Close to a decade on from the launch of the stellar landmark RPG The Witcher 3, CD Projekt RED has officially unveiled the franchise’s next installment, and understandably enough, there’s a lot of excitement surrounding the game. We don’t yet know how long the wait for The Witcher 4 is going to be, but it has now been formally unveiled, while brief, key details about its gameplay and protagonist have also started filling out. Plenty more of those will be shared in the coming months and years, of course, but here, we’re going to round up the critical points that have been detailed in these early days so far.
BEGINNING OF A NEW TRILOGY
This is something that we’ve known about The Witcher 4 since long before its Game Awards announcement. Back in 2022, when CD Projekt RED announced that it had started early production on the next Witcher title under the codename Polaris, the developer confirmed that the game, whenever it came out, would be the beginning of a new saga for the Witcher series. Specifically, the studio has another new trilogy planned, so hopefully, we can look forward to some ambitious, large-scale storytelling across a multi-instalment arc.
CIRI TAKES THE SPOTLIGHT
After The Witcher 3 – and particularly its second expansion, Blood and Wine – it became very, very clear that longtime series protagonist Geralt of Rivia would not be returning as the protagonist in the series’ next game, whatever that next game turned out to be. Of course, after The Witcher 3, the likelihood of Ciri being the protagonist also seemed incredibly high, and as it turns out, that’s exactly the case. In The Witcher 4’s reveal trailer, we saw Ciri travelling to a village and attempting to save a young woman from a ritual sacrifice by fighting and killing a dangerous monster called the Bauk. Incidentally, as revealed by game director Sebastian Kalemba in the official breakdown for the reveal trailer, that’s an actual quest in the game itself.
HOW CIRI IS DIFFERENT
Ciri is obviously going to be a different kind of protagonist from Geralt of Rivia, with the latter’s gruff, deadpan, grizzled attitude being well-known to (and beloved by) fans of the franchise. At the same time, the Ciri that we’ll be playing as in Witcher 4 is also going to be older and more experienced than what we remember from Witcher 3, so what can we expect from her portrayal? Unlike the much more experienced Geralt, Ciri is going to be at the beginning of her career as a Witcher, which means she’ll be less calculating and more impulsive, while interestingly enough, she’s also going to be building her own codex. “The way she actually deals with the monsters, the way she deals with quests, the adventures, it’s her own unique way,” Kalemba said in an interview with IGN.
GERALT RETURNS
Ciri is the new protagonist for The Witcher going forward, and will be for at least three games, but that doesn’t mean Geralt of Rivia is never going to show his face again. No, the White Wolf may technically be retired, but he will be back. His voice actor Doug Cockle let slip earlier this year that he would be reprising his role as Geralt in The Witcher 4, and that has now officially been confirmed by CDPR. The studio said in a statement to IGN, “Geralt will appear in the game, but we don’t want to spoil his role precisely. You’ll have to wait to learn more for now.” Of course, that means we have no idea how extensive (or not) his role will be- but at least we know he won’t be the protagonist. Maybe we can expect something along the lines of Marcus Fenix in Gears of War post-Gears 3?
CIRI’S MOVESET
The Witcher 4’s cinematic reveal trailer showed us no gameplay, though as it turns out, it does have bits and pieces of gameplay information nonetheless. As revealed by the aforementioned game director Sebastian Kalemba in the trailer’s breakdown, Ciri – who, as we know, is a particularly powerful Source – will be able to draw in elements from her surroundings and catalyze them to be used as incredibly powerful magical spells. That’s not the only way her combat moveset will differ from Geralt’s either. In addition to being able to use her two sword, signs, potions, and what have you, Ciri will also be able to use chains in combat. These chains can also be enchanted with magic to make them stronger.
MORE GAMEPLAY VARIETY
An expanded combat moveset for Ciri might indicate that The Witcher 4 will provide a more expansive gameplay experience than its predecessor, and according to CD Projekt RED, that will be precisely the case. The studio is promising more gameplay variety, along the lines of something like Cyberpunk 2077, with players being given the flexibility to define their own play style. Speaking to IGN, Kalemba said, “[We’re giving] more tools for players’ disposal, to be able to not only play and go with the consequences narratively, but also gameplay-wise. We want to give players more opportunities to be able to feel that they define their experience.”
He added: “I believe the gameplay [in Cyberpunk 2077] was more varied [than that in The Witcher 3] and it allowed more freedom when it comes to creating character builds and being able to experience encounters in your own way.
“This is something we definitely want to bring as a lesson [to The Witcher 4]. We want to improve on [The Witcher 3’s] gameplay but also we want to improve the alignment of the way you will be able to explore the world.”
CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE
The Witcher 3’s stellar choice-and-consequence mechanics were a big part of why it exploded in popularity the way it did, and unsurprisingly, that’s a department CDPR is looking to strengthen further with the next game. Kalemba says the goal is to “put player agency at the center”, and to “let players try to define” Ciri and her story. Meanwhile, in the game’s trailer breakdown, the director also reveled that though the trailer ends with the young woman – whose name is Mioni – dying, in the game, she can actually survive based on your actions.
TECH DETAILS
Since it was confirmed to be in development as Polaris a couple of years ago, we’ve known that The Witcher 4 is being built on Unreal Engine 5. At The Game Awards, the trailer that was showcased was built entirely in-engine, and interestingly enough, was running on an unannounced Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU- presumably, we can expect that next series to be announced by Nvidia soon enough. Additionally, CDPR also has also confirmed in a press release that assets and models shown in the trailer are from the game itself.
WILL MAINTAIN CONTINUITY WILL ALL WITCHER 3 ENDINGS
The Witcher 4 is going to kick off a new saga for the series, star a new protagonist, and try to draw in an even larger crowd, but it’s obviously not a clean break. Ciri’s story is going to take The Witcher 3’s events into account, of course- but how will it deal with the game’s endings? After all, one ending in particular involves Ciri dying. Interestingly enough, however, speaking with IGN, Cian Maher, CDPR’s franchise and lore designer for Witcher, stated that “there are hints in that ending that highlight the fact that she probably does not die”, and that The Witcher 4 is going to maintain continuity with all Witcher 3 endings, and ensure that it does not “break any canon or even offend any canon”.
IN FULL PRODUCTION
Pre-production on The Witcher 4 started somewhere in mid-2022, as we’ve touched on, and earlier this year, CD Projekt RED revealed that the game had also entered full production. Of course, that means it’s still a ways off from the end of development. Presumably, CDPR will be targeting a 2026 or 2027 launch for the game, though that’s little more than an educated guess at this point.
