A brand new Witcher recreation is in improvement at CD Projekt Pink, the studio liable for The Witcher trilogy and spinoffs like Gwent, however particulars in regards to the subsequent entry within the fantasy online game sequence are scant. However we do know the sport, which is being developed below the codename Polaris, will kick off a “new saga” for the Witcher model.
“We goal to launch two extra Witcher video games after Polaris, creating a brand new AAA RPG trilogy,” CD Projekt Pink mentioned in 2022.
CD Projekt Pink is shifting away from utilizing its inside REDengine, the know-how that powered The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and can as an alternative use Epic Video games’ Unreal Engine 5. CD Projekt and Epic introduced a “multi-year strategic partnership” in March 2022, and as a part of that association, builders from CD Projekt Pink will collaborate with Epic “with the first aim being to assist tailor [Unreal Engine] for open-world experiences.” Based mostly on that language, the following Witcher recreation will probably be one other open-world journey.
CD Projekt hasn’t introduced a remaining title, gameplay particulars, or a launch date for the fourth mainline entry in The Witcher. We don’t know the story or what characters will probably be in it. Right here’s all the things we do know in regards to the new Witcher saga.
The Faculty of the Lynx
The one very seen clue that CD Projekt Pink has provided about its new Witcher saga is paintings of a medallion buried in snow. Initially interpreted by some to be a reference to the Faculty of the Cat from The Witcher lore, CD Projekt Pink world communication director Robert Malinowski clarified to Eurogamer after the undertaking’s reveal that the medallion is made to resemble a lynx. Granted, a lynx is a genus inside the cat household, however The Witcher e book sequence and video games don’t canonically characteristic a Faculty of the Lynx. (Geralt is, in fact, a witcher from the Faculty of the Wolf.)
However a substantial amount of hypothesis has pointed towards Ciri from The Witcher sequence, who reclaimed a cat medallion from witcher-killing bounty hunter Leo Bonhart (and wore it herself), main the brand new Witcher saga, because of this complete cat/lynx affiliation.
It’s (most likely) not an Epic Video games Retailer unique
CD Projekt Pink and Epic Video games are having fun with a “multi-year strategic partnership,” the businesses mentioned, however that doesn’t imply that the following Witcher online game will probably be unique to Epic Video games’ digital storefront. Whereas Epic has invested many hundreds of thousands into securing Epic Video games Retailer-exclusive video games, that type of association doesn’t seem like on the playing cards for the following Witcher. Or, on the very least, CD Projekt wants to downplay the possibility that there’s any sort of exclusivity occurring. In spite of everything, CD Projekt has its personal video games storefront, GOG.com, and has loved multiplatform success over the previous decade.
It’s (most likely) not named The Witcher 4
CD Projekt Pink’s Marcin Iwinski advised Polygon manner again in 2013 that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (and its two expansions) marked the top of Geralt’s trilogy. And after the brand new Witcher recreation was introduced, CD Projekt global PR director Radek Grabowski stressed on Twitter, “What we’ve NOT introduced right now [is a] recreation referred to as The Witcher 4.”
Followers and members of the media will probably proceed to seek advice from the brand new recreation as The Witcher 4 anyway, as a result of that’s simple shorthand till CD Projekt Pink offers us a correct title for the undertaking. Even CDPR chief technique officer Adam Kiciński casually referred to the sport as The Witcher 4 in 2023 throughout an earnings name, which the developer later referred to as a “slip of the tongue.”
It’s not simply “The Witcher 3 in new clothes”
At the least, that’s what CD Projekt Pink says. In March 2024, when the brand new Witcher recreation was nonetheless in its pre-production section, CDPR joint CEO Michał Nowakowski mentioned throughout an earnings Q&A that the developer is “making an attempt to push new boundaries and discover new fields.”
“I assume what I’m saying is that you simply shouldn’t be anticipating ‘The Witcher 3 in new clothes’ of kinds,” Nowakowski mentioned. “In fact we’re constructing on the shoulders of what got here earlier than, and on what we’ve discovered, however we will probably be including new gameplay parts and new mechanics that you haven’t seen in our earlier video games. I’d say — doing such issues is at all times a danger; it’s not simply repeating what was completed earlier than.”
The brand new Witcher recreation doesn’t have a launch date
Given CD Projekt Pink’s improvement historical past, it’s fairly protected to foretell we gained’t get our fingers on the brand new Witcher saga any time quickly. The final recreation within the franchise, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, entered improvement in the summertime of 2011, nevertheless it wasn’t formally introduced till two years later. And the ultimate recreation didn’t ship till Could 2015. The studio’s most up-to-date recreation, Cyberpunk 2077, was first teased again in 2012, and it took a grueling eight years to lastly arrive (and in not-so-great form both).
Suffice it to say, the following Witcher recreation is probably going years away. CD Projekt Pink is not going to solely take ample time to construct its new saga, however will virtually assuredly spend further time sharpening and bug-squashing its follow-up to the Witcher trilogy, as a result of it merely can’t repeat the errors it made with Cyberpunk 2077.
CDPR joint CEO Adam Badowski advised Reuters in January 2024 that the corporate anticipated to have “round 400 individuals engaged on the undertaking by the center of the yr,” so improvement on the following Witcher recreation is unquestionably making progress.
What we expect we all know
Based mostly on the occasions of The Witcher 3 and its many choice-based endings, good and unhealthy, there’s lots to invest in regards to the sequence’ new path within the wake of Geralt’s story. If you wish to learn in regards to the potentialities, right here’s a peek at the place The Witcher would possibly go after Wild Hunt.
