CD Projekt Red has just announced the trailer for the latest installment of their Witcher IP, the Witcher 4.
Not a whole lot was shown as it was a pre-rendered CGI trailer with no gameplay, but what we can glean from the trailer is that it stars Ciri as the protagonist. It’ll be interesting to see how Ciri got here, as the model looks much older from how she looked in Witcher 3 and she was also shown drinking a witcher potion despite not being a witcher herself, and wasn’t eligible for the Trial of Grasses as well as the fact that Ciri’s general fate was dependent on your choices, and she could end 3 not even being a warrior on the road. This decision is sure to spark some controversy, which is likely the intent, and the mystery of finding out how we got here is sure to be a hook. The game director, Sebastian Kalemba, shared a few words on the direction this new Witcher would take:
We’re kicking off a brand-new Witcher saga, this time with Ciri as the heart of the story…It feels so good to finally be able to say those words — for the longest time we knew that we wanted Ciri to be the protagonist of The Witcher IV; it just felt natural to us and we believe that Ciri deserves it. In this game we want to explore what it means to truly become a witcher by following Ciri on her Path. This trailer is a taste of both that, and just how dark and grounded the world of The Witcher can be.
Witcher IV is going to be running on the Unreal Engine 5, to the dismay of many fans, but after the disastrous release of Cyberpunk 2077 no doubt CD Projekt Red will go out of their way to ensure that the release and performance of Witcher IV is above the industry standard. The game has already sparked a lot of talk within the gaming community, both for and against the things we’ve seen in this trailer alone. Regardless of your stance on this brave new direction the series is going, it’s going to be exciting to see just how this story develops.