Russian Subway Environment [UE4] Critique Needed!

JonJo

Hey Polycount, first time posting here so here goes. I've been working on this Environment for a few weeks now, and I could really use some feedback. It's an abandoned russian subway from the early 2000's, and I'm trying to give the scene a chilling vibe. The environment is not from concept. I can link my ref board if needed. The scene is intended as a game environment portfolio piece, so I could really use some serious crit.

I feel like the scene is just missing something, and I can't quite put my finger on what that is.

Please hit me with whatever you guys think, I really want to improve this scene.

*If the screenshots are too dark, lemme know and I'll repost brighter ones, new high contrast monitor is ruining me*

Forest_Cat

It does not look like the Russian subway. And even more so it does not look like an abandoned Russian subway. You need more adequate references.
The fact that there is now seems only to the American subway, so you can just remove all the inscriptions in Russian and pretend that from the very beginning everything was conceived in this way.
Here are a few links to the video about the present abandoned metro in Russia and Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIbM1IVbJaU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU-82yv7sfU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawmbhbDwbk
And this is one of the branches of the Moscow metro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iwwd3H_ZyM

Forest_Cat

Another important point. In the working metro, there is very little graffiti. It is painted quickly enough. And in an abandoned metro there can not be so many whole things, lamps and glasses. Vandals very quickly turn everything into garbage.

Ask

Interesting to see what will be further) Are you russian, or do you know russian?) Coz some of posters is mirrored Left one in the first screen.

Arasharefue4

Really Nice
good tiling textures

JonJo

Hey Forest Cat, thank you so much for the reference videos, they're really good. I agree with what you say that it doesn't quite feel abandoned yet. I'll do what I can to make the scene feel more Russian! I agree it looks too New York esque. Maybe a change of colour pallete and tiles will help.

Ask - I'm not Russian, I'm English aha. I wanted to see whether I could create something that felt Russian without knowing the language (or honeslty a lot about the culture). It's something I've been learning as the project goes on, and it's really interesting. The mirrored advert was a good spot, cheers!

Arasharefue4, cheers man! I'll post a SD breakdown of them when I'm done.

FreneticPonies

The lighting could use a lot of work. There's not nearly enough bright light for how many lights you have on in the scene. You also need to make sure the emissive portion of the textures for your lights are always at least as bright as what the "light" itself is shining on. Here's a quick and dirty paintover:

LoganTMT

It would be a good idea to rebuild the track, as it looks kind of fake and not realistic as it could be.

Ashervisalis

I'd throw some detail onto the hand railings. They look brand new. Looks cool

JonJo

Frenetic ponies - Thank you so much for the paint over dude, really solid explanation. I'll work on bumping up those emissive values on the lights and boost the indirect lighting coming from the key lights. I'll post some progress shots soon to show my progress with the lighting

LoganTMT - How would you rebuild the tracks? What kind of tracks would you expect to see in a Russian Metro. I used some old Ukranian / Russian racks as my references, but what would you change to make it more realistic. 

Ashervisalis - I'll see what I can do without adding another texture set. Right now they're just using tilables. Maybe I'll do some hand print decals or something! Knowing that they're tilables, what would you do to add those details?

JonJo

Yo guys, just wrapped the project up. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/b26qo

I tried to work on the feedback I received, especially the one about lighting! I ended up adding a genuine Russian subway train to hopefully add to the Russian vibe without having to start all the graffiti from scratch and switch it to a NY scene. Thanks for the feedback all, I really appreciate it!

Ashervisalis

Looks cool! Well done.