Epic Games originally showcased the Samaritan Tech Demo for Unreal Engine 3 in 2011. That tech demo used to its fullest the raw power of PC GPUs and looked phenomenal. And now, after over a decade, this tech demo still looks great.
Earlier this month, YouTube’s ‘8K Games’ decided to upscale this tech demo in 4K. The demo was originally captured at 720p, and by today’s standards, it looks awful. Thanks to AI tools, however, the YouTuber was able to remaster this video in 4K. And boy does it still hold up. From its atmosphere to the sheer amount of polygons on characters, everything still looks top-notch.
I don’t get why Epic Games hasn’t released its older tech demos. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to run the Samaritan tech demo on their PC? I bet everyone’s curious to see how this demo performs on their PCs. Can GPUs like the RTX4090 run it at 8K?
In the 90s, NVIDIA and AMD were bundling tech demos with their GPUs. Those demos showed off advanced techniques and gave us a sneak peek into the future of gaming. However, nowadays, only Futuremark and Unity still release new tech demos. It’s kind of strange that NVIDIA, which used to be known for its amazing tech demos, doesn’t do it anymore. In June 2023, NVIDIA surprised us with a fantastic tech demo using Unreal Engine 5. It had amazing graphics that any PC fan would love to see on their screens. Sadly, you can’t download it. And what happened to the NVIDIA Racer RTX? It was supposed to become available in November 2022. However, there is still no download for it.
Speaking of older Unreal Engine tech demos, I’d also love to see some others being remastered in 4K. Specifically, I’d love to see the Unreal Engine 2 Tech Demo. Or the E3 2004 GoW UE3 Tech Demo. Man… Gears of War and Samaritan were in the same engine… that’s… wait for it… Unreal.
Anyway, enjoy the video!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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“I bet everyone’s curious to see how this demo performs on their PCs. Can GPUs like the RTX4090 run it at 8K”
What are you smoking again?
This is probably what they call a “slow news day”. Need something to get those clickthroughs to generate ad revenue.
https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/media/matthew-mcconaughey-true-detective-gif.63484/full
Man are we gamers scrood, so we have UE by those dastarbs at epic all over or we get jubisoft, justar, EA, nintendont, remedont, monopolysoft, cpdurtards, sonyny and all the rest out there, the shysters just milking another teat to where it gives only shyt. Lovely valve-steaming pile ayholes as well. Think of games like theyre dope inc and there you have it. Awful. At least there are so many indys now that 1000 monkies making games on 1000 pcs we do get a few genuinely great games. Hollow Knight, Dead Cells come to mind, lots of obscure greats too. Depending on your preferences the golden age of gaming was in the past no doubt. 08-18 imo other than graphics which is what it’s all about now.
Back when games didn’t look like fortnite or witcher 3.
Textures look like plastic, and everything else looks too orange and colorful.
The gameplay is boring, janky, and creatively bankrupt.
I’ve yet to see someone who’s into Witcher 3 and isn’t a total brain-dead f4ggot.
Witcher 1&2 are both great though.
The Witcher 1 is exhibit A of sh*tty janky gameplay, get outta here.
Sure, if you’re a low IQ braindead console midget.
were you bummed by a bad man as a child? Seem very bitter and dysfunctional. Unwanted c*ck will do that.
No.
It seems like you’re regurgitating the bedtime stories your mother told you as a kid.
No.
Any bedtime c*ck stories would much more likely to come from your wh*re mother, little goat.
Nvida and ATi/AMD had Tech Demo’s released along side their cards up to at least the GTX480 and the HD 5870 cards which were released in 2009 and 2010… That’s a long way from “the 90’s” John.
Bulletstorm (UE3) still looks awesome. Took these shots today.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e79af5eac1d3ff099dd66c84497ac7a0ebc5c551eb9d8d346bb39e77065cc55d.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66e2b988357da165e826f861142ba014cb241c4add8950085d4fe5a130bcd3fa.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e52a73a2585748a0bd2d1540340d768957a6858c6928f0f45a483490076d24f7.png
One of the most underrated FPS ever!
I have the “remaster”, even if I know that some people don’t like it cos some elements are actually inferior to the original. Still a great experience though.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26d970f42ec79315c73062245ed8d5efefb6ccf9f6fe92d224993961ccf3e958.jpg
The changes are subtle tho and the fun is all there.
So I played OG Bullet Storm back in the day. I liked it. When the remaster came out it got a lot of flack and never bothered with it. Seeing the comments here I said f*k it maybe I will pick it up. The remaster with the Duke Nukem and other stuff DLC is like $4 on steam right now. And guess what I found while searching for it on Steam? They are making a Bullet Storm VR version and it comes out on January 18th. I hope it is good and not over priced. If it is I can always wait. Could be fun. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2451320/Bulletstorm_VR/
Started playing it yesterday and it’s such a fun game. Also, the intro level where they walk on the side of the building with gravity boots is WOW. How come newer games don’t do more of that?!
Totally forgot about this demo, I remember running it on my 680.
This looks very similar to Batman Arkham Knight actually.
Indeed, i was thinking about that game too. Funny how we finally got a game that looks like that demo. I wonder when we will get to see a game that looks like the current unreal 5 demos…
Sooner than you might think. 2024 or 25.
Progress has been slow for a decade now. First game worlds were permanently locked to 7th gen standards by the weak CPUs in 8th gen consoles. Then pushing graphics on PC became unprofitable because PC gamers could no longer afford to upgrade (due to GPU mining). Then the kung flu hit. Then every studio continued to ship to 8th gen which turned the 9th gen into a glorified PS4 Pro Pro and Xbox One X X.
Due to all this we no longer expect big leaps in graphics but the turning point is just around the corner! Mining is dead, 8th gen is dead, GPUs are still expensive but people have mostly bitten the bullet and upgraded any way, and most importantly, we are now deep enough into 9th gen that studios are about to release their SECOND game for these platforms. We are only now starting to see games built for 9th gen from the ground up by devs with 9th gen experience.
It looks as old as it is, it just uses a lot of make-up.
Yep but John has to deliver a certain amount of content using the 4090 to keep his deal with the green ones rolling.
Beyond 2 Souls.
Developed 14 years ago.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ac6f813e04e8c7a03e140c267e2146e91644c1deb3ac61b6a019fba593b2f55.jpg
Beyond 2 Souls.
Developed 14 years ago.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ac6f813e04e8c7a03e140c267e2146e91644c1deb3ac61b6a019fba593b2f55.jpg
A lot of top games were released with UE3. Next was Engine 4, a stuttering mess that spoiled many games.
This is my first time ever seeing this tech demo. That was cool. I am surprised I have never seen this before.
Too bad consoles prevented us from reaching those graphics
Reminds me of Hard Reset Redux.
instead now we have UE5 that stutters more than a kid with speech impediment, toped with no creativity in game design and feel. we also should consider the wokness and diversity and pronouns. so what do we get? devolving as a species !
Honestly MEH. It was a big showcase of post-processing and rich 3D assets, and neither of those things are impressive or even interesting any more. And it was built in a way that would only be viable for a David Cage “game”. This kind of hand-crafted lighting and post-processing does not scale to the development of anything but a “movie game”. Samaritan was a flashy false promise, leveraging man power / artistry moreso than technology.
it’s mostly high contrast that make it look like impressive, lot of very dark area, and some very bright area, outside of it it’s isn’t that impressive
white male protagonist and one of the bad cops is heckin’ blackerino. heh. This is before the “Diversity & Inclusivity” terror cult took over PC gaming
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