&w=3840&q=100)
State of Unreal 2025: The Witcher 4 previewed with Unreal Engine 5 graphics
On its official website, CD Projekt RED said: 'The Witcher 4 Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo, presented at the State of Unreal 2025, dives into some of the innovative technology and features that will help bring the game's open world to life. Taking place in the never-before-seen region of Kovir, the tech demo is a first look at the cutting-edge technology powering The Witcher 4.'
Captured on a PlayStation 5 running at 60 frames per second with ray tracing enabled, the demo showcases a 'standalone' demo built specifically to highlight the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5. For the uninitiated, Unreal Engine is a 3D creation tool developed by Epic Games that is primarily used for game development.
Key highlights from The Witcher 4 demo:
Seamless cinematic-to-gameplay transition
The demo begins with a cinematic sequence showing a carriage being attacked by a winged creature. The action then shifts seamlessly to Ciri — confirmed as the main protagonist — as she investigates the scene in the new region of Kovir. The transition between cinematic and gameplay elements is smooth, offering a glimpse of the game's visual consistency and narrative immersion. CD Projekt RED also confirmed Kovir will be a playable region in The Witcher 4.
Although the developer clarified that it's not actual gameplay footage, the seamless transition between cinematic and gameplay elements is still quite impressive.
New Physics and realism
The presentation demonstrated the enhanced power of Unreal Engine 5, particularly in environmental detail and character movement. One standout moment featured Ciri riding her horse Kelpie through the wilderness, with close attention paid to muscle flexing during each stride.
The foliage and terrain were brought to life using Nanite Foliage — a feature in UE5 that enables developers to populate worlds with highly detailed, full-geometry grass, trees, and plants.
The demo also showcased dynamic NPC (non-playable character) interactions. In one scene, Ciri bumps into a fruit vendor in a crowded market, spilling his crate of apples. A nearby NPC then rushes over to help pick them up. CD Projekt RED noted that such incidental reactions will be a part of the game world, increasing realism and immersion.
Launch timeline
Despite showing significant development progress, The Witcher 4 isn't expected to launch before 2026. In fact, a delay to 2027 remains likely. At a previous earnings call, CD Projekt RED CFO Piotr Nielubowicz stated: 'All we could share for now, to give more visibility to investors, is that the game will not be launched within the timeframe of the first target for the incentive programme, which ends 31st of December 2026.'
Ciri taking on the role of protagonist was first confirmed in the game's reveal trailer during The Game Awards 2024, marking a new chapter in the franchise after the Geralt-led trilogy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
10 hours ago
- Time of India
Fortnite and Epic Games Store's Australian iOS return confirmed by developer after partial win against tech giants in court
(Image via Getty Images) Fortnite and Epic Games Store are finally making their return to iOS devices in Australia. Such a major shift follows the partial legal victory of Epic Games against tech giants Apple and Google. The Australian court ruling has paved the way for the popular game Fortnite after its five-year absence from iOS devices. As per the Federal Court's ruling, Apple and Google engaged in anti-competitive behaviour. Here is all you need to know about the ruling that can lead to major changes in how the digital marketplaces operate within Australia. Australian Court rules against the tech giant's practices The Federal court has finally offered a partial win for Epic Games this week. Justice Jonathan Bench found that both Apple and Google misused their market power. They violated Australian Competition laws. They restricted the alternative payment system and app distribution methods. Reportedly, as ruled by the judge, the giants substantially lessened competition. Quite specifically, the Australian court condemned the practices that forced the developers to use the payment systems of tech giants. It included banning the sideloading of applications on iOS and further restricting alternative payment methods. While Epic Games' claim of the unconscionable conduct was rejected, the Apple Google anti-competitive behavior core finding stood firm. Such legal validation directly enabled the return of Epic Games to the iOS platform. What was the entire conflict about? The conflict, as per reports, ignited in August 2020, when Epic Games introduced a direct payment system in Fortnite. Epic Games direct payment system bypassed the 30% commission of Apple, thereby leading to Fortnite being removed from the App Store. Even Google followed the same suit on the Play Store. While Fortnite did return to the Android Play Store, the iOS ban continued to persist. Epic Games now took to X to confirm the end of their exile. As per the Epic Games court ruling post, 'The Epic Games Store and Fortnite will come to iOS in Australia!' 2000+ pages of findings by the court were also framed by the developer as a clear win for consumers and developers, breaking down the restrictive barriers. iOS Fortnite availability though has not been confirmed yet. The decision of the court to not just allow Fortnite return to iOS Australia but also open up the Epic Games Store to launch on Apple devices, is a huge win. It could encourage competition. Epic Games Store Australian return will also offer all more choices beyond Google Play and Apple's App Store. How did the tech giants respond to the ruling? As per reports, Apple and Google both expressed their disagreement with the key rulings. While Apple used words like 'strongly disagrees' with parts of the decision, they did welcome certain Epic Games claims. Google, on the other hand, went ahead to contest the court's characterization of billing policies and the partnerships. Despite all, the court findings continue to stand. Some potential appeals made to the Federal Court full bench are an option for now, for the tech giants. Lawyers, too, would return separately to court to determine the potential compensation that Epic Games might be owed. As for the Australian iOS users, immediate outcomes remain clear—Epic Games Store and Fortnite are coming back. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Time of India
