CD Projekt Red, in collaboration with Epic Games, has unveiled a breathtaking tech demo for The Witcher 4 during the State of Unreal 2025 keynote at Unreal Fest Orlando. This early glimpse into the highly anticipated open-world RPG showcases the power of Unreal Engine 5.6, offering fans a tantalizing preview of what’s to come, despite the game being years away from release.
The demo, running on a base PlayStation 5 at an impressive 60 FPS with ray tracing enabled, highlights groundbreaking features tailored for open-world development. These include the new Unreal Animation Framework, Nanite Foliage rendering, MetaHuman technology, and Mass AI crowd scaling, all of which contribute to creating immersive and believable environments.
Since their strategic partnership began in 2022, CD Projekt Red and Epic Games have been working to enhance Unreal Engine 5’s capabilities, focusing on tools that align with CDPR’s open-world design philosophies. The advancements showcased in the demo are not just for The Witcher 4 but are also being released to other developers starting with the Unreal Engine 5.6 update, promising to elevate the quality of future open-world games across the industry.
The in-engine footage presented a seamless blend of cinematic and gameplay elements, demonstrating advanced physics and detailed world-building that left attendees and online viewers in awe. This tech demo reaffirms CD Projekt Red’s commitment to pushing graphical and performance boundaries, setting a high bar for next-gen gaming experiences.
While no specific release date was announced, the reveal has sparked immense excitement among fans eager to explore the next chapter of The Witcher saga. The focus on performance without compromising quality hints at a game that could redefine expectations for open-world RPGs on current-gen hardware.
As development continues, the collaboration between CD Projekt Red and Epic Games is poised to deliver not only a stellar game but also innovative tools for the broader gaming community. Stay tuned for more updates on The Witcher 4 as we inch closer to its eventual release.
Maria Lourdes
