We were there, and we took notes.
The State of Unreal 2025 just dropped a wave of updates, and our team at Devoted Studios was front and center. As a co-development partner supporting some of the most ambitious AAA games, we’re always looking at how new tools can shape faster pipelines, richer visuals, and better collaboration across the board.
Here is a summary of what is important and how we are already considering using these into our production flow, from MetaHuman updates to scene graphs and stylized animation tools.
MetaHuman just leveled up. The new parametric body system lets artists fine-tune character proportions based on real-world dimensions, and that’s a big deal for co-dev.
When we’re collaborating with studios on realistic character design, this feature means:
For co-development teams like ours, that also means less back-and-forth and more time spent getting things right from the start.
Key updates that speed up our workflow:
We also love the expanded toolset: MetaHuman for Maya and Houdini keeps things flexible across studios, and with MetaHumans now tradeable on Fab, we see new ways to kickstart production faster.
Epic’s new dynamic lighting system with built-in day/night and weather cycles is exactly what co-dev teams like ours need when working on shared worlds.
This makes it easier for us to:
This system works well with Lumen, Unreal Engine’s dynamic global illumination and reflections tool. Lumen gives us realistic bounce lighting and reflections across detailed environments. It supports both large open worlds and small interior spaces, and works smoothly with features like Nanite and World Partition.
We also use Chaos Cloth and Chaos Flesh to create more believable cloth and muscle movement. These tools give us realistic results with less manual tweaking, which helps us save time and keep performance high during production.
The new Scene Graph in Unreal offers a clean, hierarchical structure that simplifies large environment builds. When we’re collaborating across teams and time zones, organization is key.
Scene Graph helps by:
It’s a small change that solves big problems in co-dev.
We’re especially excited about this because it improves clarity and handoffs across departments. It helps our teams stay in sync, make updates quickly, and avoid errors when multiple people are working in the same space. For us, it means smoother workflows and more confident production at scale.
The all-new Unreal Animation Framework introduces support for parallel animation evaluation, multi-character motion matching, and physics-driven secondary animations.
That’s a huge upgrade for us when we’re handling:
It makes animation feel more responsive, even in early stages, and helps us save time during polishing.
The update also includes a new experimental plugin called Sequencer Anim Mixer, which allows smoother transitions between gameplay and cinematics. The new Stitch track uses motion matching to find the best transition point between dynamic gameplay and sequenced animation. This is especially useful for teams working on story-driven or action-heavy titles.
Additional features like better root motion support, custom animation tracks in C++, and improved compatibility with Animation Blueprints give us more flexibility to blend gameplay and narrative moments with consistency and control.
One of the most exciting reveals from Unreal Engine 5.6? Are stylized and 2D animation directly inside Unreal.
For projects looking to move beyond photorealism, this means:
We’re already seeing more demand for unique art styles, and these tools give us the flexibility to experiment without adding extra post-production steps.
The updates from State of Unreal 2025 open up new ways to work faster, collaborate better, and push quality even further. From real-time animation tools to faster streaming and smarter worldbuilding, Unreal Engine 5.6 gives us more control and flexibility across the board.
We’re excited to bring these tools into our pipeline and continue supporting studios with scalable, production-ready co-dev solutions. These improvements help co-dev studios like us deliver better results while staying aligned with creative goals and production timelines.
If you’re looking for a game co-development partner who knows how to get the most out of the latest Unreal tech, we’d love to connect.
