As netizens watch for any clue about The Witcher 4, CD Projekt Red has explained how they plan to use Unreal Engine 5 to build the next saga of their famous franchise.
At present, we still know very little about the next installment of The Witcher except that CD Projekt Red is looking to release a game that will mark a turning point in the franchise. So they could deviate from Geralt’s story and venture into uncharted territory.
While the mystery continues to surround the project, the Polish studio has revealed that they intend to bet on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 rather than their own engine, REDengine 4. If this news surprised many, all are eager to see what kind of world the developers will create for next-gen systems, given the size of previous titles.
Like many other studios, CD Projekt Red will rely on the stability of Unreal Engine 5 to create The Witcher 4.
Luckily, CDPR CTO and Head of Production Paweł Zawodny has revealed more about how the engine will help the team design The Witcher 4, giving netizens some serious food for thought.
For now the team has put the engine to the test and has high hopes for its impact on the development of what is likely to be a very large world.
“It was the move towards open worlds that brought attention to Unreal Engine 5”, Zawodny said. “This opens a new chapter for us, where we want to see how our experience in creating open-world games combines with all the engineering power of Epic.”
Additionally, the scale at which UE5 can operate will allow teams to focus on fixing issues that can arise when building such a large world for players to freely explore.
“One of the things that’s really important to keep in mind (…) is the possibilities that things can go wrong or that the scenarios you have to consider are exponentially higher than in linear games”said Jason Slama, Game Director of CD Projekt Red.
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— Unreal Engine (@UnrealEngine) April 5, 2022
“You need a really stable environment where you can be able to make changes with a high level of confidence, knowing that it’s not going to break everything in 1600 other places,” he added.
CD Projekt Red relied on Epic’s engine to ensure smooth development for The Witcher 4 and “achieve something extraordinary at the end”remains to be seen if it will pay off.