Scans Factory has released a free Next-Gen Tech Demo for Unreal Engine 5.7. The project recreates the city of Venice using Epic’s latest engine build and demonstrates the use of its core realtime features: Lumen (global illumination and reflections) and Nanite (virtualised geometry rendering). The scene includes over 500 modular assets: stylised buildings, bridges, courtyards, cafés, and public squares filled with small environmental details. The visual tone leans toward realism with slight stylisation, designed to illustrate UE5.7’s lighting and geometry improvements in dense urban layouts. Also: I nice walk in the afternoon, no mater how bad the weather is outside.
Performance: Solid but No DLSS
According to performance testing on DSOGaming, the demo runs at around 40 FPS in native 4K on Cinematic settings and 65 FPS on Ultra settings. The test system used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32 GB DDR5-6000, and an NVIDIA RTX 5090 under Windows 10 (64-bit) with GeForce driver 581.80. Notably, the demo does not include support for DLSS 4 or any other upscaling technology. Despite this, frame stability at Ultra settings indicates a well-optimised Unreal Engine 5.7 environment for high-end hardware.
Content and Availability
The Venice demo can be downloaded free of charge from Scans Factory’s distribution page. A walkthrough video and a comparative clip showing UE5.4 versus UE5.7 versions accompany the release, illustrating incremental engine performance improvements. Scans Factory notes that the project uses entirely self-authored assets. No pricing information applies, as this is a public showcase rather than a commercial release.
Context: UE5.7 in the Wild
Unreal Engine 5.7 has been appearing in a growing number of fan-made and experimental projects. Other recent community tech demos include remakes or reinterpretations of titles such as Halo 3: ODST, Spider-Man, and STALKER, as well as small-scale environment studies like “Rome Italian Town” and “Witcher-like Village.” While such projects are non-commercial and unofficial, they offer insight into the rendering behaviour and efficiency of Epic’s evolving engine pipeline.
Test Before Production
As with all publicly shared Unreal Engine demos, performance and compatibility can vary by hardware configuration. D’uh. And, if you need some proper cicchetti, have a laugh about the Milanese or just take a relaxed walk in the absurd city, this is for you. Bonus Points if you find the spot where Indiana Jones climbes out in front of the Church, and says: “Ah, Venice!”
