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ToggleWhen CD Projekt Purple unveiled The Witcher 4 tech demo at Unreal Fest, the response was fast. A glimpse of the way forward for The Witcher, a peak behind the scenes at a brand new partnership and the launch of Unreal Engine 5.6 instruments each dev, artist and animator will likely be clamouring to make use of – The Witcher 4 demo lit a fuse beneath Unreal Engine.
This was a technological milestone for open-world video games, constructed on a groundbreaking collaboration between Epic Video games and CD Projekt Purple it seems like a reset of types, placing UE again within the arms of main studios and asking what extra they want.
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From the photorealistic ‘infinite forest’ to easy 60 fps efficiency on a base PS5 with raytracing, the demo marked a step-change in how sport environments, and the characters that transfer by means of them, might be constructed.
This isn’t The Witcher 4, after all, as each Wyeth Johnson, Senior Director of Product Technique at Epic Video games, and Michał Janiszewski, Setting Artwork Director are at pains to level out. It is a tech demo, an formidable marker to purpose for.
“It is a technical demo, not a sport,” Wyeth Johnson tells me. “Its aim is to stretch what’s at present potential, to indicate what instruments are within the toolbox.”
Nonetheless, the implications for The Witcher 4’s future, and for sport builders worldwide, are thrilling. Once I say is that this the tip of UE5 worlds that appear like granite quarries, each devs smile – I will take that as a realizing ‘sure’
A forest grown from collaboration
The Witcher 4 Unreal Engine 5.6 demo is the fruits of years of collaboration between Epic and CD Projekt Purple, as each studios pushed the Unreal Engine to new limits. Based on Wyeth, the connection started with mutual respect: “CD Projekt had achieved lots of technical evaluation earlier than transferring to Unreal Engine. They knew what they wanted to make the form of video games they make, a number of the most formidable on the planet, and we needed to hear, with humility.”
Each day design information, critiques, how-tos and extra, as picked by the editors.
This dialogue developed into co-development. One standout consequence? Foliage with Nanite help, or as Wyeth calls it, “a heck of a analysis downside”.
“95% of our display is usually foliage,” Michał explains. “We would have liked it to really feel pure. Our artwork group set the bar excessive. With out Nanite Foliage and quick geometry streaming, the forests you noticed, dense, limitless, alive, wouldn’t be potential.”
This concept of an ‘infinite forest’ isn’t only a visible impact, it’s a scalable, modular biome constructed with Nanite Foliage, a next-gen extension to Unreal Engine’s virtualised geometry pipeline. That features high-density tree protection, dynamic lighting and terrain streaming throughout an enormous panorama.
“We really began on the arduous half,” Wyeth tells me. “A northern spruce forest is a difficult one to get proper, and it seems superb.”
These forests aren’t painted on, they’re constructed from actual geometry, damaged down into instanced modular components. LOD transitions are dealt with easily by means of voxelization and HLOD mixing, that means the identical forest can scale from hero photographs to distant views with no seen pop-in.
“If you’d like it to look nearly as good as it will possibly probably look, and you might want to duplicate it off to infinity, you don’t have any selection however to give you a brand new thought,” Wyeth explains.
Quick Geo, a co-developed system, handles dynamic asset loading, streaming terrain and geometry into reminiscence because the participant strikes by means of the world, a core requirement for open-world traversal.
“Wherever you look is a possible bottleneck,” says Wyeth. “If it is too gradual, you make it quicker. That was the guiding mild.”
Regardless of all of the tech, this The Witcher 4 demo an artist-led challenge. CDPR’s group centered on making the forest really feel lived-in, utilizing real-world reference, handcrafted props, and high-quality scans, then integrating them right into a procedural world that is still art-directed.
New tech for huge worlds
The Witcher 4 tech demo isn’t purely about one innovation shares Wyeth, it’s extra of a tapestry of interconnected methods, all optimised to run seamlessly at 60 fps on a base PlayStation 5. That features dynamic crowds, chaos fabric physics, superior movement matching, and the Quick Geo streaming.
“You’ll be able to’t simply repair one space,” stated Wyeth. “It’s the entire body. Every little thing’s linked, you take a look at the scene, discover what’s gradual, and make it quicker. That’s the one path ahead.”
