Recently, CD Projekt Red took to the stage during the State of Unreal presentation to reveal the technical capabilities of The Witcher 4, which is being developed using the Unreal Engine. In a segment lasting several minutes, representatives of CDPR walked viewers through the world of The Witcher 4, showcasing what appeared to be our first glimpse of gameplay from the open-world RPG.
However, in a statement released shortly after the event, it was confirmed that what we saw was not The Witcher 4 but a demo built using the technology powering The Witcher 4. That means the game’s mind-blowing visuals and effects, as shown in the demo, shouldn’t be taken at face value.
Gameplay But Not Really
Fans were quick to highlight that CDPR does this a lot, showcasing something stunning and then not delivering on what they’ve revealed at launch. It happened with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) and Cyberpunk 2077 (2020).
At the State of Unreal showcase, CDPR presented a lengthy breakdown of The Witcher 3, showing Ciri exploring a gorgeous world, venturing into a town, and riding around on her new horse, Kelpie. It looked jaw-dropping levels of beautiful, but it was a little misleading. We now know that it was not gameplay from The Witcher 4.
In a statement handed to VGC, it was revealed:
This is a tech demo, and a first look at the cutting-edge technology powering The Witcher 4 – but not The Witcher 4 itself.
It showcases the powerful foundation we’re building in close collaboration with Epic Games to push open-world design further than ever before and the core systems and features we’re developing using Unreal Engine 5.
We’re really proud of this early milestone and excited to give you a sneak peek at some of the cool tech like UAF, Nanite Foliage, Smart Objects, ML Deformer and FastGeo Streaming that are helping shape the future of The Witcher.
It was a showcase of what might be possible with the development of The Witcher 4, but the entire thing was a heavily computed, pre-rendered sequence of events that was jazzed up to look as good as possible for the benefit of the showcase.
Will The Witcher 4 look that good when it’s released? Probably not – but the track record suggests it’ll look almost as good. After all, The Witcher 3 is now a decade old and still holds up.
Let me know if you enjoyed the glimpse behind the curtain at The Witcher 4 on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that SEGA has revealed Sonic Blitz
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
