The Witcher 4 is officially in the works, though it may not be called that when it finally comes out. You see, the next main game in The Witcher series for now is called Polaris. We're still calling it The Witcher 4, but keep in mind that it seems to kick off a whole new saga.
In March 2022, developer CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher 4 in a blog post. Several The Witcher games have been revealed, each with a code name. The next main game has been designated as Polaris and it will be the first game in a new trilogy. Other than that, there are still many unanswered questions.
It's still early days, The Witcher 4 doesn't even have an official title yet, but thanks to some rumors and developer feedback, we have an idea of what to expect. For one, The Witcher 4 will be developed using Unreal Engine 5, and a teaser image could indicate that it will focus on a new Witcher school.
Here's what we know about The Witcher 4 so far, including all the latest news and rumors.
The Witcher 4: straight to the point
- What is it? The next mainline Witcher game
- When can I play it? To confirm
- What can I play in? To confirm
The Witcher 4: release date and platforms
Let's start by moderating our emotion. CD Projekt RED has announced that The Witcher 4 is in active development, but also clarified in a blog post (opens in a new tab) that "no further details on the release date are available."
Now, to put that in perspective, the original Cyberpunk 2077 trailer (opens in a new tab) was released seven years before the game was released. To give the situation some hope, CD Projekt RED released a reveal trailer for The Witcher title. 3: Wild Hunt (opens in a new tab) just two years before the release of The Witcher 3.
That's all to say that we're probably several years away from The Witcher 4's release. Mark your calendars for 2024 at the earliest, though it'll probably be longer.
No platform has been confirmed for The Witcher 4 either, but that's hardly a surprise. We expect CD Projekt Red to use current-gen hardware, so releases on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC seem all but certain.
What we do know is that The Witcher 4 will be the first in a trilogy. This was revealed in October 2022 along with a bunch of new Witcher and Cyberpunk projects.
Polaris is the code name for the next installment in The Witcher game series, which we recently announced is in pre-production. It's the start of a new saga: our goal is to release two more Witcher games after Polaris, creating a new AAA RPG trilogy. pic.twitter.com/898Ez6Yk794October 2022, XNUMX
Read more
The Witcher 4: story and setting
Spoilers for The Witcher game series
As stated above, few details are available about The Witcher 4. The official blog only confirms that it is in development and built on Unreal Engine 5. But, over the years, CD Projekt RED has said a lot about what a future is. Witcher. would involve the game.
For starters, it's not really The Witcher 4.
"The first three 'Witchers' were by definition a trilogy, so we simply couldn't call the next game 'The Witcher 4,'" Kiciński said in an interview. "That does not mean, of course, that we will leave the world of The Witcher."
At the end of The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, the monster hunter Geralt was alive and well. Well, he was alive, at least. But his story was over, the Wild Hunt was over. That doesn't mean he won't be back in this new Witcher game, although he probably won't be the main character.
The developer said it back in 2013, "We're not killing the world and walking away from it, but we'll definitely want to make this game the grand finale," executive producer John Mamais told Polygon (opens in a new pestana). “Incluso podríamos incluir potencialmente a Geralt en juegos posteriores.
Perhaps we will see Ciri pass the reins, if it is decided that she canonically survived The Witcher 3. To avoid continuity issues, perhaps the team defines her story as leading the events of Geralt's adventures. After all, Netflix is developing a series that takes place long before the events of the books, Blood Origin is a prequel that takes place 1000 years before the events of The Witcher.
The confirmation that the medallion shown in the game's announcement image is a lynx certainly suggests that the game will take things in a new direction. This potentially introduces a new Witcher school.
The author of the Witcher books, Andrzej Sapkowski, has signed a new contract with the company to "further solidify their relationship." So. the study is free to draw from any of his short stories or novels. (If you want to catch up, here's how to read The Witcher books in order.)
The Witcher 4: news and rumors
The Witcher 4 already has a game director
Sebastian Kalemba, the former lead animator for The Witcher 3, has been announced as game director for The Witcher 4. They announced it on Twitter, stating that their goal is to "raise the bar."
