RISC-V CPU runs The Witcher 3 at 15 FPS — 64-core chip paired with Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU deliver laggy gameplay

The GOG version of Witcher 3 running on RISC-V architecture through Box64, Wine, and DXVK x86 emulation and compatibilty layers.

RISC-V, the open source, royalty-free CPU architecture, is in the very early stages of development and adoption compared to mainstream ARM and x86/x64 CPUs— but despite that, Box86/Box64 developers still managed to get last-gen AAA title The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt running on a RISC-V PC. Besides Box64, which was used to emulate x86 instructions in general, Wine and DXVK helped fill the gaps using Linux instead of Windows. The developers wrote a detailed blog post on how this was accomplished and uploaded video footage of the game running on YouTube.

So, before you get too excited about a future where PC gamers don't need to rely on Microsoft, Intel, or AMD to play games, The Witcher 3 is only managing a measly 15 FPS in these conditions. However, even being launch-able, much less semi-playable on RISC-V, the game is still a significant technical achievement and bodes exceptionally well for the future of open-source architecture. A high-complexity, high-fidelity game like The Witcher 3 truly pushes the architecture to its limits. Still, it proves its capabilities simultaneously, even though a genuinely playable, immersive experience remains out of reach.