CD Projekt RED has revealed a powerful new look at The Witcher IV, showcasing the game’s future in a live tech demo at Unreal Fest 2025. The demo runs on a standard PlayStation 5, not a dev kit or upgraded version, and manages a smooth 60 frames per second with ray tracing enabled. That alone is worth paying attention to.
The Witcher IV demo follows Ciri, who now takes centre stage as the game’s main character. We see her traversing through the newly introduced Kovir region, riding her horse Kelpie past steep cliffs, snowy peaks, and thick forest trails. Her journey leads to Valdrest, a bustling port city rendered in incredible detail. The world feels alive, reactive, and immersive, but it’s what’s powering all of this that’s just as important as the visuals.
Unreal Engine 5 tech tailored for open worlds
Since announcing their partnership with Epic Games back in 2022, CD Projekt RED has been working closely with the team behind Unreal Engine to expand what’s possible in large-scale game worlds. That work is on full display here.
The demo is running in Unreal Engine 5.6, and it’s packed with technologies designed to enhance realism without sacrificing performance:
- Unreal Animation Framework gives characters more believable movement.
- FastGeo Streaming, developed jointly by CDPR and Epic, loads massive landscapes quickly.
- Nanite Foliage populates forests with dense, performance-friendly detail.
- Mass AI system brings large crowds to life, reacting to environments naturally.
- ML Deformer adds subtle animation like muscle shifts and facial movements, grounding characters in reality.
Even with all of this happening on-screen, the Witcher IV demo runs fluidly at 60FPS on a base PS5. That’s a strong sign of what the final game might be capable of.
A shared future for developers
This tech isn’t just locked behind The Witcher IV. Many of the tools and improvements shown off today are being released to all Unreal Engine developers starting with version 5.6. That means smaller studios working on open-world games will now have access to the same tech that helped CD Projekt RED build its next big RPG.
In a statement, joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said:
“Showing this early look at our work with Unreal Engine running at 60 on PlayStation 5 is a big step. It’s proof of what we’ve achieved through our partnership with Epic but we’re only getting started.”
Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, echoed that:
“CD Projekt RED is one of the best studios working in open-world design. Collaborating with them to shape Unreal Engine’s future benefits every developer using the engine.”
What to expect next
There’s no official launch date for The Witcher IV yet. But we do know it’s coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC. While today’s demo focused on the PS5, the tools and systems being used will scale across platforms.
This showcase wasn’t just about graphics. It gave a clear picture of what modern open-world development can become. If this is the level of polish and performance the team is aiming for, The Witcher IV might redefine what we expect from a next-gen RPG.
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