10 hours ago
- Time of India
How Fortnite maker Epic Games scored partial victory against Apple, Google in Australia
An Australian federal court has ruled that Apple and Google 's app stores are uncompetitive, handing a partial victory for Epic Games that develops Fortnite game. The ruling is part of a long-running global legal dispute where Epic has accused the tech giants of anti-competitive behaviour. This comes a week after a US court rejected Google's appeal in the antitrust lawsuit brought by Epic Games, a decision that affirms Google's Play Store and payment systems are illegal monopolies. According to news agency Reuters, In Australia, Epic Games specifically argued that the app stores' fees for game downloads were too high and that the companies prevented users from downloading alternative app stores. The Australian court found that the app stores had no protections against anti-competitive behaviour. However, the judge's summary also noted that the smartphone makers had not intentionally broken the law. It's a win for developers, says Epic Games In a post on X, Epic Games celebrated the decision by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo 'The Epic Games Store and Fortnite will come to iOS in Australia! This is a WIN for developers and consumers in Australia!" the company stated. Both Apple and Google have responded to the ruling. Apple said it 'strongly disagreed' with parts of the court's decision, adding that it 'faces fierce competition in every market.' Google welcomed the rejection of some of Epic's claims but disagreed with the court's characterization of its billing policies, stating it would review the full decision before deciding on its next steps. Meanwhile, a ruling in the US court will force Google to make changes to its Android ecosystem within the next three years. The company is now required to distribute rival app stores through its own Google Play Store and provide competitors with access to its complete app catalog. Additionally, Google is barred from forcing developers to use its own billing system and from entering into revenue-sharing agreements to pre-install its store on devices. In response to the 'total victory,' Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced that the Epic Games Store for Android will launch directly within the Google Play Store. How and Why Trump's New Tariffs Will Not Make Your iPhone More Expensive AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Armies Tormented by Drones Innovate Ways to Spot, Jam and Zap on the Cheap
BEMOWO PISKIE, Poland—When U.S. Army Sgt. Sebastian Zouzoulas became an electronic-warfare specialist, his main focus was detecting remote-control roadside explosives. That was four years ago—a whole generation back on the battlefield. Today, his work is all about countering drones. Wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and across Africa are rewriting the rules of combat, with small, expendable and deadly drones increasingly critical. Militaries are sprinting to mass-produce the weapons and understand how best to fit them into target="_blank" class="backlink" data-vars-page-type="story" data-vars-link-type="Manual" data-vars-anchor-text="fighting plans">fighting plans. As with every new weapon, a parallel race is on to thwart the new killers. Tacticians are grappling with how to defend against attacks massing dozens or hundreds of drones—without spending a fortune. 'Whatever weapon system or munition you shoot at another adversary's capability, it should be cheaper than what you're shooting down,' Army Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. land forces in Europe and Africa, recently told a gathering in Germany. Days after setting that challenge, Donahue was at an Army base in the Polish countryside, watching forces try to accomplish it at an exercise dubbed Project Flytrap 4.0. The fourth in a series of learn-by-doing events, the U.S.-British maneuvers brought together top brass, tech developers and soldiers like Zouzoulas. While troops staged engagements under drenching rain across the training grounds' woods and fields, officers and officials filled a base auditorium to absorb lessons from drone combat in Ukraine and hear about the efforts of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to apply those lessons. Outside, soldiers and technicians exhibited some of the gear being tested. Stryker combat vehicles of the U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment during the exercise in Poland.U.S. Army Sgt. Sebastian Zouzoulas with a Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team Manpack. NATO, which recently agreed to a spending increase, must ensure 'that we are strong enough that we don't have to fight because no one wants to take us on—because we've deterred them,' said U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, who attended Flytrap. The base where Poland hosted the exercise sits about 50 miles from both the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the Polish city of Suwalki, which NATO fears that Russia considers a target because of its location between Kaliningrad and Moscow's ally Belarus. Project Flytrap began in March with initial research and testing. It has grown in scale and ambition, with 4.0 the first time troops integrated counterdrone systems into battalion-level fighting. The engagement scenario involved several dozen troops attacking roughly 180 defenders in traditional land battles augmented with hundreds of drones, employed in the most realistic ways possible short of lethality, said organizers. To crank up intensity, they packed into the four-day exercise a relentless series of attacks, engagements and threats modeled on fighting in Ukraine and other conflicts. 