It’s been a few months since CD Projekt Red officially announced The Witcher 4, and many fans could be forgiven for thinking we wouldn’t see anything too substantial in the immediate future. However, that proved not to be the case, as today’s State of Unreal livestream showed off a stunning new gameplay tech demo. The developers highlighted 60 fps footage of the game with ray tracing, which offered a look at the Kovir region. Kovir has appeared in the Witcher stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, but this marks the first time the mountainous region has actually appeared in a Witcher video game.
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To the surprise of viewers, all of the footage today was running on a standard PS5, as opposed to PC or a PS5 Pro. At the start of the footage, viewers were shown Ciri, who will act as the protagonist in The Witcher 4, as opposed to Geralt. As the footage begins, Ciri is hunting a monster on foot. After gathering clues, she summons her horse Kelpie, and rides off to a nearby village called Valdrest. The developers used that opportunity to offer an in-depth look at how Unreal Engine 5 has been used to recreate the horse’s skin and muscles in a way that looks incredibly realistic. Readers can find the footage of The Witcher 4 from the stream in the video embedded below.
Following Ciri’s exploration of the forests, CD Projekt Red offered a closer look at Valdrest, which is a port town. The video offers an in-depth look at how Unreal Engine 5 provided the tools to create large crowds, while still providing “breathing room” for the developers. It all looks incredibly impressive, and it showcases how the game is evolving from what was offered in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The previous Witcher title is considered one of the best games ever made, and it looks like the sequel is making some big improvements.
How good does The Witcher 4 look? Some fans are already speculating that there’s some trickery going on, or that CD Projekt Red might be deceiving fans. There doesn’t seem to be any basis for those claims at the moment, but the marketing for Cyberpunk 2077 was accused of being very deceptive when the game was released back in 2020. Fans are clearly tempering their expectations in case The Witcher 4 doesn’t look nearly as good as it does in this tech demo when it gets released.
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Unfortunately, it’s probably going to be a long time before The Witcher 4 actually does get released. As of this writing, the game does not have a release window, which suggests it could be pretty far off; speculation has pointed to a release in 2027 or later. Hopefully CD Projekt Red will continue to offer more teases like this one over time though, to keep fans excited about what’s to come.
How do you feel about the new footage from The Witcher 4? Are you looking forward to the game’s release? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
