Is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League built using Unreal Engine 5?

Rocksteady Studio's upcoming superhero looter-shooter, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, is an Unreal Engine title that's scheduled to release in a few days. As the next chapter in Rocksteady's highly-rated Batman Arkham series, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is one of the most anticipated games of 2024.

While the gameplay and progression systems left a mixed impression on fans, the game did impress with its visuals and presentation. Rocksteady's previous title, Batman Arkham Knight, is still held by many as one of the best-looking modern superhero open-world games out there, despite being built on the now dated Unreal Engine 3.

With Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's looming release, many fans might be wondering whether the game is built on the most recent iteration of the game engine, i.e., Unreal Engine 5. Surprisingly, Rocksteady's upcoming looter-shooter is built on Unreal Engine 4, albeit with major modifications.

Note: Aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the author's opinions.

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is an Unreal Engine 4 game, albeit with modifications to bring it on par with current-gen game engines

While Rocksteady is best known for their single-player narrative-driven experiences, i.e., the Arkham Trilogy, the studio's upcoming title is their very first foray into the looter-shooter genre. Much like Rocksteady's previous titles, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is built on Unreal Engine exclusively for current-generation hardware.

While Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's announcement trailer alluded to Rocksteady developing the game on Unreal Engine 5, the studio later confirmed that their upcoming looter-shooter was built using a highly modified version of Unreal Engine 4. Using UE4 for current-gen exclusive titles isn't anything new, as there have been more than a handful of games under the same umbrella.

For instance, titles like WB Games Montreal's Gotham Knights, Avalanche Studio's Hogwarts Legacy, and Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi Survivor are all current-gen titles built using Unreal Engine 4. Although UE4 is quite dated, it still comes with support for modern graphics techniques, making it a very viable game engine for most developers.

Due to the prior experience Rocksteady has with Unreal Engine, Suicide Squad, despite using Unreal Engine 4, looks nothing less than a current-gen open-world title. However, it can be argued that the game would have looked significantly better if it was developed on Unreal Engine 5, owing to the improved lighting of the engine.

However, as it stands, the game still looks leagues (no pun intended) ahead of what anything of this scale would have looked like on consoles from the previous generation.