We now have a first look at The Witcher 4’s gameplay.

CD Projekt RED has officially shown off a first-look gameplay demo for The Witcher 4. During this week's State of Unreal presentation, the developer showed off a gameplay demo for its upcoming fantasy-RPG sequel, which stars Ciri as the titular witcher. In the demo, Ciri follows the trail of a bloodthirsty monster in a small settlement, after the creature destroyed several wagons’ worth of wares belonging to a merchant. 

The gameplay demo, while confirming that the new game is going to boast some impressive visuals, moreso serves to showcase the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5.

CD Projekt RED drops first gameplay for The Witcher 4

An image depicting the region of Kovir.

CD Projekt Red, the developer of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, has unveiled a first look at The Witcher 4. The extended gameplay demo begins with a cinematic that showcases several merchants in a wagon getting attacked by an unseen monster, before Ciri picks up their trail in a forest some time later.

Ciri then meets up with her horse Kelpie–every witcher needs a horse, after all. The texture of Kelpie’s muscles and skin is briefly highlighted by CD Projekt RED at this point, as the developer notes that the Unreal Chaos Flesh Solver helps to create realistic horse movement in-game. The forest, which is teeming with lush greenery and yellow sunlight, was also rendered via Nanite Foliage. 

Ciri’s next stop is the city of Valdrest, which the tech demo uses here to show its complicated NPC routines. Various citizens are running around the markets and streets, living their lives while Ciri heads to see a merchant about his wares. The tech demo pauses here to wheel around the city, showcasing more and more citizens onscreen without any visible frame drops or technical hiccups. 

The trailer then ends with the reveal that The Witcher 4 is set in Kovir, when it shows Ciri gazing upon its snowy capital city Lan Exeter. This is a previously-unseen region in The Witcher game franchise, although it is briefly mentioned when players romance Triss Merigold in The Witcher 3. Should they do so, they are told that Triss and Geralt have moved to Kovir following the events of the main game. There, Triss serves King Tankred Thyssen. 

The Witcher 4 gameplay demo is “not actual gameplay”

The town of Valdrest, as seen in The Witcher 4.

The Witcher 4’s State of Unreal gameplay demo ran on the base PlayStation 5 at 60fps with ray tracing enabled, which is a testament to its impressive performance. However, it should be noted that later screenshots of the demo, released by CD Projekt RED itself, note that the demo is a “technical presentation” and “not actual gameplay.”

Reading between the lines, it looks like CD Projekt RED and Epic Games cooked up this tech demo specifically to show off the Unreal Engine 5’s tech at this week’s State of Unreal presentation. The final game might look different, but some elements of this demo–like its setting, the reveal of Ciri’s horse, and its general aesthetic–might be retained. 

The Witcher 4 does not have a release date yet, but it is not expected to launch before 2027.

Update (4 June, 2025): CD Projekt RED has issued direct confirmation that the above tech demo “isn't meant to represent The Witcher 4.” 

Via Eurogamer, the developer noted that this tech demo ran at 60fps on PlayStation 5, which is the level of performance it's aiming for in The Witcher 4. However, "It's still too early to confirm exact specs for every platform, but we're working closely with Epic to create an open-world experience that's both beautiful to look at and smooth to play."

Additionally, the developer noted that this week's tech demo is merely meant to be an Unreal Engine 5 showcase, rather than an actual gameplay demo: "It's important to keep in mind that this tech demo isn't meant to represent The Witcher 4–it's a showcase of the tools we're developing together with Epic Games. That means specific visuals like character models and environments may be different to The Witcher 4."