Unity Vs. Unreal: The Engine Wars

The game engines that power many of today’s most popular games put you in the driver’s seat for a truly immersive experience as you play through your favorite titles. But at the heart of every game lies the game engine it is built on. Unity and Unreal are two of the most widely used gaming engines today.

You are planning to develop a game — So which gaming engine, between Unity vs Unreal, should you choose? The answer to this question is dependent on a variety of factors. If you haven’t been able to make a choice yet, this post is for you. We are here to set the record straight and give you all the information you need about these engines.

What is Unity?

Unity was first made available in 2005 and was developed by Unity Technologies. Initially, it was launched at an Apple conference as an exclusive engine for OS X titles. It is now supported on multiple operating systems. Some of the most popular games made in Unity Engine are Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Untitled Goose Game, Dots and Boxes — A New Era and more.

What is Unreal Engine?

Unreal has a rich and complex history, despite the fact that it was only released in 1998, making it appear to be much older. Over the course of the past two decades, it has been implemented into games of every subgenre. This engine has been used in a variety of titles, including the first installment in the Deus Ex series, Splinter Cell, and, of course, the Unreal Tournament series. Some of the most popular games made in Unreal Engine are Batman Arkham City, Fortnite, Sea of Thieves, and more.

Unity vs. Unreal: A Competitive Analysis

Here is a comparison table, detailing the features of each engine:

Which is Superior: Unity or Unreal?

There are a plethora of opportunities made available by Unity and Unreal. When choosing between the two, here are a couple of things you should keep in mind.

• What are some of the games you want to achieve for yourself as a game designer?
• Are first-person shooters, role-playing games, or 3D platformers your particular game development interests?
• What about a brain-teasing adventure game like Braid?
• Do you want to be the one to create the next big fad like Temple Run?

Your choice should take your game development initiative’s objectives, goals, and vision into consideration. Your game engine is going to make all the difference in whether your vision is more “Clash of Clans” or “Assassin’s Creed”. Here is a blow-by-blow versus analysis of the two engines.

Unity

Unity is proving to be an indispensable tool for developers as it is an engine with a wide range of applications. Unity is capable of handling its fair share of the mobile-based workload, in contrast to Unreal 5, which caters to more expensive Triple-A titles.

Unity is the one we would recommend to game developers who want to focus on mobile or flash gamers. Additionally, Unity’s 3D engine enables developers to select from a plethora of different paths when creating their projects. And fortunately for anyone trying to decide which engine to go with, Unity has expanded its offerings into the world of 2D games as well.

We believe that Unity would be the best option for you if you tend to gravitate toward games that are more puzzle-based or are played in 2D. People who aren’t as experienced in video game design will find the user interface and tools that are included in Unity to be very simple to understand and use.

It is possible that the Unity Engine could serve as a useful stepping stone to an engine that is more complex, or it could be the ideal niche for you if you are developing something simple and straightforward.

Unity is available on more than 25 different operating platforms and has a strong cross-platform foundation. Simply the fact that it is accessible ought to be appealing to those individuals who have an open goal of game design.

Unreal

For games with larger scopes, especially 3D RPGs games such as those that we are all familiar with and adore- the Splinter Cell series, X-COM, and the remake of Final Fantasy VII, Unreal is your best bet.

If you are also interested in titles that are entirely rendered in 3D, then Unreal is most likely the best option for you. At this time, Unreal is operating on its 5.0 release, which was made available in April 2022.

It is clear that Epic Games has put in a lot of effort into developing Unreal 5, which has apparently been in the works since 2018. When it comes to developing next-generation physics and graphics, Unreal is an excellent engine to use. My personal favourite feature of the engine is the skillful execution of dynamic lighting it provides, which immerses you completely in the world of your game.

In this regard, it has truly established itself as an industry standard, garnering a large number of awards from gaming publications as well as accolades from the gaming industry.

You can use Blueprint (Unreal’s visual scripting feature) even if you have no experience with coding. Unreal 5 is, therefore, the path you should go down if you’re interested in hard-hitting genre titles as it offers the most content in that vein.

Now that we have sufficient context about both these engines, let’s get down to brass tacks with an analysis of each engine on the basis of factors like- community, asset store, scripting ease, pricing and graphics quality:

1. Community

Both of these game engines have large and active communities of members, most of whom are stalwarts in the gaming community from a development standpoint. Because both engines can be accessed by so-called “normal” people, there is room for a robust community of users and creators who can interact with one another and talk about games as well as the engines themselves.

But which of the two engines has the larger community among its users?

