With the latest expansion for The Witcher 3,Songs of the Past, the Polish studio CD Projekt is leaving behind its in-house Red Engine. BothThe Witcher 4and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequelare set to use the Unreal Engine in the future.
This saves the studio the effort of developing its own engine, which would require new staff to undergo a time-consuming training process. The developers freed up by this change can now work directly on upcoming games instead of having to build a technical framework first. It is primarily because of this reduced workload that the Unreal Engine is increasingly becoming the industry standard—not just at CD Projekt.
However, this decision has also drawncriticism from players. Many perceive the Unreal Engine—especially in vast, open role-playing game worlds—as a massiveperformance drain. They argue that the engine isn’t designed for open worlds.
Furthermore, the look of the games is said to be very similar due to the shared technical framework; there is often talk of aninterchangeable, clinical Unreal look. Examples cited include theOblivion Remaster, Avowed, and the latestHalo remake.
The Witcher 4 Won’t Be Just Another UE5 Game
CD Projekt is well aware of the criticism surrounding the new engine, but promises its fans that The Witcher 4 will certainly not just look like just another Unreal Engine game. According to studio head Michał Nowakowski, the key to this lies in optimization and what the team will later build on top of this Unreal framework.
This will allow the team to find itsvery own visual style, the lead developer revealed in an interview withThe Game Business:
The topic of visual uniqueness was a key question we asked ourselves time and again, because it’s essential to set new standards for the visuals of our upcoming games and the cinematic experience they convey.
In fact, during the early development phase, there was a big question mark: whether Unreal Engine 5 would be suitable for this or not. We really asked ourselves all these questions, and in some cases, the answer was: Not yet.
But together with Epic, we can make it happen. I know that when we made this switch, people said: “Oh, this is going to be another game that looks like Unreal.” But it won’t be. We’re really going to stand out from the rest. People will feel that it’s still a CDPR game. Then, from a fan’s perspective, the technology behind it will actually be irrelevant.
— Michał Nowakowski (CEO, CD Projekt)
The decision to switch wasn’t an easy one; instead, the team repeatedly weighed the costs and benefits. After all, even with a purchased engine, they first had to train staff and establish new workflows. Overall, however, the studio head is convinced,that The Witcher 4 will benefit significantly from the switch to the Unreal Engine.
CD Projekt has not yet announced a release date for the fourth installment of The Witcher saga; the studio recently stated that it is roughly targeting 2028 for a release. However, the studio does not intend to repeat the mistakes of Cyberpunk 2077; the game won’t be released until it’s truly finished.
In the meantime, however, Witcher fans shouldn’t get bored. As early as this month, The Witcher 3 is set to receive an extensive remaster, which will serve as the technical foundation for the upcoming third DLC, Songs of Past. That DLC is scheduled to follow in 2027.
