Too good to be true: Experts are waiting for possible downgrades of The Witcher IV

CD Projekt RED's decision to abandon its own REDengine in favor of Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher IV continues to spark controversy in the community. Seven months ago, the studio showed a spectacular tech demo of the new installment, which made a strong impression but also raised concerns about the game's final quality.

Tech bloggers pointed out that the public demonstration of such an advanced version effectively set the bar high for expectations. They believe that if the final release looks or feels worse than the demo, the studio risks facing a wave of criticism similar to the one that accompanied the launch of Cyberpunk 2077. Unreal Engine 5 itself has also raised concerns; despite its visual capabilities, it is often criticized for performance issues and stuttering, especially in open-world projects.

Skeptics believe CDPR has a huge amount of optimization work to do, otherwise even a high-quality game could suffer due to the engine's technical limitations. These concerns are reinforced by the studio's past experience: after the release of The Witcher 3, the company was accused of degrading graphics, and the poor launch of Cyberpunk 2077 continues to serve as a reminder of the risks of overly polished presentations.