Hyderabad:

The technological showcase set in the world of The Witcher 4 highlighted the next-generation capabilities of Unreal Engine 5.6, showcasing photorealistic environments, real-time ray tracing, and dynamic world interactions. The presentation began with a cinematic sequence showing a carriage and its occupants being attacked by a winged beast, followed by Ciri arriving at the scene the next day to hunt the monster, and finally the trailer merging into live gameplay.

Unreal Fest 2025 kicked off on June 3 in Orlando, and the show stealer happens to be The Witcher 4 tech demo, which not only introduced the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5.6, but also gave a first glimpse into the gameplay and world of the upcoming CD Project Red game. The tech demo presented at the keynote showed just how good the upcoming Witcher game looks with Unreal Engine—running on a standard PlayStation 5 system—seamlessly blending cinematic footage and the actual gameplay.

 Ciri’s horse companion Kelpie was showcased running with a refined physics engine, highlighting visibly flexed muscles as it galloped and its body weight realistically shifting as per the terrain. Nanite foliage in Unreal Engine 5.6 gave life to the surrounding environment as it rendered trees, grass, and flower petals with photorealistic precision that also respond to dynamic lighting—all while being memory efficient and fast to render for developers, allowing them to generate whatever amount of foliage they need.

The gameplay kept transitioning between cinematic footage and gameplay with immense levels of fluidity, which appeared to have surpassed even the last two God of War titles. The demo showcased advancement in character movement and the details possible in the game world—all on the current-gen PlayStation 5 hardware with ray tracing enabled.

The Witcher 4: Everything we know

The tech demo for Unreal Engine 5.6 revealed a lot about the upcoming CD Projekt Red title, even though the actual game may not include the showcased scenarios. Ciri will be the protagonist, taking the reins from the long-standing series protagonist Geralt of Rivia and marking a narrative shift in the game. It will be the first chapter in a new trilogy, as confirmed during the game's cinematic trailer reveal at The Game Awards 2024.

Sadly, CD Projekt Red did not announce a release date for The Witcher 4 during the State of Unreal 2025. However, they confirmed that the game would not be released this year.

The game may feature highly interactive environments. The demo showcases Ciri navigating a densely populated town where NPCs react to their environment. It showed a scripted moment involving Ciri bumping into a fruit vendor, resulting in apples falling from his crate and a kid running to fetch them up with precision.

Since The Witcher 4 has been confirmed to not arrive before 2026, the release could coincide with next-gen console announcements, making the game a cross-generational title. New consoles with better capabilities could allow the game to perform even better.

The Witcher 4 will be a big pivot for CD Projekt Red. The studio, known for creating open-world games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077 with its own proprietary engine, which sometimes results in technical disasters, is now shifting to Epic Games' Unreal Engine, a decision it made in 2022.

State of Unreal 2025:

A lot of stuff was announced at the State of Unreal 2025. The live stream has ended, but interested viewers can tune in to watch the event unfold from the beginning:

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