The Witcher 4 Tech Demo Does Not 'Fully Represent the Final Game,' CD Projekt Clarifies: 'Visuals Reflect the Direction We're Taking'

Amid excitement and disbelief astatine the prime of The Witcher 4 Unreal Engine 5 tech demo, developer CD Projekt has issued a connection insisting it is not a gameplay showcase and truthful does not correspond existent The Witcher 4 gameplay footage.

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 simply a stunning magnitude of item successful the tech demo, with incredibly 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.

The “standalone” tech demo was built to showcase Unreal Engine 5 features, CD Projekt said, and tools it’s utilizing to make the game’s unfastened world. It is not gameplay footage, the developer stressed.

So, does the tech demo bespeak what players tin expect from The Witcher 4? CD Projekt said the visuals “reflect the absorption we’re taking with The Witcher 4 — but it doesn’t afloat correspond the last game.”

CD Projekt continued: “Production is inactive underway, and we person a large woody of enactment ahead. That said, our extremity is ambitious: to make 1 of the astir visually precocious role-playing games to date.”

The developer besides explained wherefore it chose PS5 implicit a high-end PC for the tech demo: “Because optimizing for consoles aboriginal helps america future-proof show crossed each platforms. Consoles travel with tighter constraints, and gathering them pushes america to marque smarter, much businesslike tech choices — the benignant that payment each mentation of the game.”

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].