While the tech demo presented by CD Projekt RED during Unreal Engine’s event last month for The Witcher 4 was certainly quite impressive, engineering production manager Jan Hermanowicz wants to warn fans that the final version of the game might not end up looking like the tech demo. In an interview with GamesRadar, Hermanowicz mentioned that the trailer showcased was for a tech demo, and wasn’t from the actual game itself.
About the video, Hermanowicz clarified that it was “a technological demo and not an actual game, or gameplay.” He noted that while the region showcased in the video – Kovir – will be in The Witcher 4, the version we saw in the tech demo didn’t fully represent the final version, even though it was made using “actual assets from CD Projekt RED.”
Despite this, however, Hermanowicz also noted that The Witcher 4 will end up looking similar to the tech demo video in one core way: “The art style and the visual direction” will still be distinct. He said that, while there were some differences between the original announcement trailer for The Witcher 4 and what we saw in the tech demo, “they are sharing the same character and the same style and direction.”
Ultimately, he said that CD Projekt RED as a studio wants to be “extremely transparent.” According to Hermanowicz, “We’re not calling this gameplay, we’re not pretending that this is an actual game. It is a technological demo.” So even if The Witcher 4 ends up looking quite similar to the tech demo in the end, “We want to remain stalwart that this is a showcase of technology,” said Hermanowicz.
The statement by Hermanowicz echoes a similar one made by a spokesperson for CD Projekt RED back when the tech demo was first showcased. “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 the spokesperson. Rather, the showcase was a look at “the powerful foundation we’re building in close collaboration with Epic Games to push open-world design further than ever before and the core systems and features we’re developing using Unreal Engine 5.”
CD Projekt RED had claimed that the tech demo showcased for The Witcher 4 from back in early June was running at 60 FPS on a base-model PS5 with ray tracing enabled. In the tech demo, we got to see new protagonist Ciri explore Valdrest, while also giving us a look at some of the impressive new visual technology being used, like Nanite Foliage for the forest.
Hermanowicz had previously spoken about how the studio wants to make sure that the world of The Witcher 4 feels as alive as it did in the tech demo. To do this, he revealed that developers of the upcoming RPG have been revisiting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s most dense (in terms of NPC activity) area – Novigrad.
The Witcher 4 is under development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. However, there has been no confirmed release date for it so far.
