All of the next gen engines ( that I know of) are moving to a PBR ( Physically Based Renderer) engine. It's basically a more accurate lighting model. Currently the only PBR engines available are Marmoset Toolbag 2.0 and Unreal Engine 4. You can learn more about PBR here…
I'm no master, so keep that in mind, but here's my thoughts. In terms of art: - Work on giving your models more interesting silhouettes. The buildings in the medieval village scene, for example, are all very simple and it makes them just look like a box with a triangle on top of it. - Your diffuse textures seem to be…