If you weren't tapped into the Epic Games' Unreal Fest stream on Tuesday, you might’ve been sorry to miss all-new gameplay from The Witcher 4.
To be fair, it’s less of a gameplay demo and more of a tech demo, but it’s still quite exciting. The clip shown of The Witcher 4 was shot on PS5 at 60 frames per second. I haven’t seen a more high-fidelity game on the PS5 outside of The Last of Us Part II.
The truth is that developers can make games with super high fidelity. The problem is that it not only takes time, but it's a killer on graphics cards.
According to Epic Games, the solution to those problems is the latest version of its 3D graphics game engine, Unreal Engine 5.6, announced on Wednesday.
Here’s what The Witcher 4 is capable of, and how what was shown on just a PS5 may impact what we see on PC.
'The Witcher 4' and Unreal Engine 5.6
Unreal Engine 5.6 is clearly focused on "eliminating key CPU bottlenecks," to use the words of an Epic Games press release.
For example, the Unreal Fest stream showed a crowd of over 300 people in the market square of Valdrest, the port city in The Witcher, going about their business with little impact on the performance.
The demo also showed diverse character interactions, from people bargaining with merchants to people getting tossed out of the inn. Now, we’ve seen these things before in plenty of games. However, you usually don’t see that kind of thing with this level of fidelity, intractability, and quantity, because your GPU might explode.
You usually don’t see that kind of thing with this level of fidelity, intractability, and quantity, because your GPU might explode.
But one of the biggest updates is to the foliage, specifically the addition of Nanite Foliage. Developers can model every leaf and pine needle while maintaining memory efficiency and fast rendering.
For those unaware, Unreal’s signature Nanite system is an internal mesh format and rendering technology that allows for pixel-scale detail that can dial back and reveal enough detail that can be perceived. So a tree off in the mountains may look like a mesh of cubes up close, but from where you’re standing, it looks like a perfect recreation of the trees around you.
There’s also an update to motion called Multi-Character Motion Matching. So when Ciri hops on her horse, Kelpie, the interaction looks seamless from every angle, even when you’re hopping on her at high speed. Unreal Engine’s Chaos Flesh Solver also makes Kelpie's muscles look realistic as you’re riding her.
What will 'The Witcher 4' look like on a gaming laptop?
Again, the demo was showcased in PS5. I can see myself getting lost in this immersive world of the demo alone. It’s thanks to consoles that technology like Unreal Engine 5.6 exists because high fidelity in relatively mid-performing tech is key.
But what will The Witcher 4 look like on one of the best gaming laptops?
Well, I’m a bit scared and excited. It won’t be the same level of fidelity just with enhanced resolution and frame rates. We know for a fact that Nvidia’s DLSS 4 super sampling technology is making its way onto The Witcher 4.
We still don’t know exactly what CD Projekt RED is implementing with Nvidia’s technology. More than likely, we’ll get DLAA and Multi-Frame Generation to remove visual artifacts, but what level of ray tracing will be available? And how much different will The Witcher 4 be compared with the PS5 demo we just saw?
Keep in mind that we don’t even have a release date for The Witcher 4, and the next generation of consoles is not too far away, likely within the next couple years.
So while the demo today was hella gorgeous, I think we only scratched the surface of what this game might look like.
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