The Witcher 4 Tech Demo Reveals Exciting Details But Will The Final Game Live Up To The Hype?

It has been ten years since The Witcher 3 came out. We still do not have a launch date for The Witcher 4. But thanks to a recent tech demo, we have a better idea of what CD Projekt Red is aiming for with the game's visuals. This is true even if we will not see the game in action for a few more years.

On May 3, The Witcher 4 started off a showcase of Epic’s Unreal Engine 5.6. This game marks the first time CD Projekt Red will use this engine. They have used their own REDengine in the past. The demo does not show actual gameplay. However, game director Sebastian Kalemba claims it was running on a standard PlayStation 5 at 60 frames per second. The presentation was full of technical terms. It was mostly for developers. But it still had plenty of information to show regular gamers how The Witcher 4 might compare to the game before it.

The tech demo begins with a cinematic trailer. It shows a wagon attacked by a manticore on the road. Ciri shows up after the attack. What is more interesting is that an in-engine demo follows. This part is meant to show off the game’s new engine while giving a good idea of what gameplay will be like. It is set in the mountainous region of Kovir. This is a place the Witcher games have not gone to yet. Kalemba says at least some of The Witcher 4 will take place there. It is exciting to think about exploring a new part of this world.

Ciri Takes Center Stage In The Witcher 4 And Shows Off New Animation Features

Exploring The Details Of Her Horse Kelpie And Interactions With Other Characters

We are quickly introduced to Kelpie, Ciri’s horse. Whether Kelpie will become as well-known as Geralt’s horse, Roach, is still to be seen. But Unreal senior director Wyeth Johnson talks about a new animation system. This system will make the movement of Kelpie’s muscles and skin look more real. The engine also has some new ideas to make animations match when two characters are doing something together. This means things like Ciri getting on Kelpie should look more natural than they could have in earlier games. These small details really help bring the world to life.

Some of the most striking parts of the demo are things not even talked about when Ciri gets to the port city of Valdrest. Ciri walks through the city wearing a very cool cape. Role-playing game main characters often have these. Both the cape and Ciri’s movements are much smoother than anything The Witcher 3 managed ten years ago. What gets more attention from the people giving the presentation is how Ciri interacts with other characters. For example, she bumps into a seller carrying a crate of apples. The apples then spill and roll across the floor. These small interactions hint at a more reactive world.

Much of the demo focuses not on Ciri, but on the other characters around her. Johnson says Unreal is adding many tools to "close the gap" between Ciri and other people in the world. Ciri might look more detailed than the casual characters around her. But new ways for animating cloth and how characters interact with objects are meant to make them, and therefore the world, look more realistic. Crowds are also getting better in The Witcher 4. More than 300 animated characters can appear on screen with the new engine. Johnson says this is possible while the game still hits 60 frames per second. This sounds like a much more lively world.

Concerns About The Witcher 4's Launch And Its Connections To Cyberpunk 2077's Rocky Start

Will CD Projekt Red Learn From The Past And Deliver A Smoother Experience This Time?

I was worried about The Witcher 4’s release. I thought it might have a difficult launch, like Cyberpunk 2077 had. That game had a huge marketing push. But after seeing the new gameplay footage for The Witcher 4, I feel a little better about it. The game does not have an official release date yet. It also does not have a more specific release window. Still, it is already one of the most anticipated games of this decade. Some talk suggests The Witcher 4’s release date might be after 2026, maybe in 2027.

We know the game will have Ciri as its main character. She takes on the role of a Witcher after the events of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Geralt’s student with white hair now travels the Continent with her own horse. She takes on jobs to kill monsters, as her work requires. There is a lot of talk about Ciri’s role as a Witcher in this game. This is especially true when people discuss the series' background. But the developer has already confirmed this is the case. Players will control Ciri as the main character of The Witcher 4.

Cyberpunk 2077 had a terrible launch when looking at it from a player’s side. The game had many bugs and performance problems. This was especially true on older consoles like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Besides constant glitches, players often found their software closing without warning. There were also bugs that stopped players from moving forward. This caused CD Projekt RED’s reputation to take a big hit. Cyberpunk 2077 was a highly anticipated game. It was launched without the proper finishing touches it got with later updates. Now, the game runs smoothly. But its release was very difficult. My biggest worry with The Witcher 4 was that it would suffer the same fate. I worried about heavy marketing that would build up excitement and sales, only for the game to come out unfinished.

However, this might not happen with The Witcher 4. New gameplay footage was shown during the State of Unreal presentation this year. The tech demo looked surprisingly smooth. During the demo, the studio explained how the new Unreal Engine powered the game. The demo showed the game running on a standard PlayStation 5 console at a 60 frames per second rate. One of the most notable things about the demo is how packed the game looks in its design. Yet, it remained stable with all its elements. If this technical ability carries over to the final game, then The Witcher 4 might avoid the biggest problems Cyberpunk 2077 faced at launch.

What Else Can We Expect From The Witcher 4's World And Its Overall Narrative?

The Promise Of A Rich And Detailed World That Learns From Past Experiences

The video shows Ciri moving through an open-world area of the map. Her movements have well-designed animations. Soon after, she meets her horse, Kelpie. They move towards a village. At this point, the tech demo shows how the horse’s design includes small details. This includes the movement of muscles as it runs through the forest without affecting the game’s performance. The tech demo also moves away from Ciri to show more environmental details. This includes the plants and trees that make up the forest she goes through. The forest looks full and thick. Details go down to each individual leaf and needle in the trees. This is a technology Epic calls nanite foliage. According to the information presented, rendering happens quickly and does not affect the game’s overall performance.

Ciri then goes to a port town full of other characters and visual elements. One of the most striking things about this part of the tech demo is how full the city can become without hurting the game’s frame rate. Another notable thing is how smooth the change from gameplay to a cutscene happens. This is very different from the earlier game in the series. The presentation also showed how many extra characters can be added to the town without affecting its performance. Epic says this number of characters is not at its limit. Developers have a lot of extra space to work with. Overall, the tech demo ran smoothly without any problems. It showed a beautiful world with steady performance. We hope that this technical ability will be in the final game. This gives me a lot of hope.

Something that makes this tech demo different from one of Cyberpunk’s first demos is its setup. Cyberpunk’s first demo was about a single mission. It was shown in a very direct and linear way. It was in a controlled environment that was fully tuned. This was different from the rest of the game at launch. So, the demo sold the game, but it did not show the actual open-world experience. This tech demo, however, seems to break some barriers and move away from the traditional linear demo. So, the chances of The Witcher 4 being this good are better. Still, the tech demo is a controlled setting. It does not always show the whole game. Because of this, as hopeful as I am, I am still a bit cautious about the game’s release. I hope Cyberpunk 2077 taught CD Projekt RED some lessons. I hope the bad example of that game’s launch will be thought about before The Witcher 4 comes out. This new game has great potential if its release avoids the problems of the Night City title.