During the State of Unreal 2025 presentation, CD Projekt RED offered the first glimpse of gameplay from the forthcoming The Witcher 4 project. Footage captured on a standard PlayStation 5 console demonstrated the game running smoothly at 60 frames per second with ray tracing enabled.
The shown sequence was set in the Kovir region, confirmed as one of the new areas players will explore in the finished game. The demo featured Ciri`s arrival in the bustling port city of Valdrest, seemingly undertaking a quest or contract. CD Projekt RED clarified that this was purely a technical demonstration showcasing the underlying engine capabilities, not a representation of the final game`s content or polish.
A significant portion of the presentation highlighted Unreal Engine 5`s cutting-edge features. Technologies demonstrated included Nanite Foliage for highly detailed environmental vegetation, Mass AI for managing large populations of non-player characters, and ML Deformer, a system enabling remarkably realistic facial expressions and muscle movements. The studio stated that these advanced features are planned for integration into the upcoming UE 5.6 release, making them widely available to all developers.
Finley Holt