Unreal Engine 5.8 is a major audio release, despite Epic staffing cuts

Epic layoffs in March cut deep into the audio and music teams. But there’s hope that their work will live on in Unreal Engine and MetaSounds, via what is arguably the most innovative sound work built into any game engine. Unreal Engine 5.8, now in preview, features a bunch of powerful tools for working with sound, one of the biggest sound releases yet. Here’s a look at what’s in that roadmap.

ANIMEVOX by castpixel is a free retro anime-style sound fx generator

Sparkle! Slash! PowerUP! This deceptively simple, stupidly fun free browser tool/download generates sound effects in the style of 80s and 90s Japanese animation, all thanks to a clever signal chain. And you can export WAV files, so you could use it to build instruments/drum racks, too.

Peter Kirn - January 18, 2026

Despelote’s soundscape transports you to Ecuador and childhood football magic

As part of CDM’s year-end coverage, I’m rounding up some of the best music and sound design in games. There’s nowhere better to start than Despelote, a beautifully designed and directed game that will move you by putting you in the shoes of a kid in 2001 Quito, Ecuador. It’s a master study in weaving sound and music in a way that both triggers sense memories and transports you inside a life experience.

Peter Kirn - December 22, 2025

Unity 6.1: performance, Web and device features, free for personal use

Peter Kirn - April 28, 2025

This artist is connecting Unreal, Ableton Live for production-grade visualizers

Peter Kirn - March 7, 2025

Unreal Engine 5.5 for sound: Audio Widgets, MetaSounds news

Peter Kirn - November 13, 2024

Unreal Engine 5.1 goes wild: what’s new from foliage to generated sound

Peter Kirn - November 24, 2022

Watch Unreal Engine make low-latency visualizations, thanks to Arthur Barthur

Peter Kirn - March 25, 2021

Procedural visuals for everybody: Houdini is now free for Unreal and Unity

Peter Kirn - February 25, 2021