CD Projekt Red has given us our first real look at The Witcher 4, but the big surprise here is that the game's Unreal Engine 5 tech demo — just showcased during Unreal Fest — is running on a base PS5.
The studio says that the current build runs at 60 frames-per-second with ray tracing on Sony's current-gen system, and it looks stunning.
The demo gives us a glimpse of the game's vast open world, complete with a run-through of a nearby town, some dialogue, and more.
Now, it should be stressed that this is a build of The Witcher 4 specifically designed to show off Unreal Engine's features. Yes, it's running on a standard PS5, but it's not necessarily indicative of the finished product.
If the adventure really does end up running at 60fps with ray tracing, we'll have to pick our jaws off the floor.
CD Projekt Red says it's striving to make this the most immersive open world RPG it's ever made, and it certainly looks the part so far.
What do you make of this demo? Do you think The Witcher 4 will really run like this on PS5? Sharpen your two blades in the comments section below.





Comments 78
Yeah this is going to be GOTY when it comes out, looks like moving to UE5 was a good call, but I'm going to missing the Red Engine.
And they said PS5 is weak It was all about devs and PS4 holding back.
PS5 Pro was made for this!!
That looks pretty cool. Here's hoping they've also figured out the weird flickering affect that has afflicted some UE games this gen.
Looks amazing (I understand it's a tech demo) and has me even more more pumped for when it releases!
Ye it will look amazing i can't wait
I'm excited for it, but since it's still a tech demo, I'm going to hold out on believing the full game will be constant 60 on base PS5. When the game does release, it'll likely be a cross-gen game with PS6 anyway. Does look great though graphically.
Don't forget the bait-and-switch of Cyberpunk 2077 (and The Witcher 3 itself).
DO. NOT. PREORDER.
I came.
Multiple times.
I just watched it. It's amazing especially all of the townspeople moving and reacting. I can't wait for this!
Didn't expect 60fps..with pssr update to pro next year we gonna have a really damn near perfect PC level port on pro
If cd projekt can actually fix the inherent and immersion breaking stutter issues plaguing ue5 the game should look amazing. If not, it’s really going to make it difficult to appreciate the graphical fidelity on display.
While this may look good, the entire thing is a scripted "bullshot". Do NOT forget the amount of lies and fake gameplay shown for Cyberpunk.
The entire presentation sounded like a 2008 E3 demo. "The world is responsive" scripted event happens. We see this each year, they always oversell how "immsersive" the world is. While we can be excited for the game, keep expectations in check.
Will be interesting to see how the final holds up because i doubt it will look this good at 60fps with RT on a base PS5.
Nice! I think that this gen is going to be at least as long as the last (with possibly a longer cross gen period), so we’ll finally get some games that really allow the base PS5 to shine.
The video that I saw is 60 Hz, but it shows 30 fps gameplay with heavy motion blur:
https://youtu.be/SwjLeGh_3qA?si=RwCIRjr8ZV7HUp6j
Lots of potential!
But I want to say something to everyone... it's a technical demo, it's not gameplay (this is written in the screenshots, I'm not making it up)
I remember some people from CDPR saying before the release of CP2077 that the game was bug-free and polished. I prefer to keep my feet on the ground and wait for something more solid (real gameplay, with combat etc... something closer to release).
I hope it's amazing...I just don't want people to get their hopes up too high...I've seen too much in this industry already
In CDPR we trust. Looking really incredible!
I need a couple of business days to be able to pick up my freakin jaw. This looks gorgeous, I cannot wait.
@Korgon I'd like to agree with that 100% but their past doesn't benefit them... let's hope things are different now
@Korgon Do we, really? You;d be a fool after the last game they released.
So we're finally getting to see proper next gen games after 5 years , was to be expected as most games started off as ps4 titles early in development.
Bloody hell, that was impressive.
"Only" took 5 years for the new generation to actually arrive. But we are here at last.
Yah this carefully scripted bit looks great and works well as an unreal ad. However it's doubtful this will ever look anything like this on console. It does bode well for abandoning the aged red engine though.
A stunning spectacle as unreal puts out often. However in practice it doesn't seem to ever translate to what they advertise until the tech demo is a generation old or so and the next iteration of unreal is put forward.
Looking forward to Witcher either way, after reviews of course. They lost a ton of talent after Witcher 3 due to terrible dev practices and even more with the cyberpunk fraud.
Hopefully this one turns out.
Even if the game doesn't look like that, as long as the game is like an advanced version of the Witcher 3, I know it'll be amazing
And if it's another launch cp2077 fiasco, then I know at least sometime in the future it'll be fixed to be something amazing but probably on ps6 😂
@MrPeanutbutterz think theyve modre than made up for that. They won't make that mistake again it cost them a fortune. Remember there's no last gen system crippling it this time. If they're saying its running at 60 with RT on on a base PS5 I have zero worries
This is what the common rental leased UE can do for the current generation of consoles. I still think Sonys bespoke engine for Horizon is the one to beat for open world games. CDPR should have continued to develop their own engine for the type of games that they make.
