Epic's Samaritan demo is playable

Epic has confirmed its amazing Samaritan Unreal tech demo isn't just a pretty, pre-rendered cut scene - you can interact with it just like a game.

Although quick to reaffirm that Samaritan is not a game, and won't see commercial release, Epic told CVG the protagonist can be moved around the city street shown in a closed-doors GDC session.

"We have a character and we've got a set of animations we can hook him up with and move him around. But there's not really any type of gameplay. It's more a cinematic experience," senior artist Alan Willard explained.

Samaritan functions as a fully, real-time, dynamic interactive demo, and Epic has told VG247 the level of graphics in its has been supported in the engine since GDC.

Epic also said that "all the DirectX 11 features found in Samaritan are shipped in full source UE3 as well as UDK right now."

Knowing that level of graphics could be supported in a playable game is mind-blowing.

Epic boss Mark Rein said the developer has no plans to make a game based on the world presented in the demo, but added that it's not impossible and that Gears of War, one of the company's most successful products, began as a demo.