Crazy to be able to type that again, but: There is actually a new The Witcher coming. Various job advertisements and hints have 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 trappings. Because The Witcher 4 will also mark a turning point in technical terms.
The Witcher at GameStar Plus
The Witcher is an extremely popular role-playing series among our readers and our team. At GameStar Plus you will therefore find a lot of exciting content about The Witcher with exclusive insights into the development.
The teaser for The Witcher 4
Okay, before we get into the technical details, let’s talk about the teaser first. There’s not much to see yet, but at least we’re getting a glimpse of a new Witcher medallion and the official announcement:
This teaser strongly hints at a new main character: Ciri. Because the young heroine carries a witcher medallion of the cat school – in the books she takes three medallions from the notorious bounty hunter Leo Bonhart: wolf, cat and griffin. She gives the first and third to Geralt and Yennefer respectively, while she keeps the cat medallion herself.
This step would fit perfectly into the story. Geralt’s journey ended beautifully with the finale of The Witcher 3, while Ciri offers incredible story potential. She could eventually start her adventure as the Empress of Nilfgaard, depending on which canon ending the developers choose.
What kind of game will Witcher 4 be?
The development is still in its infancy and CD Projekt Red is still behind the tree with detailed information. However, a few small details about the content are already known. We briefly summarize all the specific information here:
- This won’t knock your shoes off, but CD Projekt has confirmed: The Witcher 4 will be an open-world role-playing game.
- CD Projekt will again a story all its own in the Witcher universe tell and not directly pick up a story from the literary original.
- This story should stand on its own does not require playing time in the predecessors. However, previous experience can help to better understand some connections.
- CD Projekt Red speaks of a new saga. Sounds like multiple games are planned. First of all but do you want to concentrate on just this one title?.
New technology for The Witcher 4
For The Witcher 4, CD Projekt is changing the engine. A turning point, because the in-house REDengine was used for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 2 like 3. However, the Witcher sequel is made in Unreal Engine 5, so CD Projekt is partnering with Epic.
According to CD Projekt Red, the bumpy technical condition of Cyberpunk 2077 should not have played a role in the decision. Thanks to the Unreal Engine 5, the team is at least no longer on their own and gets support from Epic.
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A release of The Witcher 4 is of course still a long way off – very likely this early announcement also serves to try to find staff for CD Projekt and to get new people on board for the development of The Witcher. the renewed crunch at CD Projekt Red before the release of Cyberpunk 2077 could have deterred potential employees.
At the same time, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who played a leading role on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, left CD Projekt and founded the studio Rebel Wolves (a telling name). This is also working on a large fantasy role-playing game in the Unreal Engine 5 and is said to have poached experienced team members from CD Projekt for this, according to Tomaszkiewicz.
We will of course keep you up to date as soon as there is new information.
