The wait for Godot is over… at least, for Godot 4.5 that is. The popular open source 2D/3D game engine Godot just released Godot Engine 4.5 and it’s brim full of great new features. If you are interested in seeing several of these features in action and learn how to use them be sure to check out our Godot 4.5 – Top 6 New Features. If you are interested in Learning Godot 4.x be sure to check out the Learn Godot in 2025 (by Zenva) Humble Bundle. If you are looking for Godot ready game assets check out the ongoing Godot StarNova Bundle (use code SN40 at checkout) or the just launched Gigantic Game Dev Assets & Tools MegaBundle which also contains a few Godot game environments. Using any of these links helps support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!)
Back to the Godot 4.5 release, what are the highlight new features?
Of course, here is a consolidated list of the key features from the Godot 4.5 release, without subcategories.
- Shader Baker: This feature pre-compiles shaders during export, which significantly reduces game startup times and eliminates in-game stutters caused by on-the-fly shader compilation.
- Screen Reader Support: Godot 4.5 adds experimental support for screen readers on Control nodes and within the Inspector and Project Manager, enhancing accessibility for developers and players with visual impairments.
- Stencil Buffer Support: A major addition that allows for advanced rendering effects. It can be used to create effects like “cutting a hole” in a surface to reveal what is behind it as well as implementing easy selection outlines.
- Mute Game Toggle: A convenient new button in the Game view that allows developers to instantly mute all game audio for easier debugging.
- Export Variables as Variant: Developers can now export variables of type
Variant, providing more flexibility to change both the value and the type of the variable directly in the Inspector. - Expanded Animation Player Features: The animation editor now supports selecting and scaling Bézier editor points with a selection box. It also automatically adds auto-tangents to new Bézier points, and animations can be sorted alphabetically and filtered by name.
- Script Color Picker: The script editor now includes a color preview next to all
Colorvalues, providing a quick visual reference. - Inspector Section Toggles: Sections in the Inspector can now be toggled on and off really cutting down on screen clutter.
- Paste as Unique: A new option in the resource picker that allows a pasted resource to be a unique instance instead of a simple reference to the original.
- Fragment Density Map Support: A feature that can improve rendering efficiency, particularly for mobile and virtual reality applications.
- macOS Embedded Window Support: macOS users can now embed the game window directly within the editor.
- EditorScript Files in Command Palette: Named
EditorScriptfiles can now be run directly from the command palette, simplifying their execution. - Async Navigation Updates: Both 2D and 3D navigation regions and links now update asynchronously, improving performance, while 2D gets its own dedicated navigation server.
Key Links
You can learn more about the Godot 4.5 release in the video below.