Tomasz Wadowski
Ciri, Kelpie, the Kovir mountains, and 60 FPS on PlayStation 5. This is what the opening show of Unreal Fest 2025 looked like. CD PROJEKT RED, together with Epic Games, took the stage during State of Unreal and showed the world the first snippets of The Witcher 4. And no – it wasn't a CGI trailer, but a live demo built in Unreal Engine 5.6.
No one expected a presentation like this.
What's under the hood? Unreal Engine 5.6 in action
What’s really under the hood of The Witcher 4? It's powered by Unreal Engine 5.6, and the demo ran smoothly at 60 frames per second on PlayStation 5 – without any drops, even in a fully detailed open world. The key role is played by the new Unreal Animation Framework, which is responsible for realistic character movements, even in scenes with a large number of NPCs. Natural and dense environments are created by Nanite Foliage – a technology that allows forests and fields to be filled with fine details without overloading the hardware.
CD PROJEKT RED also utilizes the MetaHuman system with integration into Mass AI, ensuring that the crowds in the game are not just background – each character looks and moves like a living being. FastGeo Streaming provides instant world loading – without the classic "streaming" during gameplay. This is complemented by ML Deformer, which allows for the reproduction of subtle body movements and muscle work, adding depth and credibility to characters.
All these elements not only look impressive but are also optimized to run smoothly on all platforms where the game will be released. This is not a display of graphic tricks – it’s technology ready to operate in a real game.
Check out this demo if you haven't seen it yet. And if you're planning to upgrade your hardware – you better get ready for the next generation of RPGs.
Not Just for The Witcher
The best part? These technologies won’t be confined to CDPR’s headquarters. The tools from the demo will be available to other developers – Epic has just released Unreal Engine 5.6, which includes some of these solutions.
This means that more studios will be able to create open worlds with similar scope – without compromises between quality and performance.
What do the creators say?
Michał Nowakowski, co-CEO CD PROJEKT RED:
“Collaborating with Epic Games aimed to advance open world technology. The fact that we can showcase a demo at 60 FPS on PS5 is a huge step – but it’s just the beginning. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are heading in the right direction.”
Tim Sweeney, CEO Epic Games:
“CDPR are masters of open worlds. Working with them on The Witcher 4, we are developing Unreal Engine in a direction that will benefit the entire industry.”
In summary: the hype is deserved
The Witcher 4 is in development. Unreal Engine 5.6 is working. Kovir looks like it's from Sapkowski's illustrations, only better. And all of this in real time and at 60 frames. CDPR is once again making a game that the whole world will talk about – and this time it's really clear that the engine will not be a limitation, but a trampoline.
