CD Projekt releases possible Witcher 3 image, promises to make RPGs as "epic" as shooters

CD Projekt is absolutely cock-a-hoop about its new REDengine 3 technology, which will "blur the line between pre-rendered CGI movies and real time rendered graphics". Debuted today (via Develop), the engine is purportedly ready for deployment on next generation consoles as and when they deign to show up. Get a move on, Microsoft.

"If we look at RPGs nowadays we find two approaches, one which emphasizes the story but limits the game world and one that builds a vast open-world but hampers and simplifies the story," intones a reverential release featuring quotes from Adam Badowski, head of CD Projekt RED. "With the REDengine 3 we combine the positive aspects of both approaches for the first time, creating an open environment with a complex, multi-thread story.

"Together with believable characters, a captivating tale and a world where players can roam freely without loading times, we will be able to move gaming to a new level with a realistic feel and full player immersion," he continued. "When working on our previous titles, I didn't dream that we would achieve something like this. Thanks to the support of all our fans, now we have the possibility to use REDengine 3 and create something many RPG fans dream of."

REDengine 3 will make "RPGs comparable to top-shelf shooters, both in terms of game world presentation and the epic proportions of events that the player is drawn into," claims Badowski, and will bring us "closer to the most life-like world ever created in video games". The studio's immensely pretty next gen title Cyberpunk 2077 - one of our most-anticipated Xbox RPGs - will use the engine.

An image created in REDengine 3 has been released. It looks rather like a Witcher screenshot, doesn't it? No? OK, it looks like an unannounced fantasy project from CD Projekt RED, developer of The Witcher series among no other fantasy games. The studio has all but confirmed the existence of The Witcher 3, and says we'll hear more on 5th February.