A new Unreal Engine 5 feature pushed to the engine's main development branch last week could pave the way for significant Lumen performance improvements across the board and for the lighting technology to be implemented in Nintendo Switch 2 games.
As reported by tech artist Dylan Browne on X, Lumen Irradiance Cache, a probe-based Lumen mode for lower-end devices, is now available in the Epic engine. Compared to the default Hardware Lumen, the new mode features less occlusion detail and worse reflections, but it's still a good compromise compared to having no Lumen at all, judging from the comparison video below.
As the Unreal Engine 5 Lumen Irradiance Cache is still in a very early state, it is difficult to say how much low-power devices will benefit from it. However, things are looking quite promising already. According to a now-removed GitHub commit, which was captured before removal and shared on the ResetERA forums, Lumen Radiance Cache speeds up the Lumen gather stage by 2.5 times for an overall Lumen Scene speedup of 1.5.
This lighter version of Lumen could finally make Unreal Engine 5’s signature lighting viable on lower-power hardware like the Nintendo Switch 2, even if in a limited form. At this time, games powered by the engine released on the new generation Nintendo console, such as Cronos: The New Dawn, don't feature Lumen, most likely because the console's CPU can't run games with such demanding features at an acceptable performance level.
As even Fortnite doesn't run with Lumen and Nanite on the Nintendo Switch 2, it's clear that dedicated work had to be made on the engine for the console to support these hallmark features, which seems to be already happening with the implementation of this new Lumen option. Hopefully, it won't take long for developers to take advantage of it and bring Switch 2 ports closer to the other console versions in terms of visual fidelity.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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