UPDATE 4:28pm UK: CD Projekt Red has confirmed to Eurogamer the demonstration in the Unreal livestream was a tech demo played live and running at 60fps on a base PS5, although this isn’t meant to represent a final version of The Witcher 4.
“This tech demo runs at 60fps on PS5, and that’s the performance we’re aiming for in The Witcher 4,” said a representative from the studio. “It’s still too early to confirm exact specs for every platform, but we’re working closely with Epic to create an open-world experience that’s both beautiful to look at and smooth to play.”
Further, when asked if this tech demo could give unrealistic expectations on how The Witcher 4 will perform at launch, given The Witcher 3’s initial performance, the studio responded: “It’s important to keep in mind that this tech demo isn’t meant to represent The Witcher 4 – it’s a showcase of the tools we’re developing together with Epic Games. That means specific visuals like character models and environments may be different to The Witcher 4.”
ORIGINAL STORY 2:59pm UK: A first look at a tech demo of The Witcher 4 has just been shown off during today’s State of Unreal stream.
During its time on the stage, we saw some in-game cinematics of a monster attacking a wagon, and Ciri coming across the scene some time later. It then transitioned into gameplay, with Kajetan Kapuscinski cinematic director at CD Projekt Red playing through it.