Witcher 4 Tech Demo Unveiled: CD Projekt Red Teases Next-Gen Power on PS5

CD Projekt Red gave Witcher fans a surprising treat during the State of Unreal 2025 showcase — a tech demo set in the world of The Witcher 4, running at 60 FPS with ray tracing on a standard PlayStation 5.

While this wasn’t actual gameplay footage from the upcoming game, it offered a tantalizing glimpse at the cutting-edge technology powering Geralt’s spiritual successor.

Not Gameplay — But a Big Leap Forward

Let’s clear it up: this is not Witcher 4 gameplay. In a statement to VGC, CD Projekt Red confirmed the footage was strictly a technological showcase, though it was set in the same world and featured Ciri, who has officially been confirmed as the game’s main protagonist.

“This is a tech demo, and a first look at the cutting-edge technology powering The Witcher 4 – but not The Witcher 4 itself,” said a CDPR spokesperson.

Still, it’s a major flex of what’s possible with Unreal Engine 5, and what future Witcher titles may look and feel like — especially on current-gen hardware like the PS5.

Here’s What the Demo Showed Off

The brief but impressive segment opened the Unreal showcase with Ciri and her horse Kelpie making their way through the mountains, exploring a detailed medieval town in Kovir, a location CDPR confirmed will appear in the next game. The goal? To spotlight just how far Unreal Engine 5 can go in rendering open-world immersion.

Among the highlights:

• Dynamic NPC interaction: Ciri moving through a living, breathing town.

• Advanced foliage and lighting: Thanks to Nanite Foliage and Ray-Tracing, visuals looked stunning without taxing the console.

• Smart Object interactions: Realistic and intuitive object responses in the environment.

• Seamless animations: An example showed Ciri mounting a horse naturally from any angle, powered by a redesigned animation system.

CDPR also teased features like FastGeo Streaming, ML Deformer, Nanite Foliage, Smart Objects, and UAF, all underlining how tech is evolving behind the scenes.

• Unreal Animation Framework (UAF): Enables realistic, dynamic character animations. It supports seamless interactions, like Ciri mounting her horse Kelpie from any angle.

• Nanite Foliage: Enhances open-world visuals with highly detailed, scalable vegetation.

• Smart Objects: Facilitates interactive environments by enabling objects to carry metadata for dynamic NPC and player interactions. For example, NPCs in Valdrest naturally use market stalls or tools, enhancing immersion in the open world.

• ML Deformer: Uses machine learning to simulate complex mesh deformations in real-time, like muscle movements on characters or Kelpie, with minimal performance cost.

• FastGeo Streaming: Ensures rapid, seamless loading of large open-world assets.

The demo wrapped with a wide shot of Lan Exeter, the snow-covered capital of Kovir, and a key location in the upcoming game. CD Projekt has confirmed this entire region is playable in The Witcher 4, giving fans their first concrete sense of the game’s scale and setting.

The Withcer 4 Tech Demo at Unreal Fest

What’s Next?

While we’re still likely a while away from a full gameplay trailer, this tech demo is a clear signal that CD Projekt Red is aiming high. The partnership with Epic Games is helping them build a next-gen RPG experience from the ground up, and what we’ve seen so far is both ambitious and visually breathtaking.

And yes — this all ran on a base PS5.