The Witcher 4 has an incredible appearance. However, according to CDPR, we’re not really looking at The Witcher 4. What does that signify?
OVERVIEW
- The Witcher 4’s latest demo showed us the game running at 60 frames per second on a standard PS5. Or so we believed.
- According to CDPR, it was The Witcher 4’s technology, but “not The Witcher 4 itself.”
- Should we anticipate future iterations of the game to look even better?
We anticipated seeing some screen grabs and brief videos of The Witcher 4 that demonstrated the world and the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5 when CD Projekt Red took the stage at the most recent State of Unreal presentation. We received a lot more than that, though. CDPR showed us how the game could look with a full gameplay tech showcase.
The developers, however, have not held back in stating that the showcase isn’t the game itself. It doesn’t show the actual game, but it does show us what The Witcher 4 might look like and the technology that could power it. What exactly does that mean, though? Does this imply that the game itself will have an even better appearance?
The Witcher 4’s most recent presentation looked fantastic, but what does CDPR mean by this?
The Witcher 4 itself was not the demo displayed during the Unreal Engine showcase; rather, it was a technological demonstration made in the same universe. This was explicitly stated by CDPR in a statement to VGC following the incident. The studio explained that rather than showcasing gameplay, the video was meant to show us the tools that drive The Witcher 4.
Though it isn’t The Witcher 4, this tech demo offers an early look at the state-of-the-art technology that powers the game.
Nevertheless, the video was unquestionably impressive. Intricate NPC behavior, incredibly detailed environments, and every visual element you could anticipate from an Unreal Engine 5 game were all included. It was more about the game’s power than its actual gameplay, as Game Director Sebastian Kalemba clarified on the PlayStation Blog.
However, this tech demo’s main focus is just that—tech—and we were honored to present it live on stage using a PlayStation 5 running at 60 frames per second. In addition to powering The Witcher 4, the tools mentioned will be made available to the larger video game development community via Unreal Engine 5. Players will eventually have a better experience thanks to the technology we’re developing with Epic, which will also benefit the entire industry.
Unreal Engine 5, which is doing some heavy lifting behind the scenes, was the focus of the entire presentation. We were able to see the technology that CDPR uses to create the game during the showcase. ML Deformer, Smart Objects, Nanite Foliage, and Fast Geometry Streaming, among other features.
Although UE5 doesn’t have the best record in recent memory, CDPR is one of the studios that learns from its mistakes. Kalemba stated, “We at CD Projekt Red are working with Epic Games to advance open-world game design to new heights.” We also have faith in him.
The Witcher 4‘s universe will be fascinating.
The demo reminded fans of the worldbuilding that initially drew them to The Witcher, even though a lot of the attention was on technology. The port town of Valdrest is presented to us in the showcase. And there is a lot of cultural context visible, even though all we know about the location is what we can see from Ciri’s tour of the town.
From armor that appears to have been influenced by Slavic history to a marketplace that depicts various social classes as suppliers and customers. And that is the type of information that CDPR is likely to provide. Hell, when we actually go there in the game, we might even find a complicated questline waiting for us.
We don’t know when the game will be released, even with this fresh glimpse at what it might be. We must continue to believe in CDPR for the time being. Given that the new showcase was recorded on a base PS5, we can probably anticipate the game’s release within this console generation.
What aspects of The Witcher 4 are you most excited about? Share your opinions with us!