now, as I’m merely a UE hobbyist, I did nothing greater than set up all of the belongings for every UE construct and take a look at the efficiency within the viewport.
This could be very a lot a ‘worst-case state of affairs’ or, when you choose, a ‘Nick is slightly lazy’ state of affairs, because the displayed efficiency isn’t even remotely consultant of how it could all be in an precise sport, and I’ve simply clicked a couple of buttons, slightly than immediately adjusting the code for the graphics settings after which constructing the complete demo.
Anyway, let’s set the scene, as so to talk, by seeing every thing in motion in Unreal Engine 5.8, utilizing Epic scalability and supplies. It’s not the very highest setting you should use, however within the case of Lumen, it is for focusing on consoles at 30 fps. I’ve used a Core Ultra 270K Plus with a GeForce RTX 4080 Super, so not console-like in any respect, however as you possibly can see, it definitely seems to be nice, albeit with a slightly low body charge.
Now, let’s check out the identical scenario and settings, besides with ‘Medium’ used for GI and reflections, i.e. Lumen Lite. The very first thing you need to discover is that the efficiency is roughly 25% higher, and the general lighting is fairly good. Only the display house reflections spoil the image considerably, however that is what you get for not utilizing ray tracing in these areas.
Before you get your pitchforks out over the truth that Epic says that Lumen Lite is “twice as fast as Lumen High quality”, it is value noting that solely the GI and reflections processing is twice as quick. What we’re seeing right here is that every thing else within the UE editor viewport demo is exceptionally heavy, which is why there’s solely a 25% uplift, slightly than a 100% one.
I used to be eager to match UE5.8 and Lumen Lite to UE5.6, as that iteration was notable for focusing on extra efficiency throughout the board, and since ‘Medium’ GI and reflections on this model simply disable Lumen altogether, I’d count on to see an enormous distinction within the body charge for a notable loss in visible constancy. Well, that is precisely what I acquired. In truth, it is fairly exceptional simply how dangerous it seems to be in comparison with utilizing Lumen, with heavy flickering throughout virtually all objects.
So I attempted all of it once more, switching to ‘High’ GI however leaving reflections SSR-based through the use of the ‘Medium’ setting. Notice the speedy enchancment in the way it all seems to be? More importantly, are you able to see that using Lumen GI would not damage the efficiency an excessive amount of?
Of course, that is all on a high-end gaming PC, not a Switch 2 or a handheld gadget just like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally. The former has greater than sufficient assets handy for the ray tracing a part of the entire rendering chain to not be an issue, as demonstrated by the distinction between Lumen Epic and Medium high quality above.
But it did make me wonder if Lumen Lite is a little bit bit pointless, and {that a} wholesome dose of fine old style optimization might be simply pretty much as good. If I had been a Switch 2 developer, I’d in all probability say, “No, Lumen Lite is very necessary and a great idea,” as a result of I solely have to fret about two {hardware} configurations: docked and handheld mode.
When it comes to creating PC video games, it is an entire completely different kettle of fish, and whereas Lumen Lite would possibly be helpful because the default mode for ‘Steam Deck’ settings, each different {hardware} config actually wants cautious tweaking to account for the variations between the quite a few fashions of AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPUs that may help Lumen (software program or {hardware}).
If a studio goes to dedicate the required time and assets to doing all of that, then they in all probability will not use Lumen Lite and as an alternative will fine-tune issues by hand, so to talk. However, now that we’re in a interval the place many studios are being shut down and {hardware} prices are ballooning, any sport devs utilizing UE5.8 will in all probability simply keep on with the fundamentals due to time and value constraints.
Epic virtually definitely added Lumen Lite on the premise of suggestions from builders, searching for a fast and easy resolution to ray-traced lighting on the least succesful {hardware}. Well, they have precisely what they requested for, and it’s genuinely helpful. I simply worry that the ‘one-click resolution’ goes to be closely used as an alternative of what we would all wish to see.
Best gaming rigs 2026