Heroes & Gods: Disciples of Morana — Cinematic Intro (Unreal Engine 5)

Cinematic intro produced in Unreal Engine 5 for "Heroes & Gods": Disciples of Morana, a dark DRPG developed by Fanatic Game Labs.
The sequence was designed to establish the world's tone from the first second — combining real-time rendering, dynamic systems, and atmospheric lighting to deliver a cinematic feel within a game engine environment.
Technical breakdown:

Niagara VFX — custom magic effects and particle systems for the deity reveal
VDB Volumetrics — fire and smoke simulations using VDB sequences for physically accurate volumetric effects
Emissive rune system — hand-crafted glowing runes with emission-based materials
Physics simulation — stone debris system triggered on the gamebox emergence; required an additional plugin to achieve the desired destruction behavior
Cloth/flag simulation — wind-driven banner animation using UE5 physics
Global Illumination with Lumen — iterative lighting pass to find the optimal mood; full real-time GI without baked lightmaps
Sequencer — cinematic camera choreography and scene timeline
Post-process — color grading and atmospheric depth

Client: Fanatic Game Labs

Role: Cinematic Artist — UE5 Sequence, VFX & Lighting
▶ Full trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFThLa5rF-8