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Unreal Engine 5 - Open World Landscapes (Udemy.com)

Master Unreal Engine's Landscape editing tools to create massive environments like in "Breath of the Wild"

4.7
263 reviews

Created by: Greg Wondra

Last updated January 2026

Our take

Based on the ratings of 263 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in January 2026. No course pays to be reviewed.

Greg Wondra's course is a six hour, 51 lecture tour of Unreal Engine 5's landscape tools, framed around building a Breath of the Wild style open world. The syllabus moves from creating and sculpting terrain to painting materials, foliage, water, splines, sky and sound. Foliage is the biggest block, with 16 lectures. It is pitched at beginners, and the teaching is, but the hardware list is not gentle. It asks for an RTX 3060 class graphics card, 16GB of RAM at minimum and Windows, so check your machine first.

Reviewers like the teaching most. Several say the instructor explains why a setting matters, not only which button to press, and a few experienced users admit they learned tools they never knew existed, like the Env Light Mixer. One programmer called it free of filler. The complaints are about depth. A one star reviewer wanted landscaping and found it too basic, a three star reviewer called it a tiny tutorial rather than a course, and another reviewer said their own level was already past it. Of 263 ratings, 182 are five stars.

At six hours with no quizzes or exercises, it is a quick, practical base and not a deep dive. The last update was January 2026, so it is recent, and it uses the Fab tab for free assets. It makes sense for a beginner who wants to see every landscape tool once and then practice alone. Anyone already comfortable in Landscape mode will likely find it a refresher. One reviewer finished and said they now need to practice, which seems the right outcome.

Best forBeginners who want a tidy tour of Unreal's landscape, foliage, water and spline tools in a single weekend.
Skip it ifYou already use Landscape mode regularly, or you want deep material and procedural work rather than a quick tool tour.

Pros

  • Explains why a setting matters and the trade-offs, not just which button to click
  • Covers the full chain: sculpting, painting, foliage, water, splines, sky and sound
  • Even experienced users say they found tools they did not know existed
  • Short lessons and a steady pace, with little filler according to reviewers

Cons

  • Only about six hours, so some reviewers found it too basic or called it a tiny tutorial
  • No quizzes, exercises or a graded project in the syllabus to test what you learned
  • Heavy hardware list: RTX 3060 class GPU, 16GB RAM minimum and Windows only
This course is packed with useful information and tips. It is a good starting point for landscape design in Unreal Engine 5.
George Karboulonis, a student

Beginner label fits the teaching, but the GPU and RAM requirements are not beginner level.

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What you will learn

  • How to create new landscapes
  • How to import existing (real world!) landscapes
  • How to sculpt mountains, valleys, plateaus, and caves
  • How to paint a terrain with mud, grass, rock, or snow textures
  • How to populate a landscape with grass, flower, bush, and tree foliage
  • How to add oceans, lakes, and rivers
  • How to populate a landscape with road, fence, and mesh splines
  • How to add God rays and fog
  • Auto-Material
  • Procedural Foliage
  • Nanite
  • World Partition
  • Environment Art
  • Biomes
  • Unreal Engine 5
  • Landscape Design
  • Open World
  • Game Design
  • Unreal Engine 5
  • Unreal Engine

Course content

11 sections · 51 lectures · 6 hours of video

  1. 1Introduction 2 free previews2 lectures · 4 min
  2. 2Landscape Creation 1 free preview6 lectures · 47 min
  3. 3Landscape Sculpting4 lectures · 34 min
  4. 4Landscape Painting4 lectures · 34 min
  5. 5Foliage 1 free preview16 lectures · 1.4 hours
  6. 6Water6 lectures · 49 min
  7. 7Landscape Splines3 lectures · 27 min
  8. 8Character Movement1 lecture · 5 min
  9. 9Sky3 lectures · 30 min
  10. 10Sounds4 lectures · 35 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Beginner Game Designers interested in creating open world games
  • Beginner Level Artists interested in crafting realistic outdoor environments
  • Beginners looking to expand their knowledge of Level Design
  • Beginners looking to expand their knowledge of Unreal Engine's tool sets (Landscape & Foliage Tools especially)
  • Environment Artist
  • Level Designer
  • Indie Game Developer
  • Student

What you need before you start

  • Basic computer knowledge
  • CPU (Processor) - Minimum: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X / Intel Core i5-12600K or better
  • GPU (Graphics Card) - Minimum: NVIDIA RTX 3060 (12GB) / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (10GB VRAM)
  • RAM (Memory) - Minimum: 16GB DDR4 (but 32GB is much better for landscapes!)
  • Storage - Minimum: 500GB SATA SSD
  • Operating System - Windows 10 / Windows 11 (64-bit, DirectX 12 support required)

How it compares

Against the other 72 rated Udemy courses in Game Design on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.7 out of 5higher than 83% of them
  • Reviews263#20 of 73 by number of reviews
  • Length6 hoursshorter than 55% of them
  • Last updatedJanuary 2026more recently than 91% of them

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Course Description

In this game design course, you'll learn how to use Unreal Engine's Landscape and Foliage Editing tools so that YOU can build open world environments like seen in "Legend of Zelda:  Breath of the Wild."  Knowing how to use these tools is a critical skill for those aspiring to be Level Designers or Environment Artists!

