First Look at The Witcher 4 Tech Demo

This tech demo will sit nicely alongside the Killzone 2 tech demo.

The game won't look anywhere near this even on a 6090.

Anyone who takes CDPR at their word about this stuff has a very short memory.

What?

There is nothing mindblowing and not possible on PS5 on display here. Game JUST looks very good, it's also using the most performant version of UE5, most games so far were using initial unoptimized versions of the engine.

I'm not sure about final resolution on standard PS5 but all this stuff looks possible and just like in GTA6 there are many artifacts on display as well (like lumen ghosting, shadows maps changing lods etc.). I expect PC version to look much better.

Another UE tech demo slop. The game won't look like that and probably going to run worse with tons of traversal stuttering. Man I wish devs were still investing on their own proprietary engine instead falling for this trap. Games made on Unreal have that generic look to them despite all the technical mumbo jumbo.

They are specifically trying to fix UE stutter, 5.6 versions has their experimental fixes.

 
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their shareholders are pushing for this crap to try and puff up preorder revenues no doubt

cant really see the point of doing it other than that, the Cyberpunk game was a disaster
 
That bullshot gameplay trailer from witcher3 is still on official witcher yt channel to this very day and still has written "in-game footage" right infront of it:


that was actualy how witcher 3 looked before the downgrade and 1 year delay to make it run on consoles. cdred explained the lighting couldnt run on that gen and they had to remake the lgihting to make it run
 
I doubt that was running on real PS5 hardware. It was locked 60fps and hade zooming all over the map. Looked like PC footage imo

If it was though - impressive
 
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that was actualy how witcher 3 looked before the downgrade and 1 year delay to make it run on consoles. cdred explained the lighting couldnt run on that gen and they had to remake the lgihting to make it run
PC version maxed didnt look anywhere close to that even, and just watch the trailer again, difference is humongous vs how it was looking maxed on pc at launch xD
I remember we had plenty topics/comparision threads about it too here on gaf back in mid 2015 :)
U got varios vids about it too, like this one:

Im witcher series fanatic, got 200h playtime total in the witcher3 including its 2 amazing expansions, but i wont lie about the game, constructive critique is what makes games better in the end, gotta be honest in order for game to improve later on.

Edit: Just to give ppl idea how taxing w3 at launch was, 1080p maxed:

Even strongest gpu, 980ti, that launched literally 2weeks after the game's launch, couldnt hold stable 60, game ran 70-75fps avg but still could dip in heavy scenarios below 60, i know it too coz i played whole game later on 30% stronger gtx 1080 and it hold perfect stable 60 except 1 very short real time cutscene with close up on a kitty's fur(yes im graphic whore who plays all the time with fps metters :P ).
 
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I'm not sure about final resolution on standard PS5 but all this stuff looks possible and just like in GTA6 there are many artifacts on display as well (like lumen ghosting, shadows maps changing lods etc.). I expect PC version to look much better.
I wonder if DF will do a pixel count on the footage. I wouldn't be surprised if that was upscaling from 900 or 1080p. Was pretty soft. Looks excellent though. Almost achieves the "look" of the pre-rendered announcement trailer, just at much lower res.
 
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The video has been reuploaded on The Witcher channel in 60fps:



If it ends up looking even close to this on base PS5, at 60fps... that's pretty incredible :D


Only the NPC interaction and animation variety is questionable but other than that I don't see anything too outlandish. Nanite forest is the show stealer.

I bet when GTA6 comes out people will look back at this and think meh. It's finally time to raise expectations.
 
I wonder if DF will do a pixel count on the footage. I wouldn't be surprised if that was upscaling from 900 or 1080p. Was pretty soft. Looks excellent though. Almost achieves the "look" of the pre-rendered announcement trailer, just at much lower res.

Yeah, with TSR games can be low res and still look decent enough (but soft for sure). I hope new PSSR (2026) version will be implement on PS5 Pro, if it has FSR4 level of quality this game (and others) will look great.
 
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I am curious why they showcased this on a PS5, CDPR have historically had a close relationship with Xbox and this was prominent during the Cyberpunk marketing campaign and launch.

Either Sony has reached some sort of marketing agreement with CDPR, or maybe just CDPR wanted to showcase their game and tech on the most popular console and hardware.
Whelp, it seems they're partnered up.

 
Guys , they did a live gameplay tech demo, said its running on BASE PS5 60fps with RT.
This is just the teaser they started with.

It looks phenomenal.


From what I played with AC Valhalla and recently AC Shadows

This is feasible.

The only faith I even have in this is that engine wasn't made by this clowns and made by Epic, so we know the thing happening is from a tangible, real place...but CDPR have lied before about shit like this, so.......we'll see
 
From what I played with AC Valhalla and recently AC Shadows

This is feasible.

