The Witcher 4 is getting real. Or at least more real, because now there’s an official Reveal, which already reveals interesting info.
Crazy to type this again, but: there is indeed a new The Witcher coming. Various job postings and hints already pointed in the same direction, now it’s official. CD Projekt’s new major project after Cyberpunk 2077 will be The Witcher 4, or The Witcher: A New Saga Begins. This is a project title, so the final name of the game will differ.
The team announced this at GDC 2022, where the developers talked about their upcoming game and the technical details. Because The Witcher 4 will also mark a turning point in technical terms.
The teaser for The Witcher 4
Okay, before we get into the technical details, let’s talk about the teaser first, of course. There’s not much to see yet, but at least we spy a new Witcher medallion and the official announcement:
This teaser strongly hints at a new main character: Ciri. For the young heroine wields a witch medallion of the Cat School – in the books she takes three medallions from the notorious bounty hunter Leo Bonhart: wolf, cat and griffin. The first and third she gives to Geralt and Yennefer respectively, the cat medallion she keeps herself.
This step would fit perfectly into the story. Geralt’s journey ended wonderfully round with the finale of The Witcher 3, Ciri on the other hand offers an incredible amount of story potential. She could eventually start her adventure as the Empress of Nilfgaard, depending on which canonical ending the developers decide on.
What kind of game will Witcher 4 be?
Development is still in the early stages and CD Projekt Red is still holding back with detailed information. However, a few small details about the content are already known. We summarise all concrete information here:
- This won’t knock your socks off, but CD Projekt has confirmed: The Witcher 4 will be an open-world role-playing game.
- CD Projekt will once again tell its very own story in the Witcher universe and will not directly pick up any story from the literary original.
- This story is meant to stand on its own and does not require any playtime in the prequels. However, previous experience may help to better understand some of the context.
- CD Projekt Red talks about a new saga. It sounds like there are several games planned. For now, though, they just want to focus on this one title.
New tech for The Witcher 4
For The Witcher 4, CD Projekt is changing the engine. A caesura, because for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 2 like 3 the in-house REDengine was used. The Witcher sequel, however, is being made in the Unreal Engine 5, so CD Projekt is entering into a partnership with Epic.
According to CD Projekt Red, the bumpy technical state of Cyberpunk 2077 did not play a role in the decision. Thanks to the Unreal Engine 5, the team is at least no longer on its own and gets support from Epic.