This course contains over 50 fun-to-follow video lessons!  You'll learn how to:

  • Setup a project in the Unreal Engine

  • Grab (free) asset packs from the integrated "Fab" tab in Unreal and use them in our project

  • Create a new landscape

  • Import existing (real world!) landscapes

  • Work on modifying existing landscapes

  • Sculpt mountains, valleys, plateaus, and caves

  • Apply and work with landscape materials

  • Paint landscape surfaces with mud, grass, rock, or snow textures

  • Populate a landscape with grass, flower, bush, or tree foliage

  • Populate a landscape with road, fence, and mesh splines

  • Use numerous Sculpting and Foliage tools within Unreal

  • Illuminate our landscapes with dynamic lighting

  • Add fog & God rays

  • Stream sections of your open world in and out

  • Optimize the performance of our open world

  • And more!

With the knowledge gained in these video lessons, you'll have the necessary skills to start building your OWN open world environments!
Read More Beginner Beginner Level product length iconTime: 6h

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Instructor Details

Greg Wondra

Greg Wondra is an Unreal Authorized Instructor and 12 year video game design veteran.  He's worked for companies such as 2K Sports, KingsIsle Entertainment, and Nickelodeon.  Working credits include:

 - Wizard 101 (PC)

 - Lost Planet 3 (360, PS3, PC)

 - MonkeyQuest (PC)

 - Sports Champions (PS3)

 - Major League Baseball 2K5, 2K6, 2K7, 2K8 (various consoles)

 - SpongeBob Moves In (Mobile)

 - Grub Guardian (Mobile)

Working in the gaming industry has been a lifetime dream filled with rare opportunities.  He's had the good fortune to have directed LeBron James and Derek Jeter in motion capture sessions in his gaming career.  Additionally, Greg led the design of "Sports Champions"...the first game ever released for the PS Move hardware.

"Mr. Wondra" has worked as the Video Game Design instructor at the Regional Occupational Center in Bakersfield, CA where he teaches a full year course on game design using the Unreal Engine.


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Reviews

4.7

263 ratings on Udemy

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By Charles Bue on 6/5/2026

Just starting to use Unreal Engine 5, video is very useful if you want the "this is what this does this is what that does tutorial" All of the explanations are very helpful.

By Wayne Rose on 4/24/2026

I've "tinkered" with UE and taken a couple of tutorials. None of them showed the Env Light Mixer...until now. I'm looking forward to learning what else I've missed. Added: I just completed the course and I must add: This course is amazing! Greg is an excellent instructor who breaks down each section into something understandable. If you want to know more about how to use Unreal Engine, take this course! Now I need to practice...

By Robert J Zamber on 1/3/2026

So far this tutorial has been great for gaining a good active grasp on the amazing procedural environment art, VFX design tools, and potential right inside unreal!

By Monique Oosthuizen on 12/7/2025

It's a good overall of everything and then some for beginners. I think my level is already a bit more advanced for the contents of this course but the delivery was great (as usual). Greg is one of my favourite instructors exactly because of the way he explains everything and the steady pace against which his lessons progress

By Bartek Mrowicki on 11/7/2025

The course gave great insides into landscape creation & showed ways to improve performance when working with foilage which i had issues with. Thank you :)

By Aidan Cuthbertson on 10/1/2025

I already had a basic grasp of unreal engine and applying landscape etc, but the refining of it and making it performance optimised has been a great help, great course for beginners looking to dwell deeper into world making

By Anonymized User on 8/4/2025

אני ממליץ מאוד על הקורס, הבחור פה מסביר בצורה טובה. משתמש בזום כשהוא מסביר על הגדרה מסוימת בתפריטים (הלוואי וכולם היו עושים ככה) רק התחלתי את הקורס ואני כבר נרשם לעוד קורסים שלו. ושכל החטופים יחזרו...

By Jalal Alloush on 7/8/2025

That is not called a course! should call it better a tiny tutorial! But i liked about 3 lessons of the whole this "course". Thanks!

By Mark K. on 6/10/2025

Great course! Easy to follow, well-structured, and clearly explained. It was divided into small sections, which made it easy to follow and stay on track. Highly recommended!

By fred Xanders on 5/2/2025

This was my third course from from Greg W. Awesome course. Teacher has a great way of breaking things down so they are simple and easy to understand. Definitely leveled up in terms of knowledge and what does what. The course covers everything you need to build a landscape the way you want it. Could be good to see a course on PCG. Think it would be a fantastic accompliment to this fab course! Thank you! - Great course

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Overall Score : 94 / 100

Unreal Engine 5 - Open World Landscapes
Visit course on Udemy Write a review
  • Video Duration: icon 6h
  • Price: $19.99
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Updated: icon January 2026
  • Level: Beginner Beginner
  • Language: icon English
  • Certificate: icon Yes
  • Lectures:51 in 11 sections
  • Students:2,672
  • Subtitles:13 languages
  • Udemy badge:Bestseller
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