I think people are so surprised judging by the comments on YouTube by how this looks. This is what the current generation has been capable of all along! If we see a new horizon just for this generation of PlayStation then Guerilla games will be able to do even more.
Looks aside this Witcher 4 won’t have the same ethos of 3. As CDPR has had shake-ups and their recent moves told me what I need to know. It’s the OG blokes that make the game not the name of the studio whom owns the IP.
@Andy22385 Nah, even with the mass refunds during a time it was still borked, 2077 still made them a small fortune.
Besides, even The Witcher 3 was subject to a downgrade.
@MrPeanutbutterz oh im not doubting a downgrade. Id say next to no chance it's looking like that at 60 fps on a base PS5. Maybe on a pro. But it won't be unplayable like CP was
Highly impressive demo. Actual gameplay will obviously have to make some sacrifices but i don't have a doubt at all that it will still look stunning.
Fingers crossed CD Projekt Red have taken the learnings from Cyberpunk to become an highly efficient developer and it's not too long before we see the final product.
If this is what they can do on a standard PS5 than just imagine what they can do with a PS5 Pro. Makes me wonder will GTA 6 get that 60 fps with ray tracing 🤔
at 30fps, I'd take this
Day one. I know for a fact that the most impressive thing about this game will be its written quests, characters and dialogue.
Visually stunning, but Witcher 3 has some glaring issues I hope this new entry irons out. For the love of god, give the main character a decent walk/run cycle. No more ‘popsicle stick up the backside’ jogging please. Secondly, I pray there’s a better (read: more varied) combat animation. That same old ‘chop, chop, jumping chop’ canned animation from Witcher3 got stale within the first 10mins I played it. Aside from that, Witcher3 laid all the important fundamentals in place for what should prove to be an astonishing sequel 🤞
Nanite foiliage is a game changer...
Definitely looks good and a lot of the tech presented is stunning. Hopefully a lot of this is still present once the game is fully released.
They've fooled us with Witcher 3 (huge downgrade), they fooled us again with Cyberpunk (huge downgrade and riddle with bugs).... wait until some actual gameplay footage is released... I'm a huge fan of CDP, but careful we shall remain ^_^
@Titntin Yes. Plus Metahuman in real time, allowing facial capture and lip syncing on the cheap for smaller studios without massive multi-camera Volumes.
I was especially impressed by their focus on discussing PERFORMANCE and aiming to allow devs to hit 60fps on base consoles. Impressive all around. (With all the usual caveats)
It's always interesting to see tech like this even if I don't believe for a second that it'll be representative of the game.
I believe it till i see it on the final product. 😬
And also the original stream shows 30 fps gameplay (with some stutters) , no sign of 60 fps.
I don’t think that CDPR didn’t say the truth. Maybe the current build indeed runs with 60 fps and ray tracing on PS5. But what they showed here was
1) not the latest build and/or
2) intentionally set to 30 fps, to provide a more consistent impression or a more pristine image quality.
As The Witcher 3 is my all time favorite game, I’ll refrain from watching this because I already know this is a day 1 purchase for me. I won’t watch a single trailer or read a single article before release.
Wow finally another engine has caught up to Decima!
It looks absolutely gorgeous! So glad I got a PS5 Pro.
That didnt look like 60fps
Your move, RockStar
@BiosNova @Reyzore
Actually if anything I trust them more than ever after Cyberpunk. They could have just taken the money and ran but instead stuck with it to the point that now Cyberpunk is legitimately one the very best RPGs available on modern hardware. They also gave refunds to anyone who wanted one.
Were mistakes made? Sure but I would say they more than made up for it in the end. And even if God forbid Witcher 4 launches in a not great state, I have more confidence CDPR will get it where it needs to be more than say Bethesda with ES6.
Plus the entire reason they switched to Unreal 5 is to have a much smoother development this time around.
It's perfectly fine to be skeptical though. By all means if you are uncomfortable don't pre-order until reviews and whatnot. I just can't say that I am personally skeptical here is all. 😄
I'll pay $80 for this. Not mariokart.
I don't really know why you are all excited. The screenshots clearly state that it's not actual gameplay. Just a tech demo. Remeber, after all these years we have not seen one UE5 game that looks half as good as the Matrix demo the showcased at the beginning of the generation.
That looks insane and if they can help fix UE5's well documented issues then this is a big win even outside of their own game.
And to all those banging on about it looking like 30fps, all the footage on YouTube is from the livestream, they said they'll upload it themselves later today
@BiosNova Also that bs of the guy "Playing" with the controller.
It's looking good. I am starting to believe the promises of Crimson desert. If they deliver that open world 60fps before the Witcher 4, it will be something.
