During Epic Games' recent State of Unreal 2025 showcase, CD Projekt Red unveiled more of The Witcher 4 and its features in a new tech demo – which included a first look at Ciri's horse Kelpie, a hyper-realistic steed that has left the equestrian community swooning.
It's not often we horse girls get to experience games with realistic mounts – the movement is wonky, the animation is off, and the horses feel like they were implemented with little regard for their real-life counterparts. That's why titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 that feature a semblance of horse realism stand out and attract more than just your average RPG fans, but they're a rarity, and they're admittedly still lacking in many areas.
The Witcher 4 might just rewrite the genre's reputation in equestrians' minds, however, with its impressive tech powering the "realistic muscles moving and stretching" under the skin of Ciri's horse, Kelpie. I'm not the only one who thinks so, either – Alice Ruppert, the equestrian and game developer behind The Mane Quest, a website "dedicated to horses in video games and video games about horses," seems to think so, too.
Ruppert discusses CD Projekt Red's tech demo and its exploration of Kelpie's movements, muscles, and more, and it's safe to say she's impressed – although she does proceed with caution as the showcase is meant to highlight developers' "ambition for the game and the in-engine capabilities" rather than The Witcher 4 as it'll play upon release. "In the minute or so of footage the tech demo shows us of Kelpie, I find a lot of detail to appreciate."
She continues: "We see Kelpie move at a trot and canter in a generally anatomically correct and possible fashion" – a rare sight ot behold in video games, unfortunately. Ruppert also notes that it's nice to see Kelpie treated as a companion rather than a vehicle. "The demo treats Kelpie like a character rather than a bicycle: Ciri calls her name and the horse reacts and canters up to her and Ciri gives her a little pat after mounting."
There's no telling whether this means we'll get more interactions than we did with Roach as Geralt in The Witcher 3, but it's certainly a good sign "that the horse gameplay in The Witcher 4 is getting some additional attention compared to its predecessor." Ruppert then gets into some of the more movement-related specifics from the demo, as it "goes on to show off Kelpie's coat texture and muscle simulation at a gallop in slow motion."
It all looks so smooth, she guesses animations "were most likely either motion captured or animated by someone who really knows their horses, and seeing it is balm on my soul." While there are flaws, as Ruppert notes, they require "nitpicking on a very high level" as "what we see in the Witcher 4 tech demo is easily one of the overall most impressive and well put together game horse animations ever seen, even if it isn't literally perfect in every way."
As both a longtime horse and RPG lover myself, I can't help but understand what Ruppert means when she admits she "got tears in my eyes the first time I watched this out of sheer 'oh my god they're taking the horse seriously' awe" – the tech demo is stunning, and I agree with her conclusion that "we horse-loving gamers may be in for an absolute treat" if CD Projekt Red's showcase acts as an indicator of what's to come in The Witcher 4.
Need even more to look forward to? Here are other new games coming this year and beyond.
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