I was originally concerned aboutThe Witcher 4’s release, especially with the possibility of it having a turbulent launch likeCyberpunk 2077after developer CD Projekt RED’s huge marketing campaign, but after seeing the upcoming game’s new gameplay footage, I’m somewhat more at ease with it.The title doesn’t yet have an official release date or a more specific release window, but it’s already one of the most anticipated games of the decade. Some of the rumors suggest thatThe Witcher 4’s release dateis set for beyond 2026, possibly at some point in 2027.
It’s known that the game will feature Ciri as its main protagonist, who takes on the role of a Witcher after the events ofThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.Geralt’s white-haired protegé now explores the Continent with her own steed and takes on contracts to slay monsters, as her job dictates her to. There is a lot of debate aboutCiri’s role as a Witcherin the upcoming game, especially when it comes to lore, but the developer has already confirmed that this is the case, and players will control the character as the protagonist ofThe Witcher 4.
I Was Worried Witcher 4 Would Be Like Cyberpunk 2077 At Launch
While the prospect of a new game in the series is exciting, I couldn’t help but be concerned aboutThe Witcher 4’s release ending up likeCyberpunk 2077at launch, back in late 2020. The last big title released by CD Projekt RED had a disastrous launch when analyzed from a player perspective.The title had countless bugs and performance issues, especially when running on past-generation consoles like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Aside from continuous glitches, players would also often find themselves having their software closed without prior warning. There were also bugs that impeded progression and more.
Overall, CD Projekt RED’s reputation took a big hit, asCyberpunk 2077was a highly anticipated game that ended up being launched without the proper polishing it got with patches later on.Nowadays, the game runs smoothly, but the release was problematic, even if it did not disappoint the company in terms of sales figures. My biggest concern withThe Witcher 4was that it would suffer the same fate: heavy marketing that would increase hype and, therefore, boost sales, only to be released as an unpolished game that would have to rely on patches to fix it.
The State of Unreal Tech Demo Looked Surprisingly Smooth
The Witcher 4 Runs At A Stable 60 FPS
However, that may not be the case with it.New gameplay footage forThe Witcher 4was shown during the State of Unreal presentation this year, and the tech demo looked surprisingly smooth. During the tech demo, the studio explained how the new version of the Unreal Engine powered the game.The tech demo showcased the game running on a standard PlayStation 5 console at a 60 FPS (frames per second) rate. One of the most notable aspects of the demo is how dense the game is in terms of design, yet how stable it remains with all its elements.
The video shows Ciri exploring an open-world area of the map with well-designed animations for all of her movements. Soon after, she meets up with her horse, Kelpie, and moves toward a village. At this point, the tech demo shows how the horse’s design includes small details, such as the movement of muscles as it runs through the forest without affecting the game’s performance. The tech demo also moves away fromCiri inThe Witcher 4to show more environmental details, such as the foliage that composes the forest through which she navigates.
The forest is lush and dense, with details that extend to each individual leaf and needle in the trees’ branches, for example – a technology that Epic is calling nanite foliage. According to the information presented during the presentation,the rendering occurs quickly and doesn’t affect the game’s overall performance. Ciri then approaches a port town full of NPCs and visual elements that illustrate it. One of the most noteworthy aspects of this part of the tech demo is how full the city can become without compromising the game’s frame rate.
Another notable aspect is how seamless the transition from gameplay to cutscene occurs, which differs immensely from the previous entry in the series.
The presentation also highlighted how many extra NPCs can be added to the town without affecting its performance. Epic mentions that this number of characters is not at its peak, and that developers have a lot of extra room to work with. Overall,the tech demo ran smoothly, without any hiccups, and showcased a beautiful world with stable performance. Thehopes forThe Witcher 4are that this technical fidelity will go on into the final version of the game.
If Witcher 4 Runs This Well At Launch, It Won’t Suffer Cyberpunk’s Fate
The Game Should Be Able To Run On Current-Gen’s Standard Consoles
If it does, thenThe Witcher 4may avoid the biggest blunders withCyberpunk 2077at launch.What gives me a lot of hope, specifically, is the mention that this tech demo was running on a standard PlayStation 5, indicating that even the first wave of current-gen consoles could handle it without too many issues – it’s uncertain how this game will run on an Xbox Series S, however, as the hardware is somewhat more limited. Even so, it’s been shown that the game may be polished for consoles from the start, unlikeCyberpunk 2077.
Something that separates this tech demo from one ofCyberpunk’s first demos was the structure.Cyberpunk’s first demo, which revolves around a single mission, is shown in a very straightforward and linear mission, set in a controlled environment that was fully optimized – different from the rest of the game at launch. As such, the demo sold the game through that demo, but it didn’t reflect the rest of the open-world experience.This tech demo, however, seems to break some boundaries and deviate from the traditional linear demo, so the odds ofThe Witcher 4being this good are improved.
Even so, it’s worth noting that the tech demo is still a controlled environment that doesn’t necessarily reflect the entire game. Because of this, as optimistic as I am, I’m still a bit wary about the game’s release. Hopefully,Cyberpunk 2077taught lessonsto CD Projekt RED, and the poor example set by the game’s launch will be pondered upon before the arrival ofThe Witcher 4, which has great potential if its release steers away from the disaster of the launch of the title set in Night City.