The only faith I even have in this is that engine wasn't made by this clowns and made by Epic, so we know the thing happening is from a tangible, real place...but CDPR have lied before about shit like this, so.......we'll see

Those clowns have made open world engine that is very smooth, no loading or stuttering - Cyberpunk runs very smoothly if you have enough CPU and GPU power (and they never should have released it on last gen hardware). UE5 on the other hand...

They had to fix multi billion dollar engine themselves, what this tells you?
 
Those clowns have made open world engine that is very smooth, no loading or stuttering - Cyberpunk runs very smoothly if you have enough CPU and GPU power (and they never should have released it on last gen hardware). UE5 on the other hand...

They had to fix multi billion dollar engine themselves, what this tells you?
That even with CP2077 quality they were not up to the task. The game still drops like a mf. It doesn't runs smoothly you just brute force through a not so good looking game. So it they wanted to keep with next gen quality they had to ditch that piece of trash. Don't @ me Bojji, I know you're hasta las cejas of vodka at these hours.
Whelp, it seems they're partnered up.
Partnering with Xbox right now would be like partnering with Kodak for your photo edit software.
 
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Those clowns have made open world engine that is very smooth, no loading or stuttering - Cyberpunk runs very smoothly if you have enough CPU and GPU power (and they never should have released it on last gen hardware). UE5 on the other hand...

They had to fix multi billion dollar engine themselves, what this tells you?
If they are so fucking good, why are they now using a 3rd party engine now? lol

Even more odd, Cyberpunk lacks functional things that existed in generations prior to PS4 for anyone to be using that sad excuse that it "never should have released it on last gen"

Yet everyone else was able to fucking making a functional open world games though huh? How do you even explain the entire Watchdogs series, RDR2, Ghost Of Tsushima, Horizon Zero Dawn etc? So I don't think last gen was the issue, I think this team simply isn't that good and maybe it makes sense for them to use a 3rd party engine like Unreal Engine instead of pretending they can do it themselves.

We don't need them struggling to figure out how fucking enemies can attack you while riding horses for 3 years post launch like its a mystery sir...
 
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That even with CP2077 quality they were not up to the task. The game still drops like a mf. It doesn't runs smoothly you just brute force through a not so good looking game. So it they wanted to keep with next gen quality they had to ditch that piece of trash. Don't @ me Bojji, I know you're hasta las cejas of vodka at these hours.

Partnering with Xbox right now would be like partnering with Kodak for your photo edit software.

WTF? CP2077 is still in top 3 best looking games. When game JUST requires high CPU and GPU power to run SMOOTHLY then it's good, you can always buy better hardware or drop settings to achieve that.

And then you have UE5 games... where no matter what hardware you have (2060 or 5090) game won't be smooth at all, it will stutter like motherfucker in certain sections and you can be sure that it will.

What engine is better?
 
I am curious why they showcased this on a PS5, CDPR have historically had a close relationship with Xbox and this was prominent during the Cyberpunk marketing campaign and launch.

Either Sony has reached some sort of marketing agreement with CDPR, or maybe just CDPR wanted to showcase their game and tech on the most popular console and hardware.
Also, Sony has an investment in Epic.
 
What engine is better?
An actual fucking functional one that is optimized...

So I'm happy they are using UE5 for the next game, maybe the can focus on making a um WORKING game this time vs struggling with basic elements. I know you like how it looks bud, but we still need a working, functional game with actual features, we don't need more time being spent to have something "look good" that plays like crap
 
If they are so fucking good, why are they now using a 3rd party engine now? lol

Even more odd, Cyberpunk lacks functional things that existed in generations prior to PS4 for anyone to be using that sad excuse that it "never should have released it on last gen"

Yet everyone else was able to fucking making a functional open world games though huh? How do you even explain the entire Watchdogs series, RDR2, Ghost Of Tsushima, Horizon Zero Dawn etc? So I don't think last gen was the issue, I think this team simply isn't that good and maybe it makes sense for them to use a 3rd party engine like Unreal Engine instead of pretending they can do it themselves.

We don't need them struggling to figure out how fucking enemies can attack you while riding horses for 3 years post launch like its a mystery sir...

I know that you are full of hate for them and for sure I won't be discussing this stuff again. You can say many bad things about CP2077 that would be correct but it's not running on a bad open world engine from graphics and performance standpoint. Game was the best looking open world game in 2020 on PC, and it only looks better now.

They pulled this stunt with the last Witcher. We all know how that played out.

They never showed actual gameplay running on any hardware back then, all footage was from trailers. This is quite different.

