The Witcher will have a new game, Unreal Engine 5 will be its main engine

While we were expecting The Witcher 3 to hit next-gen consoles this year, CD Projekt RED has announced that it is already working on a new title in the franchise, part of a strategic alliance with Epic Games.

Through their official website, the Polish studio gives some of the first details of this title, which promises that "A new Saga Begins". For now, there are no details about the story, if we will see Geralt of Rivia again, or a release date. For now, there are no details about the story, if we will see Geralt of Rivia again, or a release date. The only thing that has been shown is an image that works as a teaser where we can appreciate a wolf medallion very similar to the one used by Geralt.

A change of engine

As you rightly mention in your post, CD Projekt RED has been working with its proprietary REDengine since 2011 with the release of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. For this new installment, the studio will make the switch to Unreal Engine 5, which is part of a new partnership with Epic, allowing it to use "potential future version of Unreal Engine."

“One of the core aspects of our internal RED 2.0 Transformation is a much stronger focus on technology, and our cooperation with Epic Games is based on this principle,” mentioned Paweł Zawodny, CD PROJEKT RED’s CTO. “This cooperation is so exciting, because it will elevate development predictability and efficiency, while simultaneously granting us access to cutting-edge game development tools. I can’t wait for the great games we’re going to create using Unreal Engine 5!”

“Epic has been building Unreal Engine 5 to enable teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity”, mentioned Tim Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Epic Games. “We are deeply honored by the opportunity to partner with CD PROJEKT RED to push the limits of interactive storytelling and gameplay together.”

A partnership with Epic, but not exclusive to the Epic Game Store

Although the alliance at the moment sounds technological, in social media began to wonder if this will make the next title of The Witcher will be exclusive to the platform. In response to this, The Witcher's official Twitter account mentioned that this will not be "exclusive to one storefront.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was the most recent title in the main saga inspired by Andrzej Sapkowski's books. Released in 2015, it became the most famous title in the franchise, earning "a total of 250 Game of the Year awards." In 2017, CD Projekt had mentioned that the Geralt trilogy was over, but that they would "probably" return to the world of The Witcher.

Source | CD Projekt