The Witcher III: Wild Hunt put CD Projekt Red on the map, and after several years of working on Cyberpunk, the studio is ready to return to the fantasy world of Andrzej Sapkowski.
The Witcher IV has just been announced at The Game Awards, and fans are scrambling to know just what kind of story to expect with Ciri as the new lead of the series.
Ciri and The Witcher IV
While no gameplay has been revealed yet, the cinematic announcement trailer for The Witcher IV hints at what kind of game to expect.
The official description of the game reads: “The Witcher IV is an upcoming single-player open-world RPG from CD PROJEKT RED, the creators of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The beginning of a new saga and a follow-up to one of the most acclaimed RPGs of all time, Ciri takes center stage as the protagonist, embarking on her journey to become a professional monster slayer.”
The game picks up where the last one left off, and several fan theories have confirmed that Ciri will now be the franchise's lead.
Though she’s a Witcher like Geralt was, it does seem like she has a bunch of new abilities and weapons for this game. Besides the set of silver eyes that can probably see monsters in the dark, she also comes with a chain weapon, which she can use to tangle monsters and even channel magic.
A New Witcher Trilogy
click to enlarge
+ 2According to VGC, the game has been confirmed to start a new trilogy with Ciri as the lead, and The Witcher IV is currently in full production.
It’s not entirely clear what to expect from Ciri’s story yet. Still, based on the cinematic story, CDPR will likely also infuse fantasy with some adult-oriented moral challenges.
With the books mostly focusing on Geralt, The Witcher IV will be treading new ground, which means a lot of pressure for CDPR. Many fans know what happens when an adaptation tries to write the story independently, and it usually doesn’t end too well (sorry, Game of Thrones fans).
Learning from the Past
click to enlarge + 2Hopefully, CDPR has learned from the harsh lesson of the Cyberpunk 2077 launch. After a disastrous launch, it took them years to regain their fans' good graces. Now that they are back to a reliable franchise, the pressure is on for the Witcher IV team to pull things off cleanly come launch day.
Hopefully, the developers and the marketing team will be on the same page regarding the release and promotion. Who knows if CDPR can survive another Cyberpunk launch fiasco?
The Witcher IV still has no firm release date, but it’s expected to be released for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 in the next few years—possibly in 2026.
For more articles like this, take a look at our The Witcher page.