An actual fucking functional one that is optimized...

So I'm happy they are using UE5 for the next game, maybe the can focus on making a um WORKING game this time vs struggling with basic elements. I know you like how it looks bud, but we still need a working, functional game with actual features, we don't need more time being spent to have something "look good" that plays like crap

So not UE5?
 
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Ay lmao. Seems like what was shown is not The Witcher 4, but just a tech demo set in The Witcher 4's world.



Guess that means that the showcase was all graphics, but no game at all.


jurassic-park-jeff-goldblum.gif



So...lied about Witcher 3 downgrade
Lied about CP2077
annnnd here we are again with them laying down the ground work for more bullshit

This company cannot be trusted.
 
UE5 quibbles aside, not a fan of anything I saw really. CDPR B-Team just doesn't hit like the OGs. The way they had her walk straight through that audience instead of just walking behind them. Maybe to show off the crowd bump animation system. (Big wow AC1 did this in 2006). I'm sure they're saving anything good or noteworthy for an on-stage presentation. Pretty pessimistic on this one, nonetheless. These tech demo certainly didn't cure me of that. This is a brand-new studio making a sequel to a series I've loved for over a decade. Hope they find a way to pull it off.
 
Not this one:
Enemy-clipping-though-wall.jpg

(PS5)

Videgame has bugs?

348793456afcc93095468b551299796e.gif


UE5 quibbles aside, not a fan of anything I saw really. CDPR B-Team just doesn't hit like the OGs. The way they had her walk straight through that audience instead of just walking behind them. Maybe to show off the crowd bump animation system. (Big wow AC1 did this in 2006). I'm sure they're saving anything good or noteworthy for an on-stage presentation. Pretty pessimistic on this one, nonetheless. These tech demo certainly didn't cure me of that. This is a brand-new studio making a sequel to a series I've loved for over a decade. Hope they find a way to pull it off.

B team? Isn't TW4 done by main Polish studio while CP sequel is done is US studio?
 
PC version maxed didnt look anywhere close to that even, and just watch the trailer again, difference is humongous vs how it was looking maxed on pc at launch xD
I remember we had plenty topics/comparision threads about it too here on gaf back in mid 2015 :)
U got varios vids about it too, like this one:

Im witcher series fanatic, got 200h playtime total in the witcher3 including its 2 amazing expansions, but i wont lie about the game, constructive critique is what makes games better in the end, gotta be honest in order for game to improve later on.

Edit: Just to give ppl idea how taxing w3 at launch was, 1080p maxed:

Even strongest gpu, 980ti, that launched literally 2weeks after the game's launch, couldnt hold stable 60, game ran 70-75fps avg but still could dip in heavy scenarios below 60, i know it too coz i played whole game later on 30% stronger gtx 1080 and it hold perfect stable 60 except 1 very short real time cutscene with close up on a kitty's fur(yes im graphic whore who plays all the time with fps metters :P ).

it didnt look like tht on pc because we were basiclyplaying the console version on pc. that version of the trailers was long gone when the focus was put on consoles and cdred had to downgrade
 
UE5 quibbles aside, not a fan of anything I saw really. CDPR B-Team just doesn't hit like the OGs. The way they had her walk straight through that audience instead of just walking behind them. Maybe to show off the crowd bump animation system. (Big wow AC1 did this in 2006). I'm sure they're saving anything good or noteworthy for an on-stage presentation. Pretty pessimistic on this one, nonetheless. These tech demo certainly didn't cure me of that. This is a brand-new studio making a sequel to a series I've loved for over a decade. Hope they find a way to pull it off.

This.

I feel this team is struggling to meet or beat Ubisoft / Rockstar. Anything those teams do for generations, CDPR struggles to do and then makes it sound like reaching AC 1 levels is a feat, they couldn't figure out how to get cops to drive cars and shoot in CP2077 for 3 years....

So...i'm with you with the pessimism. They seem to be literally generations behind other teams with some of these features.
 
Videgame has bugs?
Only you would put me in the hard situation of having to defend the POS UE5 is. But CPPR's engine is worse no matter how you look at it. It looks a generation behind in every platform you put it on aside from the most extreme cases and it still drops frames when streaming assets from the fastest IO ever conceived by man. If they can fix UE5 enough it'll be a generational leap for the studio.

Now if they learn how to make fun games that'd be the cherry on top but baby steps. They've decided to go for graphics first.
 
Only you would put me in the hard situation of having to defend the POS UE5 is. But CPPR's engine is worse no matter how you look at it. It looks a generation behind in every platform you put it on aside from the most extreme cases and it still drops frames when streaming assets from the fastest IO ever conceived by man. If they can fix UE5 enough it'll be a generational leap for the studio.