Career news: I'm directing the new Witcher saga. Since I joined @CDPROJEKTRED I believe that nothing is impossible and raising the bar, telling emotional stories and creating worlds is what we are here for. I am proud to be a part of CDPR and to work with such a talented and passionate team. November 3, 2022
Read more
Polaris, and an all-new trilogy
In early October 2022, CD Projekt RED announced several new titles via Twitter (opens in a new tab), including a new The Witcher trilogy. Polaris (what we call Witcher 4) will release the new saga, which will then run for 6 years from the first release. This is obviously a big undertaking, so we'll have to wait and see if it pays off.
Reconfirm the start of a new saga
CD Projekt RED has once again confirmed that The Witcher 4 will launch a saga. While he hasn't confirmed how many games this will entail, CEO Adam Kiciński made the comments during a recent earnings call (opens in a new tab).
"We said that there would be a new saga. Of course, we are now pre-producing the first game in this saga. But we have more than one in mind. The first saga was three games, so now we are thinking of more than one." But we are in pre-production of the first game of the second Witcher saga.
First mystery solved: the medallion is a lynx
Following the detailed announcement that The Witcher 4 is in development, CD Projekt Red has spoken out to address a point of fan speculation: the medallion shown in the announcement image. It turns out that it is a lynx, which suggests that CD Projekt Red has created a new Witcher school for the new game.
"I can confirm that the medallion is in the shape of a lynx," global communications director Robert Malinowski (opens in a new tab) told Eurogamer.
However, while the lynx school does not appear in official Witcher fiction, there are stories about the school elsewhere on the internet, on a Witcher fanfiction wiki (opens in a new tab). On the fan wiki, the School of the Lynx is formed after the disbandment of the School of the Wolf. Founded by the surviving members, including Geralt, the school eventually leaves its homeland and explores the western continent.
Keep in mind, though, that this is just fanfiction, so it's unlikely to resemble the story CD Projekt is cooking up for their new RPG. Geralt may not even appear in the new game to begin with, in fact the announcement talks about a "new saga" hinting at an intention to move on.
Ad
With most game announcements coming with fancy trailers and big new websites, The Witcher 4 news is relatively low-key. CD Projekt RED has published a blog post - opens in a new tab - featuring just one key piece of art and some details about one of the most anticipated RPGs in gaming history.
"We are pleased to announce that the next installment in The Witcher video game series is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise," the developer wrote.
While the post doesn't go into details about the game's release date or even the development status of the team, it does include one important detail: CD Projekt RED has offloaded its in-house game engine. .
The team uses REDengine for all games since The Witcher 2. Capable of supporting beautiful open worlds, the Polish developer has spent years expanding its capabilities.
There has been a huge jump in quality from The Witcher 2 to The Witcher 3, with the technology capable of handling much larger and denser worlds. Technology did it again with Cyberpunk 2077. While the world may have felt more isolating than The Witcher 3's open plains and winding forests, Night City was a bustling city with bustling activity spreading above you at every turn. through vertical buildings.
However, Cyberpunk suffered significant technical issues at launch and this may have been what led CD Projekt RED to abandon their own engine in favor of an industry standard: Unreal Engine 5.
"We are transitioning from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5," writes CD Projekt in the blog post, "beginning a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games. It covers not only the licensing, but also the technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of the Unreal Engine, as appropriate.We will work closely with the developers at Epic Games, with the primary goal of helping to tailor the engine for open world experiences.
Before looking at games for the PlayStation 5, we saw a tech demo of Unreal Engine 5 running on the console. Epic Games wanted to push this new version of their engine as technology for the next generation of consoles. The fact that The Witcher 4 is built on this technology is something Epic can clamor for and Cyberpunk-singed Witcher fans can take comfort in.
Of course, a game engine is just a set of tools, it doesn't make a game good or bad. And while many people at CD Projekt RED will have used Unreal Engine technology throughout their careers, moving an entire studio to a different toolset is a production challenge that can show up in the final game.