#Witcher 4’s Unreal Engine demo appears to be like promising—however I worry a repeat of a Cyberpunk 2077 scenario – Destructoid
On June 3, we lastly obtained to see The Witcher 4 up shut, albeit within the type of a vertical slice and a tech demo that demonstrates its use of the most recent Unreal Engine 5. What CDPR offered was a number of the most superior and most superior gameplay so far—however given previous experiences, I’d reasonably be cautious than optimistic.
Throughout State of the Unreal, CD Projekt Crimson gave a dwell presentation of The Witcher 4‘s technical capabilities, using the most recent and biggest model of Unreal Engine 5 to reveal simply how far we’ve come. From reasonable motion, physics, environments, simulated LOD that appears nice from any distance, and a number of the most interactive and dynamic NPCs ever proven on display, CDPR actually goes all out on this title.
They handle this, too, whereas maintaining the sport working at a easy 60 fps on the bottom PS5, all of the whereas having ray tracing turned, a reality much more spectacular than the tech demo itself. The builders additionally retained the charming and recognizable artwork path inaugurated by the earlier recreation, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, although with totally different cultural and societal traits as we’re now not in Previous Temeria, however far up north within the forested, snowy Kovir that carries heavy inspirations from commerce principalities of Baltic Russia.
The world feels responsive, it appears to be like good, and Ciri, the protagonist, interacts with the world, as do all of the NPCs we noticed, in an natural and direct method. You ran into a person carrying a bunch of apples? Effectively, he simply dropped the crate and youngsters are flocking like birds to peck away and steal what they will. Guards spit at you for being a grimy mutant, and retailers persuade passers-by that their piece of fish is the very best on the town in pure exchanges. The world, merely put, is alive.
Nonetheless, CDPR quickly identified that this isn’t, in actual fact, a part of The Witcher 4 correct. It’s a specialised tech demo and a vertical slice that serves to showcase the varied new and present Unreal Engine applied sciences utilized within the firm’s new recreation. Whereas it’s a sneak peek of what could come, it’s nonetheless a ready, baked, and ornamental showcase, not the precise recreation. And this instantly awoke my fears, constructed on previous experiences with CDPR’s demos and showcases, that at all times someway wound up being radically totally different than the precise recreation.
Consider 2014’s E3 (RIP) demonstration of The Witcher 3. We got reasonable lighting, volumetric smoke and clouds, reasonable water simulation, higher graphics, nearly a wholly totally different environmental engine, and a lot extra, that made The Witcher 3 look as probably the greatest video games ever conceived. Novigrad’s textures wouldn’t look the way in which they did in that 2014 promo till 2022, when the Subsequent Gen replace for The Witcher 3 got here out, whereas different methods I discussed above are nonetheless absent from the sport, regardless of how arduous modders tried to make up for them.
Downgrades in CDPR titles don’t finish there, nonetheless. Again in 2018, we noticed the primary prolonged demo of Cyberpunk 2077, a recreation so bold it ended up being its undoing (no less than initially). Crowd simulations, graphics, fight, and the now notorious wall climbing mechanics had been all there within the demos and showreels, however by no means within the precise recreation. What’s worse, we even noticed numerous story and RPG parts that promised infinite freedom of alternative and consequence, however what we obtained was a largely linear recreation the place existence solely modified the intro and a few dialogue decisions, if that.
Cyberpunk 2077‘s excessive ambitions, nowhere close to the stuff we noticed on this new demo, additionally led to its extremely poor launch, delisting from the PlayStation retailer, and numerous refunds, controversies, and years of poor efficiency and repute. It took the corporate till patch 2.0, a number of years down the road, to repair what they might, however the recreation’s marketed depth remained absent, which might very effectively occur to The Witcher 4 if the corporate doesn’t play its playing cards proper this time round.
Fortunately, CDPR, having realized from its personal previous errors, has clearly outlined what it confirmed as a demo and nothing else, however the reality stays that the corporate confirmed it understanding full effectively individuals can be bought on it as quickly as they noticed it. In any case, what we noticed right this moment, although spectacular and past something we’re used to in video games, is advertising and marketing and an effort to hype up the upcoming title. And hype is at an all-time excessive, with CDPR not having numerous wiggle room left within the belief division to disappoint as soon as once more.
And to keep away from being disillusioned for the third time, allow us to as an alternative be cautious. I’ll actually curb my pleasure for the sport, though The Witcher 3 is my favourite title of all time. In any case, downgrades and advertising and marketing have fooled me sufficient instances as is, and I might reasonably be glad with no matter CDPR delivers, than overestimate and count on that which, if the previous is something to go by, typically by no means comes.
What do you assume? Will The Witcher 4 handle to ship on the ambitions it flaunted right this moment? Tell us beneath.