Now if they learn how to make fun games that'd be the cherry on top but baby steps. They've decided to go for graphics first.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

No UE5 game is smooth, you can drop RTX 6090 and 10800X3D on UE5 game and it will still stutter.

Cyberpunk doesn't have shit like that, zero loadings, no stuttering. With the right hardware OR SETTINGS it will run very smoothly.

Looks better? Does immortals of aveum or Remnant 2 look better than CP?
 
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Yeah, no way Witcher 4 looks like that at 60fps on a base PS5. I mean that looks absolutely incredible and would be an impressive achievement even at 30fps on the ps5. So its just a tech demo that they claimed to be gameplay.....man CDPR just cant stop being sus with marketing especially with consoles.
 
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You have no idea what you are talking about.

No UE5 game is smooth, you can drop RTX 6090 and 10800X3D on UE5 game and it will still stutter.

Cyberpunk doesn't have shit like that, zero loadings, no stuttering. With the right hardware OR SETTINGS it will run very smoothly.

Looks better? Does immortals of aveum or Remnant 2 look better than CP?
But I can play Lords of the Fallen on a plane Jane PS5 without stutters. PC peasants problems don't matter to the console master race.

Robocop looks better than CP. Lords of the Fallen… meeeeehhh both ugly. Wukong has the art direction of a high schooler opening UE editor for the first time but in term of graphics yeah, still better. Silent Hill looks better but it's not as seamless and it was made by flopper so I'll give you that.
 
It's not visually mind-blowing, so 30 FPS on base PS5 is achievable imo. 60 FPS on base PS5 with that level of fidelity? Unless they're technical wizards, which they aren't, it's not happening.
 
But I can play Lords of the Fallen on a plane Jane PS5 without stutters. PC peasants problems don't matter to the console master race.

Robocop looks better than CP. Lords of the Fallen… meeeeehhh both ugly. Wukong has the art direction of a high schooler opening UE editor for the first time but in term of graphics yeah, still better. Silent Hill looks better but it's not as seamless and it was made by flopper so I'll give you that.

nicholas-cage-laughing.gif


Maybe your console peasant eyes just can't see them? 👀

Hint: Stuttering is quite universal on all platforms in UE5, PC also gets shader stutter that consoles don't have but those are temporary.
 
Video, and especially the more tech-driven one going into the tools are what I was hoping to see when CD Projekt Red said they were going to do some work on the engine.

I'm hoping the performance improvements to nanite, especially with how it handles foliage now will actually be performant enough to get rid of LODs being a thing, and run on console hardware/budget PC hardware. Even the water finally looked good.

All that really matters for the rest is just running well in general without shader compilation or traveral stutters.
 
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Yeah, no way Witcher 4 looks like that at 60fps on a base PS5. I mean that looks absolutely incredible and would be a massive achievement even at 30fps on the ps5. So its just a tech demo that they claimed to be gameplay.....man CDPR just cant stop being sus especially with consoles.
They clearly explained how 60fps is what the game will have and how it would.
 
Whelp, it seems they're partnered up.
There is a reason why Sony has upped their stake in Epic to 5%. PS5 optimisations have clearly been a R&D focus for a while now. I'd suggest it showing on the PS5 is less about a CDPR Sony partnership than an EPIC CDPR partnership on the most optimised current gen platform. The install base obviously important as well.
 
it didnt look like tht on pc because we were basiclyplaying the console version on pc. that version of the trailers was long gone when the focus was put on consoles and cdred had to downgrade
You were never getting thst on the PCs of the time either. Not with any decent framerates.
 
I am curious why they showcased this on a PS5, CDPR have historically had a close relationship with Xbox and this was prominent during the Cyberpunk marketing campaign and launch.

Either Sony has reached some sort of marketing agreement with CDPR, or maybe just CDPR wanted to showcase their game and tech on the most popular console and hardware.

The Xbox is dead so why even bother with partnering up with a corpse?
 
The Xbox is dead so why even bother with partnering up with a corpse?
I dont think it really has anything to fo with any of that. Imo they showed it on console after what happened with Cyberpunk and last gen consoles, and the fact that zero last gen footage was ever shown before release.

Now they can be like 'see we showed you what its like running on console'. Of course that doesnt mean the final game will look or perform like this TECH DEMO does.
 
There is a reason why Sony has upped their stake in Epic to 5%. PS5 optimisations have clearly been a R&D focus for a while now. I'd suggest it showing on the PS5 is less about a CDPR Sony partnership than an EPIC CDPR partnership on the most optimised current gen platform. The install base obviously important as well.
There's a write-up on the PS Blog.

Yeah, it's all of them involved.
 
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