PlayStation.Blog Unveils The Witcher 4 Tech Demo on PS5 with Unreal Engine 5

Okay, here’s my take, and I’ll dive right in because, well, I guess that’s what we’re doing, right? So CD Projekt Red, you know those folks who gave us Geralt and all? They’re working with Epic Games. Epic as in Fortnite, so yeah, kinda a big deal. They’re trying to shake things up with open-world games—it’s like they’re cooking up something wild for The Witcher 4. Except, it’s not really The Witcher 4 gameplay yet. Confused? Same here.

Anyway, they slapped together a tech demo using Unreal Engine 5. Ever heard of it? Fancy stuff, all about making scenes super real, or something. The protagonist now is Ciri—yep, her again—doing her monster-hunting thing. Oh, and they introduced Kovir. A kind of off-the-beaten-path place. Trade-y city vibe over military fireworks. Imagine that.

Now, here’s where I lost track… Tech and all that, running smooth like butter at 60 frames or something equally dorky on a PS5. A little nerdy flexing never hurts, I guess. And they say this tech won’t just be theirs—they’re like, spreading the love to the gaming community. Cue kumbaya.

Imagine Ciri’s horse. Not Roach, mind you, but Kelpie—bound to be a crowd favorite, you know. They’ve got this ML Deformer tech, or whatever, which makes muscle movements on these critters super real. Like, abs-on-a-horse real. Not kidding, it doesn’t mess with performance, either. Who knew we wanted horse muscles, but there you go.

Have you heard of Fast Geometry Streaming? Sounds important and geeky. So when Ciri’s zipping by some trading hub—I forget the name already—you don’t see those weird glitches where mountains appear out of nowhere, poof! Seamless, they said. Like magic. Or tech, maybe?

Then there’s Nanite Foliage or something. Picture trees so detailed, you feel guilty stepping on a leaf. Unreal Engine 5 makes that happen, cleverly. Every single branch swinging in the wind—in case you’re into that sorta thing. Details, details.

Oh, the Unreal Animation Framework! Don’t even… It’s supposedly making NPCs less…hapless I suppose? Populating the game with more life and chatter. Like in Valdrest—oh, I remembered a place name!—bands are playing, NPCs, clapping, living their virtual lives. They’re aiming for less gap between your hero and the folks around. Cool, right?

Let’s wrap this up with Mass Framework. Ask me what that even means, and I’m blank. But it’s about simulating big crowds. Markets buzzing, people bumping into each other. Ciri comes by, and there’s apple-dropping chaos. Grappling with glitches? Not here. Apples rolling downhill, kids chasing them, pigs too—I mean, how can you not love that mess? They’re crafting The Witcher 4 to be seriously immersive, wonky apple chaos and all.

So there you have it. Maybe I missed a point or two. But you get it, I think. Right?