You Should Download 'The Matrix Awakens' Right Now

The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are powerful machines—that much isn’t news. One such example of that power is The Matrix Awakens, currently available on both systems, which provides a free-of-charge look at Unreal Engine’s future in gaming. That unique experience, however, is going away for good, unless you download it right now.

The Matrix Awakens isn’t a game so much as it is an interactive tech demo for Unreal Engine 5. Epic Games has been keen to show off the next general of Unreal Engine and what it can add to gaming in the future, employing examples designed to impress and spark the imaginations of gamers and the friends made to watch.

You can see that in Lorenzo Drago’s demo of Etchū-Daimon train station in Japan. While the experience isn’t something replicable in a full-scale game yet, it is built using Unreal Engine 5, and it is undoubtedly impressive.

Compared to Drago’s demo, though, The Matrix Awakens is Grand Theft Auto: The first 10 minutes feature a photorealistic, interactive cinematic featuring Keanu Reaves and Carrie-Anne Moss, before dropping you in the middle of The Matrix, which, in this case, is a large, active, beautifully rendered city. You can walk, fly, or drive through the cityscape to take in everything Unreal put together—if you prefer a god-mode-like experience, you can use the drone to quickly zoom through the map.

Unlike GTA, however, there isn’t much to do: Since this is really a tech demo, the main idea is to see how visually impressive Unreal Engine 5 can be on modern hardware. Aside from a short shoot-out during the initial cinematic, there are no real tasks for you to do here. Instead, your main objective is to explore the world. Still, it’s a fun experience, especially considering how large the map is for a demo: If you’re the kind of person who enjoys traveling around video game maps aimlessly exploring, you’ll probably enjoy doing that in The Matrix Awakens.

Unfortunately, the title is set to be delisted from both PlayStation and Xbox stores on Saturday, July 9, three days from this article. After that point, The Matrix Awakens will no longer be accessible to new players looking to try out Unreal Engine 5’s version of The Matrix. However, if you downloaded it before July 9, it will remain available as a downloadable option now and in the future.

Even if you don’t have much interest in the demo, consider downloading it today, even if you delete it right away. Simply choosing to download The Matrix Awakens for free will ensure it is tied to your PlayStation or Xbox for good, so you will always have the option to play it in the future in case you want to.

[Polygon]