OnceLost Games, a studio founded by former Elder Scrolls developers, has decided to abandon Unreal Engine 5 on its ambitious fantasy RPG The Wayward Realms and move the project to a custom engine based on Wicked Engine. The team cites the need for tighter control and flexibility as a key reason for the switch, arguing that a proprietary solution better fits their long term goals than a general purpose commercial engine. According to the developers, the new tech already delivers clear, measurable gains: the game reaches over 30 fps on decade old laptops without a dedicated GPU, comes close to 30 fps on the first Nintendo Switch and targets 60 fps on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
The world map, said to be roughly four times the size of Manhattan, now loads in under a second, which also speeds up development thanks to engine startup times of a few hundred milliseconds. Beyond performance, the move enables full mod support through a public scripting layer and includes native Linux compatibility, both important for a long lived RPG with an active community.
The change does push the planned release back to at least mid 2026 for backers, but the studio hopes the benefits will result in a deeper and more accessible role playing experience
