Discreetly presented at GDC 2026, a technical demo of Nvidia exploiting assets provided by CD Projekt Red gives a first concrete overview of the graphic level targeted by The Witcher 4. This forest scene beneath RTX Mega Geometry and path tracing doesn’t yet show Ciri, but it already sets the bar very high for the next RPG.
After a first trailer and a demo Unreal Engine Focused on city and NPC, this GDC showcase places emphasis on vegetation, often a weak point in open worlds. It does not reflect either the performance or the final density of The Witcher 4but the figures given by Nvidia are enough to intrigue any demanding PC gamer.
The Witcher 4 : What does this RTX Mega Geometry demo really show?
At the heart of the demo, a 5 x 5 km forest area displays around 60 million plants and nearly a million trees from The Witcher 4distributed in some 200 species. Some conifers exceed 10 million polygons each, down to pine needles individually modeled in true 3D geometry.
If we unfolded the entire scene at the maximum level of detail, it would exceed 5,000 billion triangles, according to the figures communicated. Unlike games that cheat with flat textures for leaves, here each blade of grass is a 3D object, rendered in local memory without asset streaming.
RTX Mega Geometry and path tracing: what does this change for gamers? The Witcher 4 ?
To hold such a jungle in real time, Nvidia is based on a system of instances close to Nanite foliage: a few small reference branches, the famous “branches”, are replicated hundreds or thousands of times per tree. The further the camera moves, the more these sub-meshes merge, helped by progressive levels of detail and Opacity Micro-Maps which simplify the geometry without breaking the silhouette.
Path tracing, which calculates light by following the path of numerous rays, is also applied intelligently. Fine details like the hands close up benefit from very precise lighting, while in the distance the algorithm makes do with lightened or even deactivated versions. In this scene, Nvidia talks about a difference of only 1 to 1.5 milliseconds between classic rendering and path tracing on an RTX 5090.
When will it be released The Witcher 4and which PC or console to benefit from such rendering?
In terms of raw numbers, the demo runs at around 80 frames per second in “4K” on a GeForce RTX 5090en réalité du 1440p mis à l’échelle via DLSS Quality. Une RTX 4070 reaches around 60 fps at 1440p, with upscaled 960p rendering, all in 12 GB of VRAM.
However, we must keep in mind that this scene remains a technical demo. The Witcher 4, with Ciri as the heroine, will not arrive before 2027, after a new transition toUnreal Engine Fest 2026.
