The Witcher 4: Fresh Look at Ciri in Stunning Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo! | Gaming-DB
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The Witcher 4: Fresh Look at Ciri in Stunning Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo!

The Witcher 4 Breaks Cover: Unreal Engine 5 Showcase Unveiled

Big news out of Unreal Fest 2025! CD PROJEKT RED and Epic Games just pulled back the curtain on the very first Unreal Engine 5 tech demo for the highly anticipated The Witcher 4. Live from Orlando, the teams dished out initial details on the game’s technical backbone and gave us our first glimpse of the Kovir region—a brand new realm for the series. The presentation took place on June 3rd, 2025, around 12:56 PM GMT.

Ciri’s Saga, Powered by Next-Gen Tech

The demo follows Ciri, the protagonist of The Witcher 4, as she embarks on a journey with her trusty steed Kelpie through mountains and forests, deep in a monster contract. Their destination? The port city of Valdrest. These scenes served as the canvas to showcase the engine’s cutting-edge features.

Impressively, the tech demo was shown running on a PlayStation 5 at a smooth 60 FPS. Key innovations highlighted include:

  • Lifelike character animations via the Unreal Animation Framework
  • Dense foliage without performance hits, thanks to Nanite Foliage
  • Realistic management of large crowds using MetaHuman and Mass AI systems
  • Seamless and fast-loading maps with FastGeo Streaming
  • Detailed animations down to muscle movements, courtesy of ML Deformer

These systems are being developed in line with CD PROJEKT RED’s signature open-world design philosophy and are slated to become available to all Unreal Engine developers with the release of Unreal Engine 5.6.

Kovir: A First-Ever Glimpse in the Witcher Gaming Universe

Often mentioned in the book series but never before featured in the games, Kovir will finally make its debut in The Witcher 4. This region, characterized by its mountainous geography, forested areas, and bustling city life, was chosen as the primary stage to test these new technologies.

Words from the Top: CD PROJEKT RED & Epic Games Speak Out

Michał Nowakowski, Co-CEO of CD PROJEKT RED, stated:

Our collaboration with Epic Games aimed to push open-world game technology forward. Presenting this early-stage demonstration running at 60 FPS on PlayStation 5 today is a significant milestone. But this is just the beginning.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, added:

CD PROJEKT RED is one of the industry’s powerhouses in open-world gaming. With The Witcher 4, they are spearheading our efforts to push the boundaries of Unreal Engine.

A New Saga Begins

The Witcher 4 is set to be a brand-new single-player open-world RPG developed by CD PROJEKT RED, with Ciri taking center stage. Following the monumental success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the new installment promises a world that’s darker, more expansive, and technologically advanced.

While a release date remains under wraps, the development team confirms that the game is actively in development. Stay tuned to gaming-db.com for more updates as they drop!