hurt us is an upcoming indie horror game with a twisted story set in a dark open world full of exploration, monsters and dark characters. All this became possible thanks to the capabilities of the Unreal Engine and its accessibility for developers, both beginners and experienced. It’s in the future Quiet hills and Dark soulsa survival horror game from Delusional Studio does not currently have a release date, but is expected to be released in the future on both PC and consoles.
Game Rant spoke with hurt usSolo developer Sohail Khan talks about his experience developing his first game with Unreal Engine and why he would recommend other solo developers and small teams to use Unreal Engine as well when looking to create their own games.
How an open-world survival horror game brought us the benefits of UE5
First developed by Epic Games 25 years ago in 1998, Unreal Engine has since become one of the most popular game engines on the market. One of the most attractive features of Unreal Engine is that it is a free tool that is available to anyone to create a game. Not only is the program itself free, but it also offers tons of free assets and free tutorials on how to use the engine, making it a powerful tool for all game developers of all skill levels.
Unreal’s accessibility is no joke. Its reliability has made it a great choice for many AAA studios, boasting titles such as Fortnite and Kingdom Hearts 2 that used the Unreal Engine to bring games to life in the past. The tool was also fundamental to independent projects, including games such as WITHtray and hellblade 2, with a UE5 technology demo the latter caused quite a stir at GDC 2023. While it’s a great tool for those with extensive design experience, its simplification of certain features has made it a great entry point for new developers into game design and allowed them to make some impressive games from the ground up.
“The accessibility and user-friendly interface of Unreal Engine made it easier for me to achieve my goal. The visual project script is my favorite feature because of how intuitive it is.”
Delusional Studio is an example of one of these indie game studios that uses Unreal to bring their creations to life. Despite being the studio’s first game, it already looks pretty impressive. Khan believes that Unreal Engine has many features that make designing easier for first-time developers. One feature he noted was the engine’s circuit feature, which allows you to inject pre-written actions directly into the game without the need for additional coding—a huge advantage for those who may be less strong at programming.
Khan also mentions that the Unreal market was huge by design hurt us and this stands out as another of his favorite features of the game engine. The Unreal Marketplace offers an impressive catalog of free game assets that can be placed directly into your own game as is, or further modified to match the exact design you’re aiming to achieve – perfect for helping Han achieve what Silent Hill– inspiring atmosphere hurt us.
“My favorite feature is the monthly free asset releases, and I also appreciate that developers are constantly updating their assets to keep them relevant and useful.”
Khan isn’t the only developer who shares his love for the Unreal Engine, either. Game Rant previously spoke with several indie developers who shared their experiences with Unreal Engine, reiterating that the software allows developers to save time, be more efficient, and create impressive games regardless of previous experience (or lack thereof). Dan DeEntrement of the viral hit Squirrel with a gun is one such developer who shares these sentiments about Unrealmentioning the same features as Khan, as well as others like character reconfiguration, which allows you to take character animations from anywhere and apply them to models in Unreal Engine without having to mockup or animate from scratch.
Unreal Engine continues to be a great tool for developers, regardless of whether they have years of experience in the field or are just starting out. The set of tools offered by the engine makes game design efficient and accessible for those who want to create games. Also, since it’s a free tool with lots of community tutorials, the barrier to entry is pretty low, allowing almost anyone to start learning how to make games whenever they want.