Today saw “State of Unreal 2025,” an event hosted by Epic Games to showcase brand new (and upcoming) features to their Unreal Engine. This year, they did so via a tech demo using The Witcher 4‘s game engine.
While the tech demo was primarily a vehicle to show off the new technology at play in the upcoming RPG, it also gave a hearty dose of information about the game itself, including the setting.
The Witcher 4 will take place in the wintery region of Kovir. The demo features Ciri riding through the region on her mount Kelpie, stopping in a port town, where she weaves through an NPC-dense alley to speak business. She is reporting to a smuggler, alerting him of a waylaid shipment ruined by a Manticore.
Towards the end of the tech demo, we see Ciri heading towards the regional capital of Lan Exter, a location which had prior only been speculated about. In this tech demo, we get our first look at the city, if at quite a distance.
Most importantly: The host mentions Gwent by name, hinting that it will make a return. Huzzah!
The majority of the showcase is spent on the technology at work in the demo. This includes a number of features unique to the Unreal engine, such as “Multi-Character Motion Matching,” which allows Ciri to realistically mount Kelpie from a number of different angles. Also on display is the new “Nanite Foliage” technology, which allows for wide-sweeping, fast-rendering foliage density that permits artists to design “down to the pine needle” of each tree, without sacrificing performance.
Additionally it seems that interactivity and NPC responsiveness to the player will be a big focus of The Witcher 4. Ciri knocks a case of fruit out of the hands of a merchant, sending the contents careening to the floor. Within seconds, beggars and animals are running towards the scattered fruit, making life miserable for the merchant. One can imagine how this may scale outside of such a small interaction.
Developed by CD Projekt RED, the title is aiming for a target of 60fps on consoles with ray-tracing, and the tech demo is allegedly running on a standard PlayStation 5. The Witcher 4 does not currently have a release date, but it does seem to be targeting current-generation consoles.
How did you feel about the tech demo for The Witcher 4? Are you excited for the new technology? Are you hoping for a story trailer during Summer Games Fest? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Epic Games
Image Source: CD Projekt RED (via Epic Games)
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