Keanu Reeves And Carrie-Anne Moss Announced ‘The Matrix Awakens’ At The Game Awards

The Matrix Resurrections is hitting theaters on December 22 and there is a lot to be excited about. Feelings on the second and third movies are hit and miss, but everyone generally agrees that the universe those movies established is pretty cool. So when a fourth one was announced for 2021 how could there not be a reason to get excited about it? A chance to go back into a world where video game like feats is possible? Who wouldn’t be excited?

That comparison to video games turned out to be right on point because during The Game Awards on Thursday, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss made a surprise appearance to announce a new game/tech demo from Epic Games called The Matrix Awakens. This tech demo is meant to show players the power of the Epic Games developed engine, Unreal Engine 5. It is currently playable for anyone with a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.

The moment itself was pretty cool, and it’s always enjoyable when Keanu Reeves shows up at a video game event, but the real appeal here is what the Unreal Engine 5 is capable of. The game/experience is a tech demo, but the screenshots that are coming out of it feel straight out of a movie. It’s an example of the kind of realism that these games are currently capable of. Via unrealengine.com.

“When I told them I was making another Matrix film, they suggested I come and play in the Epic sandbox,” says Wachowski. “And holy sh*t, what a sandbox it is!

“I imagine the first company to build an actual Matrix—a fully immersive, persistent world—will be a game company and Epic is certainly paving the way there. It’s mind-boggling how far games have come in twenty years.

“Keanu, Carrie, and I had a blast making this demo. The Epic sandbox is pretty special because they love experimenting and dreaming big. Whatever the future of cinematic storytelling, Epic will play no small part in its evolution.”

The Matrix has an interesting history when it comes to video games. Back in the early 2000’s when the franchise was at peak popularity, a game by the name of Enter the Matrix was released. The game itself is mediocre at best, but what was interesting about it is that Enter the Matrix contained never before seen scenes exclusive to the game. All of these scenes were considered canon and part of The Matrix universe so anyone that wanted to know everything about the franchise would have to go play the game to find out what was in it. While we haven’t seen anything that tells us exclusive movie content for the upcoming movie is in this tech demo, it’s cool to see that The Matrix is still embracing video games all these years later.

Source: https://uproxx.com/edge/the-matrix-awakens-the-game-awards-video/