At Unreal Fest Orlando, the keynote for the State of Unreal 2025 commenced with a live on-stage showcase of The Witcher 4, highlighting advancements in Unreal Engine 5 technology.

The State of Unreal 2025 presentation aims to provide the most significant innovations to Unreal’s development toolkit in a concise manner for attendees. Unreal Engine 5.6 features major improvements, and Epic Games determined that unveiling a new tech demo of The Witcher 4 would be the ideal way to present their recent developments. What CD PROJEKT RED and Epic Games introduced was a fresh perspective on The Witcher 4, featuring a new area and a renewed look at the game’s lead character and monster hunter, Ciri. The tech demo can be viewed below, as showcased at the State of Unreal 2025 (thanks, GamersPrey).

Similar to most Witcher trailers, The Witcher 4 tech demo follows Ciri as she embarks on a monster contract. Set in the newly introduced region of Kovir, which makes its debut in the video game series with The Witcher 4, the presentation trails Ciri and her horse Kelpie as she navigates through Kovir’s mountains and thick forests to the vibrant port town of Valdrest. The demo notably maintained a steady 60 FPS performance while employing the new Unreal Animation Framework, Nanite Foliage rendering, MetaHuman technology with Mass AI crowd scaling, and other features detailed in the complete State of Unreal 2025 presentation.

The tools showcased in The Witcher 4 are scheduled to debut with future versions of Unreal Engine 5, starting with the release of Unreal Engine 5.6 today. Although the tech demo was demonstrated on the PlayStation 5, the technology will be available across all platforms on which The Witcher 4 is released. The demo initiates with Ciri tracking a monster that favors humans as prey, as she literally investigates the remnants of the scene to determine which creature caused the havoc. As the demo unfolds, Unreal dissects the technology, emphasizing ray tracing capabilities and Nanite-powered foliage rendering.

In one impressive segment, Unreal reveals the muscle simulation of Ciri’s horse, Kelpie, showcasing a remarkable representation of equine anatomy and motion physics. Every feature displayed in the demo is crafted to enhance immersion, even down to the depiction of Gwent cheaters being ejected from inns.

Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, remarked: “CD Projekt Red is one of the leading open-world game studios in the industry, and we’re thankful they are partnering with us to advance Unreal Engine through The Witcher 4. They are the ideal collaborator to assist us in developing new world-building features that we can share with all Unreal Engine developers.”

The presentation toolkit utilized in The Witcher 4 tech demo—named Unreal Engine 5.6—is available starting today. Additional information can be located on the Unreal Engine website.