RE Engine

RE Engine
Logo since 2020
Developer(s)	Capcom
Platform	Android iOS Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch 2 PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Stadia Windows Xbox One Xbox Series X/S
License	Proprietary

RE Engine, also known as Reach for the Moon Engine,^[1][2] is a proprietary video game engine created by Capcom. It was originally designed for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) and would subsequently be used to develop its sequels Resident Evil Village (2021) and Resident Evil Requiem (2026), in addition to the remakes of Resident Evil 2 (2019), Resident Evil 3 (2020) and Resident Evil 4 (2023). The RE Engine has since become the engine that has powered the majority of Capcom's tentpole releases on console and PC, such as Devil May Cry 5 (2019), Monster Hunter Rise (2021), Street Fighter 6 (2023), Dragon's Dogma 2, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (both 2024) and Monster Hunter Wilds (2025), among other titles.^[3][4][5] The engine is a successor to Capcom's MT Framework.^[6]

Capcom originally intended to follow up MT Framework with the engine Panta Rhei, with development starting in 2011; it was abandoned due to development hell of the unreleased PlayStation 4 game Deep Down, for which it was to serve as a showcase.^[7][8]

RE Engine was created in 2014, during the beginning of the development of Resident Evil 7. The engine was originally designed with the game's linear nature in mind and was created to make game development more efficient.^[9] The reason the team did not choose a third-party engine was that "a highly generic engine developed by another company would not be appropriate" for a game like Resident Evil 7.^[10] MT Framework was not used for the project due to its slower development tools. Jun Takeuchi, the head of Capcom's Division 1 stated "we had to rethink the way we make games. In order to carry out asset-based (graphic and 3D model elements) development, which is globally the mainstream, we began developing our new RE Engine".^[11]

Since its introduction, RE Engine has been used as the primary game engine across all Capcom titles. No single game or franchise drives the direction of the engine, according to Monster Hunter producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, and instead all studios contribute towards its improvement. This approach has avoided the pitfalls that other developers have had dealing with the demand to use a singular engine tuned for a specific game to be used across all games, such as at Electronic Arts.^[12]

When discussing Monster Hunter Rise, Yasunori Ichinose, the game's director, discussed porting RE Engine to the Nintendo Switch, and said "a lot of background technical engineering work need[ed] to be done just to achieve targeting a new hardware platform", and mentioned the challenge of creating the large maps the team wanted while trying to maintain the game's graphical quality.^[13]

In October 2023, Capcom unveiled "Codename REX" (RE neXt ENGINE), their next-generation game engine, during a 22-minute developer-focused presentation. Acknowledging limitations in the current RE Engine, the new engine upgrade will involve incrementally integrating RE+X technology into the existing RE Engine, elevating it to next-generation capabilities.^[14][15][16]

RE Engine features various improvements over MT Framework, including new anti-aliasing and volumetric lighting features.^[17] The engine also allows developers to use photogrammetry to create higher quality assets. It also includes improved VR support over its predecessor, allowing it to hit high framerates necessary to avoid motion sickness.^[11] It also includes tools to make animation faster, such as modular rigging, motion matching, procedural animation and motion retargeting.^[18][19][20] RE Engine also has various new physics simulation options which allow for more realistic debris.^[21]