'It's terrifying, watching the drones counter each other,' said Zouzoulas of the scenes on Ukraine's front lines. Adapting to that reality is Flytrap's focus. Troops from the Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment, based in Germany, and the U.K.'s Royal Yorkshire Regiment used new devices—some developed in-house and some from private companies—to track, jam and shoot down drones sent at them by other U.S. forces. A U.S. soldier with a drone detector and a jammer. 'It's very much a cat-and-mouse game,' said Army Lt. Col. Jeremy Medaris, a leader of the exercise. Drones keep adapting, 'so then you have to have an adaptation as well' to counter them. Instead of seeking a single solution, he said, the emphasis is on developing a flexible and layered approach with a range of tools. Zouzoulas's Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team Manpack tackles the first stage in drone-fighting: spotting attackers. A sort of antenna, known as a Beast+, resembles a cactus growing out of a backpack, connected by wire to a screen the size of a smartphone. Designed for foot soldiers on the move, it scans for nearby drones' radio signals and jams them. An even smaller wearable system resembles two big walkie-talkies. Dubbed Wingman and Pitbull, they also seek and jam drones' radio signals. Using radio signals to spot air attacks began during World War II and until recently mostly focused on using radar to pinpoint large, fast objects. Engineers deliberately built systems to ignore small, low and slow objects to avoid alerts triggered by birds. Now engineers must be able to detect bird-size craft and ensure they are machines. Zouzoulas's unit moves on Stryker fighting vehicles, on which technicians at Bemowo Piskie mounted for test use a variety of drone-detection gear able to scan 360 degrees over a wide radius. Engineers are experimenting with precision radar and optical or infrared sensors, starting with upgrades to existing systems. Specialists from the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Analysis Center have spent almost seven years creating software to boost the accuracy and range of widely used radar. It is used to target big guns deployed across the military, under the Common Remotely Operated Weapons System. Now it can detect drones at distances far greater than they might be targeted, said developers. Troops inside a Stryker can activate the system to shoot drones automatically with the vehicle's roof-mounted M2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun. The system's radar tracks the rounds it fires and adapts its targeting. To secure fixed positions like field headquarters, the Pentagon is also using acoustic sensors. Highly sensitive listening devices, trained to detect the sonic signatures of drone motors, don't hunt for radio waves or visual contact. That is critical at night and against autonomous or fiber-optic guided drones, which don't communicate with base by radio transceiver. A U.S. Army tactical operations center during the Project Flytrap conferring as they oversee maneuvers. One acoustic drone-warning system deployed during the Flytrap exercise creates what its developers at Norway's Squarehead Technology call a safety bubble around troops, in which they can be nearly certain they will know when drones are approaching. A full array, about the size of a campfire, addresses one of the drone attacks' most insidious features: dread. Ukrainian soldiers and civilians now live in almost constant fear of Russian drones, and Kyiv is working to inflict the same anxiety on Russian troops. 'Knowing there are no drones around you allows you to be a human,' said Squarehead's vice president of defense, Knut Torbjørn Moe. 'You can do the things you need to do, like go to the bathroom or sleep or do other soldier work.' Once drones are detected, neutralizing them at low cost is the next hurdle. A natural response for soldiers is to shoot at them with their personal rifles, but hitting a drone is much harder than hitting a bird. Troops at Flytrap improved their odds with computerized targeting equipment from the Israeli technology company Smart Shooter mounted on U.S. Army standard-issue M4 rifles. The fire-control system consists of a high-tech sight that is slightly larger than a big telescopic scope and a replacement trigger. The shooter aims at a drone and pulls the trigger, but bullets only fire when the system has calculated that a hit is likely. A U.S. soldier carries an M4 rifle fitted with a Smart Shooter sight. Soldiers at Flytrap also tested an array of point-and-shoot jammers that resemble oversize laser guns from a science-fiction movie. Most emit strong radio signals that disrupt a drone's operation. Bigger threats, such as drone swarms or attacks on armored vehicles, need a bigger response. That is what the San Francisco startup Mara aims to tackle with what it calls 'ubiquitous antiswarm' technology, which detects incoming drones and autonomously launches compact interceptors. The company is a finalist in a continuing Army competition seeking innovative tech solutions to a range of battlefield problems. Chief Executive Daniel Kofman, adjusting an antenna array on a Stryker, said he aims for 'one-to-one cost with the drone coming at us' using inexpensive hardware and what he called 'novel AI.' A full system, with 48 interceptors, costs 'less than a new truck,' he said, without specifying what kind of truck. Once troops in an equipped vehicle activate their system, it seeks and shoots down attacks without human input, Kofman said. The equipment is designed to withstand jamming and guard against fully autonomous drones, like fiber-guided ones, freeing troops to focus on their mission—not drones. 'That's the whole point of our system,' Kofman said. Write to Daniel Michaels at Armies Tormented by Drones Innovate Ways to Spot, Jam and Zap on the Cheap Armies Tormented by Drones Innovate Ways to Spot, Jam and Zap on the Cheap Armies Tormented by Drones Innovate Ways to Spot, Jam and Zap on the Cheap Armies Tormented by Drones Innovate Ways to Spot, Jam and Zap on the Cheap Armies Tormented by Drones Innovate Ways to Spot, Jam and Zap on the Cheap