He provides: “We’re not simply making instruments, we’re attempting to resolve actual design issues. In case your scene calls for hundreds of detailed bushes, or a whole lot of NPCs reacting to at least one one other, we wish Unreal to make that potential.”
CDPR’s video games are recognized for extra than simply technical prowess, with Cyberpunk 2077 now seen as a brand new graphics customary for video games in addition to a defining open world wealthy in lore and layered with lived-in areas. They craft giant, dense worlds you wish to stay in, and attaining that takes greater than polygons; it requires goal.
“Know-how alone can overwhelm,”Michał Janiszewski, Setting Artwork Director explains. “So artwork path absorbs the tech. My temper boards have been filled with actual forests. We aimed for one thing deeply pure, and we couldn’t attain that with outdated pipelines. That’s the place Epic helped us.”
It’s this creative constancy, and obsession with ambiance, that transforms technical options into emotional experiences. Whether or not it’s the sway of material within the wind, the hum of a distant crowd, or the daylight piercing by means of treetops, each polygon feels intentional.
The enjoyment is within the element
It’s not simply the surroundings that’s pushing boundaries, character animation can be getting a critical improve with Unreal Engine 5.6. In a single hanging sequence, the village market scene fills with dozens of NPCs, every with responsive AI, totally rigged animation layers, dynamic fabric physics and procedural behaviours. They mingle and go about their each day enterprise, bringing a brand new degree of immersion to open worlds.
That is the place UE 5.6’s expanded animation stack shines. The demo highlights key instruments like: Movement Matching that well blends motion clips based mostly on character intent; Management Rig is a procedural rigging system constructed instantly into Unreal, enabling speedy iteration with out leaving the engine; Chaos Fabric presents real-time fabric simulation system that responds naturally to animation and environmental forces; and Mass AI is Unreal’s scalable AI system that handles giant numbers of unbiased NPCs with contextual behaviours.
“it is as much as individuals who use the expertise to determine how all of them match collectively,” says Wyeth. “All of them include strengths and weaknesses and execs and cons and commerce offs. And so that you’re simply twiddling all of the little knobs for every of your scenes, and also you get to spend them nonetheless you want.”
I ask if this tech is too detailed, and can a number of the options and their affect go beneath the radar? Wyeth laughs and tells me “for the individuals who perceive what we’re displaying […] they discover”. New instruments like movement matching simply work, and look superb, and show the pipeline is lastly catching as much as their wants.
Wyeth provides: “We’re not overly involved with subtleties or missed messages, as a result of for the people who find themselves actually invested in these items of our expertise, they’re watching each pixel.”
“You’re seeing all these characters transfer, work together, and animate, and that’s not smoke and mirrors,” displays Wyeth. “These are actual methods that builders can use proper now.”
Michał Janiszewski, Setting Artwork Director “It’s not only a render. Every little thing we present is operating in real-time, with actual methods. It’s an indication of what we are able to construct, and the way others can too.”
Whereas The Witcher 4 tech demo might have stolen the present, the actual winners are different builders. Each characteristic showcased is constructed into Unreal Engine 5.6 (although Nanite Foliage is a way off launch), and lots of are already obtainable within the newest launch.
“This isn’t customized tech,” says Wyeth. “It’s core Unreal. We wish these instruments within the arms of all creators. And that features those fixing completely different issues.”
That accessibility was additionally a significant cause CDPR moved from its proprietary REDengine to Unreal Engine for The Witcher 4.
“It’s not about engines. It’s about artists,” displays Michał, “The instruments are simply that, instruments. However with Unreal Engine, you achieve entry to a worldwide pool of creators already fluent on this language. That’s highly effective.”
So what’s subsequent? Whereas Epic and CDPR stay tight-lipped about future tech demos or trailers, the groundwork has been laid. “The tech is prepared,” Wyeth says. “And builders, from AAA studios to solo indies, now have entry to the identical improvements. What they construct subsequent is as much as them.”
For CD Projekt, the bar stays sky-high. “Each challenge we do units a brand new customary,” explainsMichał Janiszewski, Setting Artwork Director . “The Witcher 3 did it. Cyberpunk did it. Now, we’re able to go even additional – visually, emotionally and technically.”
Discover out extra on The Witcher 4 web site, and comply with Epic Video games for the most recent tech information.
