After revolutionizing the open-world RPG twice in 10 years, CDPR is dreaming even bigger with The Witcher 4: "We definitely want to raise the bar with every game that we create"

2024-12-18

GamesRPGThe WitcherThe Witcher 4After revolutionizing the open-world RPG twice in 10 years, CDPR is dreaming even bigger with The Witcher 4: “We definitely want to raise the bar with every game that we create"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

The Witcher 4 screenshot showing Ciri getting ready for action in a dank cave

“If you’re asking me whether we want to raise the bar again, the answer is yes,” laughs Małgorzata Mitręga, and the CD Projekt RED executive producer has every right to feel bullish.The Witcher 4has been unveiled, a new single-player RPG from the studio responsible for revolutionizing open world game design in both the fantasy and science-fiction genres. CDPR says that it’s aiming to deliver"the most immersive and ambitious open-world Witcher game to date"as it shifts focus away from Geralt of Rivia andtowards Ciri, his adopted daughter only just beginning to chart her Path across a world where the old order is crumbling and dark forces are seizing their chance to rise.

“We definitely want to raise the bar with every video game that we create. This is what we did withCyberpunk 2077afterThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and we want to apply all of the lessons learned from both of these experiences and incorporate them into The Witcher 4,” says Sebastian Kalemba, game director. “You can look at the aesthetics of the trailer as a symbol of what we want to achieve. It’s pre-rendered footage on our custom Unreal Engine 5 build, and these are already the visuals that we are aspiring to have. This ambition is absolutely spread across all the departments at CDPR – our ambition is high, crazily high.”

Something ends, something begins

CDPRsays that Ciri’s ascendance after appearances in The Witcher 3was never in doubt. “From the very beginning, we knew it had to be Ciri – she’s a complex character and there is so much to be told about her. On the one hand, she’s very similar to Geralt, a continuator of his values – honorable, brave, just. But she also has this side we haven’t explored much – grim, rebellious, and fierce. She’s familiar, but at the same time she’s fresh. And she’s simply a badass,” says story director Tomasz Marchewka.

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(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

The Witcher 4 screenshot showing Ciri entering a mysterious cave

“The gap between her being totally overpowered at the end of the previous game and now, with the skill set we showed off in the trailer… something totally happened in-between,” Mitręga teases. “We had to delve deep to consider how we would address this – we have huge respect for the lore, for both the books and for what made it into our previous games. But this was one of the first questions we found the answer for, and it’s how we were able to create this original story which starts with The Witcher 4.”

(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

The Witcher 4 screenshot showing a huge towering beast

“We want to apply all of the lessons learned from both of these experiences and incorporate them into The Witcher 4"Sebastian Kalemba, game director

“We want to apply all of the lessons learned from both of these experiences and incorporate them into The Witcher 4”

What CDPR is teasing out in this trailer is a fusion between traditional witcher combat proficiencies and her unique ability to wield magic. If you recall from the original trilogy of Witcher games, Geralt is only able to cast exceptionally basic ‘signs’. But as a Source, Ciri is able to wield powerful sorcery; you see this in the trailer, as she shifts from backfoot to upper hand after drawing energy from a water source and channel it into ‘Bolt’, an electrifying spell that transitions the battle into its next phase.

Ciri wrapping a silver chain around the Bauk’s neck may be a fun callback to The Witcher’s opening cinematic, but how she is able to enchant this utility tool with fire is unlike anything Geralt could have achieved in that iconic fight against the Striga some 16 years ago. “What you’ve seen is a tease, but it’s there for a reason. You can see the swords, you can see the chain, and you can see her using magic too, and how she uses them all against the boosted monster she encounters. It’s there to show you what our ambition is with The Witcher 4,” says Mitręga.

(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

The Witcher 4 screenshot with Ciri using sword and sorcery to fight an ancient monster

“We wanted to sell this idea of Ciri being fearless,” adds Kalemba. “Of course she’s afraid, because this monster represents fear. But let’s say that the first layer of combat is actually about the Bauk, the monster playing with Ciri’s inner fears and demons. She’s able to slice and cut him a bit, and this is the way she defeats the first layer of the monster. That’s one thing, but we also wanted to sell this idea of there being really creepy monsters, monsters that we’ve never experienced in this world – and the Bauk is just one of many monsters that you will encounter later in the game. But it represents this idea of what the next level of monster hunting is, right?”

Kalemba tells me that CDPR wants to “create this feeling that monsters are a real threat”, not only to Ciri but to the people who occupy the world around her. “In this case, the monster is so dangerous that for years it was eating people and somehow forced these people to believe in some superstitions – that’s why they thought he was a god for them, because Ciri is probably the very first character that was able to look into his eyes and really understand what this creature is about. I think that’s a great statement that we set out here with the trailer.”

Into the shadows

(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

The Witcher 4 screenshot showing Ciri returning a monster’s head to a village on fire

Where is Geralt?Worry not, CDPR hasn’t killed off Geralt. The studio closed the book on his adventures across the Continent with The Witcher 3, putting a fine point on his retirement through the excellent Blood and Wine expansion. CDPR wont be drawn on what role Geralt will play in The Witcher 4, but has confirmed that he’ll appear – whether he’s still hanging out in Touissant remains to be seen.

Where is Geralt?

Worry not, CDPR hasn’t killed off Geralt. The studio closed the book on his adventures across the Continent with The Witcher 3, putting a fine point on his retirement through the excellent Blood and Wine expansion. CDPR wont be drawn on what role Geralt will play in The Witcher 4, but has confirmed that he’ll appear – whether he’s still hanging out in Touissant remains to be seen.

“We tend to make very character-driven stories, I would say that this is our power,” says Kalemba. “We tailor the entire story around the character, allowing you to immerse yourself even more as we expand this world to showcase new regions.” CDPR is yet to truly reveal the scope of its next open world, although we do know that the studio is angling for a more brutal dark-fantasy world – one where the populace is becoming even warier of witchers as their numbers thin across the Continent.

It’s likely that CDPR is about to go dark. The Witcher 4 has no release date and no confirmed launch platforms, largely a result of the studio attempting to circumvent making early promises that it will later struggle to keep – lessons, I’m assured, were learned from the Cyberpunk 2077 launch. So for now all we are left to do is replay that trailer over and over again, piecing out details of the dangerous world Ciri is set to occupy. “What I really love about our trailer,” says Kalemba, “is that there are three monsters in there. First of all, Ciri has her inner-monsters which she has to defeat; then you have a real monster; and then you have a monstrous people. All shades of monstrosity, and that represents this world perfectly.”

With The Witcher 4having only just entered full-scale production, expect to be waiting a while for more information. In the meantime, why not go back and play one of the bestgames like The Witcher 3.

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