CD Projekt RED, the game studio behind The Witcher series and GOG, today announced its latest game engine, the REDengine 3. The developer claims the engine was created for “RPGs set in vast open-worlds with improved tools for spanning truly nonlinear stories that are based on real player choices and consequences.” That description sounds almost exactly like The Witcher 2, and also resembles what has been revealed about Cyberpunk 2077, the upcoming sci-fi game from CD Projekt.

“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,” said 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. 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.”

CD Projekt RED stated that Cyberpunk 2077 will “have prime examples demonstrating that REDengine 3 is the perfect tool for creating immense universes filled with exciting, nonlinear adventures.” It also stated that REDengine 3 has new face and body animation systems that “offer realistic expression of emotions, movie-quality scenes, and character interactions” and that the engine will “blur the line between pre-rendered CGI movies and real time rendered graphics.” If that means Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay will look similar to its (sexy trailer), next-gen gaming can’t come soon enough.