• Unity: The community that surrounds Unity is also a significant asset to the organization as a whole. Just when you think one of the engines has the upper hand, the other one pulls ahead by showing off the incredible capabilities it possesses. It’s such a tough decision to make! One of the things that we appreciate most about Unity’s community is the sheer number of its members who are able to discuss extremely specific ideas, such as their ideas on game creation and share their renderings for feedback and criticism.
• Unreal: The Unreal online forum is very active, with people posting multiple times every hour. We really enjoy how busy it is all the time because it means that there are more opportunities to be creative. They provide access to a wide variety of discussion boards, such as the marketplace, the Unreal beta, events, and content creation (animation, rendering, blueprint visual scripting, python scripting, etc).

Fortunately, both communities are very large, so either option is a good choice. Users can truly feel at home with other creative types and will always have a forum that is constantly updated to visit while they are going through their developmental stages.

2. Asset Store

The two engines share a number of important components, one of which is the asset store.

• Unity: When it comes to asset stores, the Unity asset store is by far the winner, despite the fact that we may appear to be partial to the Unreal 5 asset store so far. It is impossible to overstate the sheer quantity of resources that are available for download and incorporation into your project.
• Unreal: The capability to download a game’s assets quickly and easily is one of the modern gaming world’s best features, in our opinion. Unreal 5’s Asset Store/Marketplace makes us think of the Steam Workshop, where users can download a variety of game modifications from a single page, and then have them automatically installed into their game. Users are able to download everything from props to shading to textures and more from the Unreal Marketplace.

3. Scripting ease

These two game engines use different scripting for coding. Here you can find about their scripting:

• Unity: Unity’s scripting is done in C#, which is a somewhat more complicated programming language in terms of development. However, after reading through the tutorial page, it doesn’t appear to be all that difficult after all. This is especially true if you’ve already dabbled in the world of video game creation in the past. Assimilating this information into your existing knowledge of code, HTML, and other facets of technology should not be difficult for you.
• Unreal: Unreal uses Blueprint. The user is not even required to know code or how to write it. Unbelievably, you can construct environments and full games by using the tools provided in the blueprint. Due to the ease with which this feature can be accessed in general, Unreal 5 is currently in first place in terms of scripting, or the lack thereof!

4. Pricing

For the moment of truth: What is the cost of these two engines? Be ready for a surprise.

• Unity: Unity is available at no cost, which is surprising given the high-quality products that can be produced using it. You also have the option of purchasing the Unity Pro version on a month-to-month basis for a subscription fee of $75 per month.
• Unreal: Unreal is a AAA game development engine with everything you need to make a game that could rub shoulders with the best in the biz. Yet, the Unreal Engine is completely free. Also, another fun feature is that schools can get it for free, which encourages more student involvement in the development of computer software and opens the eyes of students to the world of game design, both of which could be beneficial to the industry as a whole.

5. Graphics Quality

Both of these leading game engines have good graphics but here you can find which one is better for you.

• Unity: While the Unreal Engine scores higher in terms of graphics quality, Unity is not something that can be disregarded. Even though it was a 3D isometric game, having the opportunity to play Wasteland 2 on a personal computer provided a visually impressive experience. Exploring the environments gave us a stunning post-apocalyptic setting. Also, who could forget the incredible game that was Rust, which was developed by the same people who created Garry’s Mod?
• Unreal: We’ve mentioned this before, but we’ll say it again: we dare anyone to play a game powered by the Unreal 5 engine and not be blown away by the capabilities offered by the engine. It is the foundation upon which many famous casual, AAA, battle royale games, etc., have been built. The engine will continue the legacy with upcoming titles like Crackdown 3, Injustice 2, and Kingdom Hearts III, each having a distinct visual aesthetic.
• When it comes to deciding on graphical prowess, the graphical quality of Unreal 5 is the preferred choice for many large studios. Even after more than a decade, its graphics continue to hold up well.

Which One to Choose for your Next Game?

The answer to this question is: It depends on you. The manner in which you, the game’s developer, choose to create your product is entirely up to your discretion. Both Unity and Unreal engines are among the very best that are currently available; therefore, picking either one will be an awesome choice.

It all boils down to your own personal preferences and the game you’re working on in particular. I would say that games with larger budgets and more nuanced, insanely detailed 3D settings are best suited for Unreal, but that’s just our personal preference. Unity is without a doubt the best option for you to go with if you’re a game developer with a primary interest in either 2D side-scrolling games or mobile games.

However, depending on the abilities of the developer, they are often interchangeable with one another. Both engines are thankfully capable graphically in their own right, and both have wonderful communities that can either assist you or serve as a sounding board for your ideas.