Unreal Engine 5.8 adds Lumen Lite for Switch 2 60fps

Epic Games released Unreal Engine 5.8, introducing Lumen Lite, a lower‑GPU dynamic global illumination mode intended to help games run at 60 frames per second on Nintendo Switch 2, including in handheld mode.

Lumen Lite reduces GPU cost by using irradiance fields with probe occlusion. Epic says the mode runs about twice as fast as Lumen High Quality and remains supported on PC. The change is presented as a scalable option within the engine’s Lumen lighting system.

The engine’s medium scalability preset is targeted to reach 60 fps on Switch 2, which Epic describes as making real‑time global illumination more practical for developers working on that platform’s performance modes.

At Epic’s State of Unreal, Vice President of Engineering Simon Tourangeau commented, “Lumen, our dynamic global illumination system, now has a lightweight mode called Lumen Lite, designed to preserve much of the visual impact at a significantly lower GPU cost. That makes Lumen viable where it wasn’t before, including on Switch 2. And that work is already helping drive further nanite optimization efforts for the platform.”

Epic labels Unreal Engine 5.8 as the last planned major update in the UE5 line and says the company will increase development focus on Unreal Engine 6 going forward. The Lumen Lite changes are linked to ongoing optimization work for Nanite, Epic’s virtualized geometry system.

Lumen simulates bounced and indirect light in real time to produce more natural lighting without baking static lightmaps. Lumen Lite provides a lower‑cost option that keeps many of those lighting benefits on platforms where full‑quality dynamic illumination would be too expensive.