The Witcher 4was the star of the show in a rather impressive Unreal Engine tech demo, but you shouldn’t let your excitement get the better of you; after all, we’ve been through a very similar situation withCyberpunk 2077, also developed by CD Projekt Red.The Witcher 4is the decade-in-the-making follow-up to 2015’sThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a beloved RPG that put a neat, emotional bow on a trilogy starring Geralt of Rivia, the franchise’s chief protagonist. The video game series has so far been an extension of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels and short stories.
The fourth installment is focused on Ciri, Geralt’s adoptive daughter, who has taken up the role of a Witcher.The Witcher 3was impressive for its time, andThe Witcher 4appears to be pushing the envelope even further. Developer CD Projekt Red is leaving its proprietary REDengine behind and adopting the more universal Unreal Engine 5. Very little is known aboutThe Witcher 4other than its starring character, but that hasn’t stopped CDPR from raising expectations to dangerous heights with an in-engine tech demo that reeks ofCyberpunk 2077hype circa 2018.
The Witcher 4 Tech Demo Isn’t Actual Gameplay
It’s In-Engine, But Not Actually The Witcher 4
The Witcher 4dazzled as the headliner of the State of Unreal 2025 showcase, a presentation showing off advancements made in Epic Games' latest engine version. The whole showcase can be watched on theUnreal EngineYouTube channel, where it was broadcast on June 3, and the officialThe Witcherchannel has also uploaded just the tech demo.The Witcher 4segment – State of Unreal 2025’s lead-off – starts with an in-engine cinematic trailer before transitioning into a lengthy exploration that’s part gameplay, part world systems overview. It’s clearly not meant to be the grand reveal ofThe Witcher 4’s gameplay, butit also doesn’t go to great lengths to make that clear.
To CD Projekt Red’s credit, this has been plainly and officially referred to as a tech demo, but that hasn’t stopped thehype train from leaving the station. It looks, sounds, and appears to play like actual gameplay, butthis tech demo isn’tThe Witcher 4at all – it’s a separate program entirely, usingTW4assets to demonstrate development techniques created by CDPR in the course of production.
In other words, this is not an early development build ofThe Witcher 4sliced out of the pipeline for the showcase;it’s a bespoke technical demonstration of the engine, using Ciri and the kingdom of Kovir as set dressingto show off the techniques CDPR is using to develop the game.
It’s completely fine to be excited about this demo from a technical standpoint. Unreal Engine 5 is still reaching its full potential, andwhat CDPR shows off here is quite impressive. The visual fidelity, lighting, crowd density, NPC reactivity, new LOD system, animations, and foliage are frankly astounding. However, don’t let this set your expectations of whatThe Witcher 4will look and play like. It’s almost guaranteed to look great –The Witcher 3still looks good, andCyberpunk 2077is on the cutting edge of shipped graphics – but tech demos are designed to impress.
There are a couple of key moments duringThe Witcher 4tech demo where the presenters lift the veil a little bit, mentioning this demo is running without the game thread, i.e. many of the gameplay systems that will be using processing power in the background of the actual game. There are also quite a few edits to show off specific tech, like the horse’s accurately rendered and animated musculature, and close-ups on foliage LODs.
But there are also some cheeky bits meant to blur the lines between tech demo and gameplay showcase, such as a picture-in-picture video of someone controlling Ciri with a PlayStation 5 DualSense controller, and a typical spotlight of Ciri walking through a crowd and nudging other pedestrians out of the way. The discussion remains technical throughout, andI’m not saying CD Projekt Red is being misleading, but it’s clearly doubling as “the firstWitcher 4gameplay,” when it’s technically not.
CD Projekt Red Pulled The Same Thing With Cyberpunk 2077
Before Its Infamous Launch
There’s no need to relitigate CD Projekt Red’s many failings in the marketing and release ofCyberpunk 2077, butThe Witcher 4tech demo does bring back some unpleasant memories.Cyberpunk 2077was incredibly anticipated for years, having been announced in 2012, but the excitement really took off after its lengthy gameplay demonstration in 2018. What followed a little over two years later is a well-documented disaster:Cyberpunk 2077’s shambolic launch, which saw its console ports riddled with an incredible number of bugs and frequent crashes, prompting publisher CD Projekt to offer refunds on the game.
There are differences between the two situations;Cyberpunk 2077’s gameplay reveal was just that, and the PC version was passably comparable to the promotional material.Cyberpunk’s technical issues are the cause for concern, though.The Witcher 4tech demoshows a lot of novel development techniques, and promises an ultra-detailed, highly reactive game world – one that seems almost too good to be true. There are claims that the tech demo leaves plenty of room for the game thread, butCyberpunk 2077was also billed as playable on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which was a gross overstatement.
I Hope CDPR Learned Its Lesson
It’s Only Just Recovered From Cyberpunk
CD Projekt Red has handled the last five years admirably. After what can be considered the most disastrous video game launch in the industry’s history,the company not only apologized and offered refunds, but completely turnedCyberpunk 2077around.Cyberpunk’s current state is much better than it’s ever been, at least on PC and ninth-gen consoles, with plenty of systems completely revamped. Here’s hoping CDPR actually learned the most important lesson, though, andThe Witcher 4avoidsCyberpunk’s fatealtogether.
WhileCyberpunk’s long development time was frustrating at the time, audiences have become accustomed to it as the new norm on the triple-A side of things.The Witcher 4is clearly not close to release, and CDPR, while definitely wanting to build excitement, is at least labeling this what it is: an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo. It doesn’t help that the tech demo has been disseminated as the first look atThe Witcher 4’s gameplay, though. While it may be indicative of what the final product is aiming for, it’s very explicitly notThe Witcher 4, and hopefully won’t lead to the same unchecked excitement that burned us in 2020.
