CD Projekt RED, the studio best known for The Witcher series of games and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, has unveiled its brand new engine, the REDengine 3. It's the third iteration of their in-house technology, which was used to power their previous titles, and is designed with the development of Cyberpunk 2077 and future titles in mind.
The studio says that the engine was created for RPGs set in vast, open worlds, offering improved tools for developing non-linear stories with branching choices and consequences.
"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. 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," said Adam Badowski, head of CD Projekt RED.
"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. 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."
The original REDengine was used for the first time in The Witcher 2, and it was later upgraded to REDengine 2 when the studio ported the title to the Xbox 360.
The latest engine is an evolution of the earlier engines and aims to create non-linear and story-driven RPGs with a system that can also handle explorable open worlds, so players won't be confined to strict locations.
The studio says that its upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077, will serve as a prime example of the engine's capabilities, which offers capabilities as good as any top-shelf FPS engine.