@FantasyExplor3r88 I agree, this looks incredible, in the very meaning of the word.
@Nepp67 But the controller usage PROOFS that this was running in realtime on a PS5…
I know that people are nostalgic about good ol‘ E3, but these fake shows are thankfully a thing of the past.
And now the developer warns us, actually published.
It’s just a tech demo.
Looks like a dream. Hope the final product is as near as possible to this but remember:
https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/06/the-witcher-4-gets-full-gameplay-reveal-but-dev-warns-its-just-a-tech-demo
Still, very impressive. Hopefully new version of Unreal Engine is much more optimized by devs.
I doubt it will actually look like this at release..
They say this is just a tech demo, to show what they are building the world with. But even so, this running at 60fps with RT, though how much RT was going on in the world? Maybe shadows?, on a base PS5 is pretty impressive. Draw distance, seamless LOD, it's like voodoo
What I really hope is that they craft a world that feels as alive and present as the Witcher 3 does. Even if it means dialing the eye candy back a notch or two. An open world that is just static, like a few recent games, is just pointless, it has to live and breath around you to make the magic happen.
Day 1 buy no matter what. Witcher 3 got me into the Witcher books so I’ll be forever grateful for that tbh. Plus, playing as Ciri is a dynamite decision if we didn’t have the choice to play as Geralt
Did the Cyberpunk 2077 release suck? Yes. But it was amazing later on so I feel like I still got my money’s worth anyways. I get people being hesitant on it but they did a ***** ton to repair that game. Only issue I have with them still is that they screwed people over who platinum’ed it before Update 2.0+. I would’ve loved to platinum it again so I’ll have to create a second account to play 2.0+ on the PS5 Pro
Impressive stuff, but this is just a tech demo made to impress and hype people up. I doubt the game itself will run at a consistent 60fps with RT on base PS5 AND PS5 Pro. Maybe this will be possible on PS6
Ciri's in-game model looks terrific. Hopefully this tech demo quality comes to the finished product.
It might just be a tech demo, but it’s an incredibly impressive one. The atmosphere and characterisation I’m sure will carry through, and it looks absolutely on point for The Witcher.
Very excited to see how this pans out, I’ll never pre-order a CD Projekt Red game again, but I will have money ready to go at release if it releases stable
Still 2 years from release and visual this looks stunning
Even if it’s just a technical showcase, i’m still very impressed that it’s running at 60fps on a base PS5. The first ray tracing demos all ran at 30fps. And if this is any indication of how theyre planing to design the game visually, i’m all for it.
Also….. This looks Unreal! 🥁badum tss
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Wow it looks stunning. And Unreal Engine? I want to try it in VR.
PS5 Pro or PS6!! Love this!
this looks amazing i can't wait
Looks great but this makes me want to snatch a copy of The Witcher 3 complete edition. My only experience with the series was the tv show season 1 & 2 and The Witcher 2 PC from eons ago which i didn't get the chance to finish it. I wonder if i can follow The Witcher 3 story and recognize the characters.
It looks incredible. Hopefully they will have learned from previous releases and avoid selling a technical mess. I'll wait until it's patched before buying it.
UE5 is absolutely rife with technical issues. Baked in, if I'm not mistaken. I'll reserve judgement for the time being. CDPR and UE5 sounds like a recipe for disaster at this time.
Not that I'll be skipping this game, of course, once the reviews come in.
Calling this gameplay is very very dubious. It's a tech demo, impressive yes, but "gameplay".
I can't forget the fact that they tried to sweep Cyberpunk's problems under the rug and cover it up, only for it to blow up in their face.
Yeah. Tech demo. It's a safe bet that the game won't look anywhere near this good, as this is a tech demo.
Killzone 2, Watch Dogs, Anthem, PS1's T-Rex, the PS3 Final Fantasy 7 remake...
Tech demos aren't the game. They're proof of concept which is largely scaled back in production.
There is no where near that this game will run like that on Unreal 5 the entire engine is a stutter fest un-optimised piece of crap. It literally bricks GPUs because of it all and anyone with an 8GB GPU suffers, PS5 only has a 10GB 6800 unless CDPR have actually started to optimise their game I highly doubt it
It's not gameplay actually - only a tech demo, as confirmed by the devs recently.
And only confirms firm suspicions that this is not real
The OG PS5 can't pull something like this off... A plague tale Requiem, and Dragon's Dogma 2 both run at 30FPS with RT on, and they don't really have the graphics shown here.
CDPR may be talented, but there's only so much one can do with hardware that will be 6-7 years old by the time the final game launches.
Lots of short memories on here. CDPR is currently on "Fool me twice".
@Max_the_German It's not good enough proof my man, especially with it shifting the view around. Literally have the guy wiggle the stick around to move the character back and forth to show it isn't scripted.
Lets be real when the game releases will not look like this xD but besides that on base ps5 is f... crazy i bet on pc you Will need a nuclear reactor to run this
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