CD Projekt Red is aware that switching The Witcher 4 to Unreal Engine 5 carries the risk of the game blending in with every other UE5 title out there. CDPR built Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 on its own REDengine, which gave both games a distinct visual identity. UE5 has since become the industry default, and plenty of games on it end up with a similar glossy look, which players online often complain about.

Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski addressed that concern directly, admitting the studio spent real time in R&D wondering if Epic's engine was even the right fit. That was a big question we were asking ourselves, because pushing the envelope with how the games look, the cinematic feel of it all, is very, very important. And that was a big question mark when we were in the R&D phase over whether Unreal Engine 5 is going to be a good fit or not.

We really are going to be able to differentiate ourselves. People are going to feel this is a CDPR game still. Nowakowski insists that players will be able to differentiate The Witcher 4 from other UE5 games, and that the engine itself should fade into the background once the game actually ships.

CDPR has already shown off a tech demo set in the Witcher 4 world, running at 60 FPS on a base PS5 with Nanite Foliage, Fast Geo Streaming, and the Unreal Animation Framework. CDPR was careful to call it a tech demo, not real gameplay, so we still don't know what the actual game will look and feel like. We still have to wait a while for that, as The Witcher 4 is aiming for a 2028 release.