The Witcher 4 Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo on PS5 revealed

Introduction: Next-Gen Graphics Arrive on PS5

CD Projekt Red, in collaboration with Epic Games, showcased an impressive Unreal Engine 5 tech demo for The Witcher 4 running on PlayStation 5. Unveiled at the State of Unreal 2025 livestream, this demo demonstrates how advanced tools—such as ML Deformer, Fast Geometry Streaming, and Nanite Foliage—combine to create a seamless, high-fidelity open world on base PS5 hardware. Although not representative of final gameplay, the demo highlights the studio’s ambitions for bringing photorealistic environments and dynamic animations to the Continent blog.playstation.com.

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Key Technical Highlights

1. ML Deformer: Lifelike Character Animations

• ML Deformer technology enables real-time deformation of Ciri and her horse, Kelpie, offering nuanced facial expressions and musculature changes.
• Developers emphasized how this system outperforms traditional blend-shape rigs, allowing more organic movement without sacrificing performance blog.playstation.com.

2. Fast Geometry Streaming: Seamless World Loading

• Fast Geometry Streaming ensures that terrain, foliage, and structures load dynamically as players traverse valleys, forests, and cities.
• In the demo, moving from snow-capped peaks to the trading hub of Valdrest shows zero stuttering or pop-ins, thanks to a lightweight asset loading pipeline blog.playstation.com.

3. Nanite Foliage: Dense, Realistic Vegetation

• By leveraging Nanite Foliage, forests in Kovir appear both dense and highly detailed, without compromising frame rates.
• This system renders massive numbers of leaves, branches, and undergrowth at native resolution, showcasing how Unreal Engine 5.6 handles vast natural environments blog.playstation.com.

4. Unreal Animation Framework: Reactive NPCs

• The Unreal Animation Framework allowed CD Projekt Red to populate crowded scenes—like Valdrest’s bustling market—with hundreds of NPCs that react contextually to Ciri’s presence.
• Each character exhibits unique behaviors (e.g., cheering, stepping aside), adding to the immersive atmosphere without a notable performance hit blog.playstation.com.

5. Mass and Core Systems: Real-Time World Simulation

• Underlying these features is Unreal Engine 5’s Mass framework, which handles AI and environmental interactions at scale.
• Large-scale systems coordinate crowd behaviors, weather effects, and physics, ensuring the Continent feels alive and responsive blog.playstation.com.

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Performance on Base PS5 Hardware

• The demo ran at a stable 60 FPS on PlayStation 5, confirming CD Projekt Red’s focus on optimization rather than relying on high-end PC hardware.
• By targeting the base PS5, the studio highlights its confidence that The Witcher 4 will deliver next-gen visuals without alienating console players blog.playstation.com.
• Running ray tracing alongside advanced geometry streaming and Nanite foliage underscores how Unreal Engine 5’s scalability benefits console development.

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What This Means for The Witcher 4 and the Industry

1. Shift to Unreal Engine 5:
   • CD Projekt Red transitioned from its proprietary REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 in 2022, aiming for larger worlds and streamlined pipelines.
   • This demo suggests that The Witcher 4 will leverage UE5’s strengths—particularly in open-world scope and tool accessibility—for a more ambitious RPG experience blog.playstation.com.
2. Open-World Ambitions:
   • Region of Kovir, introduced in the demo, hints at a narrative focus on trade-driven city-states distinct from Northern conflicts.
   • By showcasing a monster contract sequence, developers reaffirm that signature Witcher storytelling remains central, even within a tech demonstration blog.playstation.com.
3. Industry Impact:
   • Epic Games plans to share the ML Deformer and Nanite Foliage tools with the broader developer community, potentially raising the bar for open-world fidelity across genres.
   • The success of a resource-intensive demo on base PS5 hardware could influence other studios to optimize for consoles rather than exclusively high-end PCs blog.playstation.com.
4. Final Game vs. Tech Demo:
   • CD Projekt Red clarifies that the tech demo is not representative of final in-game assets or mechanics; rather, it serves to illustrate the potential foundation of The Witcher 4.
   • Fans should temper expectations regarding actual gameplay footage and release timing, as development continues to evolve around these core systems.

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Conclusion: A Glimpse of the Future Continent

The Unreal Engine 5 tech demo for The Witcher 4 on PS5 offers an early look at how CD Projekt Red plans to expand its flagship franchise into truly next-generation territory. Through advanced technologies like ML Deformer, Fast Geometry Streaming, and Nanite Foliage—running smoothly at 60 FPS—the Continent feels more immersive than ever. While not final gameplay, this demonstration sets performance, visual fidelity, and world complexity expectations high for both console and PC audiences. As development progresses, fans can look forward to a story-driven RPG underpinned by these powerful UE5 tools, with Kovir’s trade cities and dynamic monster hunts leading the way. blog.playstation.com