Skip to main content

The Witcher 4 runs at 60 FPS and has ray-tracing even on the base PlayStation 5

Ciri wielding a burning chain in The Witcher 4.
CD Projekt Red

At the State of Unreal 2025 event, CDProjekt Red revealed the first real look at The Witcher 4 gameplay. While it was a limited demo primarily focused on the improvements to Unreal Engine 5, we did get a solid look at how the game runs, even on a base PlayStation 5, and all the small ways tweaks and optimizations have been applied to make the game look as good as it does.

And that’s the biggest takeaway from the demo: it looks really good. The presentation opened with a new trailer for the game, showing a rather grumpy merchant in a wagon traveling down a bumpy road, only to have his journey cut short by the appearance of a Manticore. Ciri later finds the remnants of the attack, and then we see a smooth transition from cutscene to gameplay.

Recommended Videos

The demo shows several things of note. First, The Witcher 4 is running at 60 frames per second on the base PlayStation 5. Second, it has raytracing elements. The team said this is made possible because of all the optimizations coming to Unreal Engine, allowing small graphical elements to render without placing a massive strain on the hardware.

The trailer also introduces Kelpie, Ciri’s horse. A technique called motion matching means that Ciri and Kelpie are perfectly synchronized in movement, regardless of the angle or speed players mount from. Perhaps even more impressive is that you can see the movement of Kelpie’s muscles as the horse runs, creating much more realistic visuals that have little impact on performance.

The demo also introduced “Nanite Foliage,” a technique that provides a more memory-efficient method for rendering both high-density and high-fidelity foliage. Trees, undergrowth, and other plants look sharper. As Ciri enters the village, players see how lifelike the citizens are. Each seems to follow their own path, and events are happening around town unrelated to Ciri herself; for example, at one point an innkeeper throws a man out of a tavern for cheating at Gwent.

If you’re interested, the full presentation is included above. It’s an in-depth look at the graphics and covers some pretty technical subjects, but it’s the best look we’ve had so far at actual gameplay. As of now, The Witcher 4 doesn’t have a release window, and we don’t expect to see it before 2027 at the absolute earliest. CDProjekt Red describes the game as its “biggest and most ambitious open world yet,” and that will take time to develop. The company is eager to avoid another launch like Cyberpunk 2077, so it might be quite a while before you get the chance to go monster hunting with Ciri.

Patrick Hearn
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
GTA3 is coming to PlayStation Plus in big June update
Grand Theft Auto 3

June is just around the corner, and that means new PlayStation Plus freebies and even more games added to the catalog and classics collection — including Grand Theft Auto 3. The news comes on the heels of the PlayStation 5 Pro's first-ever discount, as well as more price cuts for the Days of Play 2025 sale.

The upcoming free titles include:

Read more
3 new PlayStation Plus games to play this weekend (May 23-25)
The King's son Beelzebub and his assistant Thief excited while out in the desert.

There's nothing better than an extended weekend to treat yourself to some guilt-free gaming time. Memorial Day means a ton of us get a whole extra day to chill out and explore the best games on PlayStation Plus, which just so happen to have added a huge chunk of titles. We've got multiple dangerous open world games, RPGs, and more to pick from, making this one of the hardest weeks I've had in narrowing down my recommendations to just three. That's a great problem to have and only means you will easily find a game that clicks with you. Even though we've got a three-day weekend, there's no time to waste, so here are the three best new PlayStation Plus games you need to be playing.

Sand Land

Read more
3 PlayStation Plus games to play this weekend (May 16-19)
sonys-bend-studio-is-working-on-a-very-exciting-new-ip

The middle of the month is always a bit of an awkward spot when it comes to PlayStation Plus games. Plenty of us will be ripping through Doom: The Dark Ages this weekend, but that kind of gory, heavy metal FPS game isn't for everyone. There's also the sad news we got a few weeks ago about Lost Soul Aside being delayed out of this month, leaving a big hole for us PlayStation gamers. Not to worry, though, because I haven't forgotten my duty of finding the best games in the PlayStation Plus catalogue to make sure you have something amazing to play each and every weekend. For this weekend, I've found an alternative FPS, an overlooked open world adventure, and a more cozy experience. Let's check them out.

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Read more