The Witcher 4 Tech Demo: Breakdown & Analysis

The story in the demo

0:04 Greetings Witchers, I’m Vulkk!

0:07 From the visually stunning Witcher 4 tech  demo featuring brief gameplay, we learned  

0:11 new key lore details and saw the introduction  and return of some characters and backstories.

0:21 White Epic’s prime goal was likly to showcase the  latest innovations and features of Unreal Engine,  

0:27 CD Projekt Red delivered something I thing is  a lot more than a tech demo for The Witcher 4.  

0:32 In this video, I want to turn your attention to  some of the details about the world we will get  

0:38 to explore and the locations and characters  we saw and heard about in the tech demo.

0:46 The tech demo starts with a night scene  of a Manticore attacking a wagon and a few  

0:51 unknown for the moment characters. The wagons  were transporting, smuggling valuable goods.

0:58 Some time after the attack, Ciri discovers what  was left of the humans and picks up a coin,  

1:05 which she later uses as a proof  of the fate of the smugglers.

1:27 In a conversation with the “quest giver” Ciri  meets later in a port town called Valdrest,  

1:33 she reveals that her interests lie  not with Kovir’s smuggling trade,  

1:37 but with the Manticore that flattened  the carts and devoured his men.

1:56 Earlier in the tech demo, we witnessed Ciri  discovering the treasure chest with many of  

2:01 the coins and other valuables still inside. Her  comment suggests that her contractor sent her  

2:07 looking for his lost transport, but did not tell  her the truth of what they were transporting.

What you should know about Kovir

2:18 The entire demo takes place in Kovir.  Kovir is a mountainous region in the far  

2:24 north of the Continent. The full  name of this kingdom is actually  

2:27 “Kovir and Poviss”. It used to be under  Redania’s rule a few generations ago.

2:33 King Radovid The Great (the  first Radovid) gave Kovir,  

2:37 initially seen as cold rocky and useless piece of  land, to his hated brother Troyden. At this point,  

2:44 Kovir was the worst and poorest place in the  world. This “gift” was meant as an insult.

2:52 Under the mountainous terrain  however, Kovid was hiding large  

2:55 deposits of valuable mineral resources,  which became a reason for aggression and  

3:00 later transformed the kingdom into  the wealthiest in the entire world.

3:11 Upon learning of the discovery of  the treasures this earth hides,  

3:11 Radovid the Third attempts to take back  Kovir with the help from his ally Kaedwen,  

3:12 but is not successful and is forced to sign  a treaty, which gives Kovir its independence.

3:12 Kovir is by far the richest and wealthiest  of all Northern Kingdoms. It is the largest  

3:16 exporter of minerals in the world of  the Witcher. Part of the wealth of the  

3:21 kingdom is because they managed to keep their  neutrality during all of the Nilfgaardian wars.

3:27 The very last shot from the demo showed Ciri  looking at Lan Exeter in the distance. Lan Exeter  

3:33 is Kovir’s capital. Will it be the Novigrad  of the fourth game? We don’t knot yet.

3:51 Kovir is not a place we have had a chance  to explore thoroughly ourselves. In one of  

3:56 the endings available in The Witcher 3, if  you had chosen Triss as your love interest,  

4:01 Geralt agrees to go live with her in Kovir.  You don’t get to actually go there, though.

Who and what is Kelpie

4:19 Kelpie is Ciri’s horse. This magnificent black  mare used to belong to a man named Hotsporn  

4:26 (original name from Polish), a side character part  of Ciri’s storyline in The Lady of the Lake book.

4:30 After Hotsporn’s death, Ciri obtained  his horse and gave it the name Kelpie.  

4:36 Kelpie was believed to have magical or some  sort of mythical and unexplained powers.

4:43 We have not seen Kelpie in any of  the games yet. The Witcher 4 would  

4:47 be the debut of this beautiful beast.  Although, with a number of years that  

4:51 have passed since the origin story of Ciri  and Kelpie, this could be a different horse.

4:57 Perhaps Ciri follows Geralt’s habit of  giving the same name to all horses. I  

5:05 personally believe this is the  real actual original Kelpie.

5:11 In The Witcher 3 Kelpie is mentioned a  few times and is even a major clue in one  

5:15 of the earlier main quests, Wandering in the Dark.

The port town of Valdrest

5:21 Valdrest is a bustling port town  is new to the lore of the world  

5:26 of the Witcher. I have not heard or  seen it mentioned anywhere before.

5:33 From what we saw in the tech demo, it  is more or less a standard-looking town  

5:38 hub where you would meet some  vendors that you can trade with  

5:41 and possibly pick up a contract or  two on your way in, out or through.

5:47 The world promises to be truly  alive, dynamic and realistic.  

5:53 At the same time it is clear from  the material we have seen so far,  

5:57 that the developers are doing the best they can to  preserve the unique witcher atmosphere and vibe.

How Ciri has changed

6:23 Ciri is definitely older in The Witcher 4.  She is a “witcheress”. I personally didn’t  

6:28 mind her appearance in the first teaser  trailer, but here she looks a lot more  

6:34 like her young self we know and love  from The Witcher 3, just… older.

6:40 She has retained her emerald green eyes. We  still don’t know what she has gone through  

6:46 to become a witcher. Given how she is  the first woman to become a witcher,  

6:51 I would love it if CDPR explore this  process in more detail in the upcoming game.

6:57 Ciri is now wearing the lynx medallion we saw  in the very first teaser image for the game.  

7:03 How did she become a part of the School  of the Lynx, this is yet another unknown.

Details about the Manticore

7:12 We have not yet had the opportunity to personally  face a Manticore in the witcher games. It is  

7:18 mentioned and even featured in an animation from  the second game, but not as a gameplay element.  

7:24 We got a chance to wear the witcher gear set  from the school of the Manticore. And that’s it.

My Final Thoughts

7:36 It is important to remind ourselves that  this was a tech demo and its main purpose  

7:41 was to demonstrate the advancements  of the modern technologies and to  

7:45 prove that CDPR’s decision to switch  to Unreal 5 was the right choice.

7:50 Considering how this is the latest tech available,  

7:52 it is no surprise that it looked better  than anything we have seen before.

8:00 How much of these amazing seemingly  random interactions will be implemented,  

8:04 how well will crowds function and  will they serve a purpose greater  

8:08 than simply populating an area, we don’t know.

8:12 As a Witcher fan, I am over the moon with  excitement. It is likely that it will be a while  

8:17 before we hear more real news about the game’s  development, but this was enough for the moment.

8:23 And now, if you excuse me, I have  to check up on my own vineyard and  

8:26 pick up a few more contracts to pay for the  upcoming renovations and upgrades Yen wants.