> Technology is sadly increasingly homogenising around Unreal Engine 5

I kinda get the commodification of games engines and Unreal. I am sure a lot of us saw the gaming revolution unfold, watching gaming companies one-up each other in graphics and interactivity. But once you get to the point of UE5, Unity, or Godot there is little need or value to make a game engine from scratch anymore.

Don't get me wrong, if you want to write an engine, go for it. But if you just want to make a game then an existing engine is good enough.