The Witcher 4 not only marks the beginning of a new saga in the famous dark fantasy franchise, but also promises to be a very ambitious game for CD Projekt RED.
At least that’s what Michał Nowakowski, CEO of the Polish studio, recently announced during a question and answer session with his investors. Enough to further clarify fans’ expectations for the future game, currently known by the codename Polaris.
Exploring new poles (Aris) with The Witcher 4
Around two years after its first teaser, The Witcher 4 is currently the game that has the most people mobilizing at CD Projekt RED. With the majority of work on Cyberpunk 2077 finally complete, it’s time for the studio to move forward. So it’s the excitement surrounding the franchise’s next work that has propelled them to the top. 403 developers, or 64% of the workforce, are working on the game called Polaris internally. The new saga in The Witcher universe is currently in pre-production. However, according to the CEO of CD Projekt RED, it could move into the production phase this year.
He also had exciting news to announce to investors and therefore players about The Witcher 4. “ Making a new game is always a creative risk, especially when we’re trying to push new boundaries and explore new possibilities and do something we’ve never done before. What I mean is that you shouldn’t just expect nicer clothes from The Witcher 3. We’re obviously building on what came before, but will be adding new gameplay elements and mechanics that you haven’t seen in our previous games ».
A potential new masterpiece?
This should make the mouths of the fans (or the sorcerers of the Wolf School?) water. It is of course still too early to say to what extent CD Projekt RED’s ambitions with The Witcher 4 will be realized. Let’s remember that Cyberpunk 2077 was the studio’s first first-person game. Despite its numerous bugs at launch (especially on PS4/Xbox One), the title impressed above all with its gameplay, but above all with its narrative and immersion.
The studio is certainly aware of the huge expectations fans have for the masterpiece The Witcher 3. We can therefore bet that it will take the time necessary to give its core franchise the sequel it deserves. Especially since the transition to Unreal Engine 5 should allow it to better focus on its promises when it comes to exploring new mechanics. As a reminder: The in-house RED engine was particularly capricious and required significant renovation work for every game since The Witcher 2. With this burden less on our shoulders, we hope that CD Projekt RED will delight us again with this new saga in the deliciously dark fantasy universe of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels.
