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Overview

Lumen is the dynamic global illumination and reflections system built into Unreal Engine 5, and is one of the rendering technologies powering Neverness to Everness's lighting on PC and console. Lumen calculates indirect lighting and reflections in real time as the camera moves through the scene, producing more believable lighting than traditional baked lighting solutions, especially in dynamic environments like Hethereau's neon-lit streets.

The Version 1.0 launch build upgraded the engine to Unreal Engine 5.7, which includes a refined Global Illumination System that delivers "dramatically improved lighting" compared to earlier beta builds. The Launch Roadmap specifically called out fixes to noticeable ghosting artifacts in the existing Lumen implementation that beta testers reported during the Containment Test and the Co-Ex Test.

How Lumen Works

Lumen produces global illumination through a hybrid approach that combines screen-space tracing, software ray tracing, and (when available) hardware ray tracing. The system:

• Tracks how light bounces off surfaces, creating realistic indirect lighting that fills shadowed areas with ambient illumination from nearby lit surfaces.

• Updates lighting in real time as objects, characters, and the time of day change.

• Produces dynamic reflections on surfaces like wet streets, glass facades, and vehicle bodywork.

• Avoids the static "baked" look of traditional pre-computed lighting, particularly on moving objects and during weather transitions.

In Neverness to Everness's urban open world, Lumen pays off most visibly during the day-night cycle: as Hethereau transitions from afternoon sunlight to neon-soaked evening, Lumen recalculates the indirect lighting in real time so that interiors lit by streetlights through windows behave correctly without manual lighting setups for every scene.

Lumen and the Launch Roadmap

Beta testers during the Containment Test and Co-Ex Test reported visible ghosting artifacts in the Lumen implementation. The Launch Roadmap published February 26, 2026 explicitly called out Lumen Bug Fixes as a priority for the launch build, listing the goal as "fixing noticeable ghosting artifacts in the existing Lumen implementation that players reported during beta."

The roadmap also confirmed the engine upgrade to Unreal Engine 5.7 with Global Illumination System support "for dramatically improved lighting," providing a higher-fidelity foundation for Lumen on top of the bug fixes.

Lumen vs. Path Tracing

Lumen and Path Tracing are different rendering techniques that solve overlapping problems:

Most players running Neverness to Everness experience the world through Lumen rendering. Path Tracing is a high-end PC option for players with capable GPUs who want the most physically accurate lighting available.

Lumen on Different Platforms

Tips

• Lumen quality scales with the graphics preset. The Epic and Ultra graphics presets run Lumen at higher fidelity than Low or Medium.

• If you experience ghosting after launch, check for game updates first. The launch build addressed beta-era ghosting; further improvements may roll out in subsequent patches.

• Path Tracing is the high-end alternative. Players with RTX 40-series GPUs who want the absolute best lighting should consider toggling Path Tracing on, accepting the lower framerate it requires.

• Lumen interacts with weather. The Weather System produces visibly different lighting depending on Lumen's quality setting; rain effects in particular look more grounded with higher Lumen quality.

Related Pages

• Unreal Engine 5

• Path Tracing

• Graphics Settings

• PS5 Pro Enhancements

• Launch Roadmap

• DLSS 4

• Day-Night Cycle

• Weather System