Multi The Witcher 4 - UE 5.6 Tech Demo

[Ben]

Holy shit... This is all running on a regular PS5. This all appeals to me way more than GTA6 has so far...

This is definitely presented as an Unreal 5 engine tech demo, but it gives a good look at the game world too.

Part of me is "mrrr salt" about not having Geralt in this one, but I think I'll get over the nostalgia pretty fast. It does seem they've given a lot of the same attitude to Ciri. I haven't played The Witcher 3 in forever, but I felt like I remembered her being fairly whiny and needs-saving, but I'd wager that's not carrying through to the title with her as protagonist.

Anyway, those environments are just fucking beautiful.

 

[dimmerwit]

Yeah, me and Fool's were watching it in the other thread.

They did clarify that it was technically a target render for the game and that locales etc. are not necessarily going to be in the game. It was running on PS5 though which is very impressive, especially at 60FPS with that level of detail and RT as well.

 

[Rachel]

this means we can pick between two dudes to romance right

right

 

[Ben]

this means we can pick between two dudes to romance right

right

I'm sure there'll be a lady-romance option too, but sure.

Actually from how much they talked up the intricacy of the environment I'd be surprised if you can't seduce the fish monger while cheating on him with the idiot who dropped his crate of apples.

 

[Rachel]

lol yep make the FMC bi but not the MMC, let's see what they do (or not give any choices)

 

[Ben]

In the books, all of Geralt's relationships are with women, where as Ciri has a romantic/sexual relationship with a woman named Mistle. It's not strictly labeled by Andrzej Sapkowski that she's bi/queer, but I believe she's closer to Mistle than any other male characters.

So that doesn't negate your point any, just that I'd assume they're sticking with the source material and would carry that through as opposed to it being a developer choice.

 

[TD]

Yeah honestly. I don't care about much else coming out or that has come out recently. AAA titles typically don't generate hype for me but this looks great. It won't be a day 1 buy because of my mistrust of big name studios and CDPR has pulled this before, but assuming it all checks out it'll be close to a Day 1 buy.

I'm hesitant to believe it'll run at a steady 60fps and look like that but if they have a 60fps performance mode I'll be happy. I've been waiting for the Ciri game ever since Witcher 3. They've been setting this one up for a while.

 

[Ben]

I'm definitely going to be bugging my CDPR-employed ex for inside info, although I do think she's working on the next Cyberpunk more than the Witcher. Still... I need the secrets.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I'm totally sold on a FMC.

It's funny, I've never played a Witcher game before, and didn't immediately recognize it as a Witcher game until I saw her face. I may nkt hace played it, but I've definitely seen videos of Witcher 3 and instantly recognized her as one of the love interests.

 

[Ben]

I'm totally sold on a FMC.

It's funny, I've never played a Witcher game before, and didn't immediately recognize it as a Witcher game until I saw her face. I may nkt hace played it, but I've definitely seen videos of Witcher 3 and instantly recognized her as one of the love interests.

You mean Ciri? Ciri was always the "adopted daughter" to Geralt you're trying to save half the time.

The main love interests were always Triss Merrigold or Yennefer of Venga Bus.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

You mean Ciri? Ciri was always the "adopted daughter" to Geralt you're trying to save half the time.

The main love interests were always Triss Merrigold or Yennefer of Venga Bus.

shows how much I know, lol

 

[Ben]

My main curiosity is whether they'll manage to solve for the complexity of combat, and how if you put The Witcher 3 down for any extended period of time, learning how the frigging combat system worked again while surrounded by tough enemies was near impossible...

Like... Just give me a tutorial I can jump into as needed to remind my dumb ass, please.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Every game should have an optional tutorial. I love it when you encounter a game where they're like "Do you require a refresher?" like Lost Kingdoms 2.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

I know its a tech demo, they did them for the W3 as well and they are super polished and not a final representation... but hype meters are off the charts. I love that we are going to Kovir. I was hoping we'd get to see the continent fleshed out. We've had a great deal in Redania, Temeria, Velen, Skellige and Touissant. It already looks so different than the other places we've seen and beautiful. I still believe the hype that CDPR puts forth even with the CP77 launch because they are so damn invested in what they do. I played CP77 at launch on a powerful PC so it played pretty well, I never had to experience the terrible launch.

I loved from the start that we get to play as Ciri. I'm curious what the canon ending from W3 ended up being, or if you could interpret them to fit. I'm sure they will give us a "state of the world" selection choice like W3 did.

Spoiler: Witcher 3 endings

Did Ciri go to become royalty in the Empire and then run away to become a witcher because she clearly did not want to be the heir? Did she end up following Geralt as a witcher from the start? I'm curious. I'm sure a state of the world question will determine in, but it would be interesting to see if they consider either one canon.

Either way, hyyyyype. Just finished Clair Obscur: E33 and it feels like the best RPG I've played since the Witcher 3, and then we immediately get this?! Let's goooooo.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

My main curiosity is whether they'll manage to solve for the complexity of combat, and how if you put The Witcher 3 down for any extended period of time, learning how the frigging combat system worked again while surrounded by tough enemies was near impossible...

They could completely revamp it since Ciri has her elder blood powers. Her sections in the W3 were much more frenetically paced but simple. Since she can control space and time to an extent, we could see more action oriented combat than sword and shield type that Geralt used.

I played it on easy on both W1 and W2 and then bounced between Just the Story and Sword and Story in W3 so my opinion doesn't really matter on combat.