Is The Witcher 4 Tech Demo What The Witcher 4 Will Actually Look Like? We Asked CD Projekt

The Witcher 4 tech demo offered a stunning look astatine what CD Projekt has insisted is conscionable that: a tech demo. As IGN has reported, it is not typical of The Witcher 4 gameplay. But it’s hard not to look astatine the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo acceptable wrong the satellite of The Witcher and wonderment if it gives america a wide consciousness of what to expect from the game, which is inactive years from release.

The tech demo, captured connected a PlayStation 5 and moving astatine 60 frames per second, follows Ciri arsenic she explores the never-before-seen portion of Kovir successful the midst of a monster declaration (CD Projekt confirmed Kovir is simply a playable country successful The Witcher 4).

There is an unthinkable magnitude of item successful the tech demo, with fluid animations connected a level we person yet to spot connected the existent procreation of consoles. Ciri and her equine Kelpie person peculiarly awesome question and interactions with each other, NPCs, and the crippled satellite arsenic they marque their mode done the mountains of Kovir to the bustling larboard municipality of Valdrest. At 1 constituent successful the demo, CD Projekt upped the NPC number successful the marketplace country to 300 individually animated characters. The showcase ended with a archetypal look astatine Lan Exeter, the wintertime superior and a large larboard metropolis successful Kovir.

CD Projekt, of course, knows what it’s similar to acceptable expectations for 1 of its upcoming video games and past miss them. Just look astatine the disastrous motorboat of Cyberpunk 2077 backmost successful 2020, which the institution spent years recovering from. So, determination is an inevitable question for CD Projekt: is what we’ve seen successful The Witcher 4 tech demo what The Witcher 4 volition look like?

That’s a question we enactment to Kajetan Kapuściński, Cinematic Director astatine CD Projekt, astatine Epic’s State of Unreal 2025 event. His effect was arsenic vague arsenic you’d expect from a developer moving connected a crippled that won’t beryllium released until 2027 astatine the earliest, but helium did accidental this: the tech demo "shows our ambition."

Here’s Kapuściński’s effect successful full:

“So what you've seen contiguous is simply a tech demo that was powered by Unreal Engine 5, and that was a task that we worked connected unneurotic with the Epic team. That was a demo that we crafted truthful some companies tin enactment connected immoderate exertion that volition beryllium powering Witcher 4 successful the future.

“So it's not gameplay of The Witcher 4 per se. What you person seen shows our ambition, our cutting borderline exertion that we co-developed to marque the crippled imaginable to beryllium made. And it shows our creator absorption arsenic well, and our, let's say, however we would similar to attack immoderate things.

“But everything you saw is taxable to beryllium changed. That is simply a snippet of what we person now. We wanted to amusement it to the public, we wanted to amusement what we worked connected together. And present having these tools, having these possibilities, we are moving with the game.”

In the aforesaid interview, we asked Wyeth Johnson, Senior Director, Product Strategy astatine Epic Games, if the tech demo’s show (60fps with ray tracing connected a basal PS5) reflects what players tin expect to play connected a PS5 successful a released product.

“Oh absolutely. We can't prevarication here," helium replied. “The exertion that we're making has to beryllium straight applicable for what players expect and players crossed the full hardware spectrum are asking for astonishing 60 framework per 2nd gameplay.”

60fps with ray tracing successful a large open-world crippled similar The Witcher 4 connected basal PS5 is beyond the show we’ve travel to expect from the existent procreation of consoles, but Johnson said moving with CD Projekt connected The Witcher 4 tech demo “allowed america to propulsion precise rapidly and aggressively towards acold higher show astatine unthinkable fidelity.”

This, clearly, is beyond what we’re expecting from the five-year-old PS5. Players person go conditioned to judge that if they're playing connected a PlayStation oregon an Xbox and they privation ray tracing, it’s 30 frames per 2nd and that’s it. But Johnson insisted the console hardware “is incredible” and there’s much show to beryllium squeezed retired of it.

“What you person to bash is you person to beryllium clever astir however you instrumentality vantage of that hardware,” helium said. “And I deliberation if you were to summarize galore of the things that we did, it's to instrumentality things that usually hap serially 1 aft different and marque them spell wide, marque them spell parallel. Much much hardware capableness is harnessed erstwhile you instrumentality that approach.

“When you look astatine things similar our caller Unreal animation model and this accelerated geometry streaming, letting you determination done the situation astatine immoderate velocity is desired, each of these things are determination to spell overmuch much wide, and that enables you to unlock the hardware a small spot much easily. And these are intrinsic to Unreal Engine going forward.

“You person to instrumentality clip to recognize however you tin unlock each these small astonishing capabilities that were handed by the hardware manufacturers. You enactment with it and you find the areas, you find the bottlenecks and you optimize.

“It's somewhat remarkable; if you look astatine immoderate of our much aboriginal demos, you're seeing two, three, 10x improvements successful show with very, precise akin visuals, and that's conscionable you're uncovering the borderline cases, you're uncovering the ways to improve, and past you spell close down to the bottommost and marque those intrinsic to what Unreal tin do. Then astonishing developers similar CD Project Red get to past physique connected apical of that.”

Expectation for The Witcher 4 is sky-high, and fans privation to cognize precisely what to expect from the crippled close now. On this, Kapuściński kept his cards adjacent to his chest. But helium did connection a tease of sorts:

“If you analyse the travel of the demo, you tin really prime up immoderate elements that tin amusement the absorption that we are heading to, and the possibilities that travel with our practice and what we've achieved truthful far. So for example, looking astatine the forest, there's this vista spot erstwhile you tin spot a immense forest, which is present utilizing Nanite foliage. The quality to render specified magnitude of trees and foliage of specified fidelity, that's thing that unlocks caller powers.

"And besides the Unreal animation framework, the optimization that comes with the magnitude of NPCs, truthful moving characters that you tin spot successful the surface space. We person different vista infinitesimal with the immense crowd, similar implicit 300 animated actors there. And that's thing we need, and that's thing that if you link immoderate dots that shows the absorption we privation to spell to.”

So, huge, highly elaborate forests and huge, highly elaborate crowds confirmed for The Witcher 4!

One of the large questions astir The Witcher 4 is people motorboat platforms. With this tech demo connected PS5, the proposition is it volition beryllium a cross-gen crippled that besides runs connected the next-gen consoles (PS6 and the next-gen Xbox). But if it’s owed retired connected current-gen, does that besides mean it volition beryllium disposable connected the underpowered Xbox Series S? It’s worthy remembring that Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto VI is, arsenic it stands, besides owed retired connected current-gen consoles including the Xbox Series S. So if GTA 6 is imaginable connected Microsoft’s cheaper console, possibly The Witcher 4 is, too.

CD Projekt has indicated The Witcher 4 won’t beryllium retired until 2027 astatine the earliest, truthful it whitethorn beryllium immoderate clip earlier we find out.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].