The Witcher is a beloved franchise that spans books, video games, and TV. It has succeeded in all three spheres, especially The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The latter earned almost universal acclaim and is lauded as one of the best video games of all time. The books have been positively received worldwide, with several translations from their original Polish language. Lastly, despite having poor adaptations in the past, the recent Netflix series has done well to endear itself to fans.
Although Geralt’s story ended with the Wild Hunt, there are more stories to tell in the Witcher universe. CD PROJEKT RED has announced a new trilogy and two spinoffs for the franchise. We’ll be focusing on one of the latter ones, Project Sirius.
The Announcement
In one of the developer’s tweets, Project Sirius is announced as a game developed by The Molasses Flood set in the Witcher Universe with support from CDPR. They describe it as having multiplayer gameplay on top of a single-player one, with a story told through quests.
Further clarification is found in one of their Strategy Update videos, where Sirius is described as neither a smaller game nor a mobile one. It should target a broader audience by offering a Witcher experience for those who don’t like the hardcore aspect of the main games. Also, it won’t be an open-world game.
The Speculation
While nothing else is confirmed yet, there are many things you can infer from The Molasses Flood’s approach to previous games. Also, we can look at both TMF’s and CDPR’s job listings.
The Flame in the Flood, a survival roguelike, lets you collect supplies while traversing a river on a raft. You’ll need to spare some materials to upgrade and repair the raft, as it is the only way to progress. Drake Hollow, also a survival game, is more focused on base-building and has a co-op mode. These two games have survival in common, which could be a significant genre for Project Sirius.
Both games’ art feature stylistic and sometimes cutesy styles. They lean toward fantastic or cartoony instead of going realistic. TML also favors the third-person perspective as it is the primary one in their games. However, they only have two games under their belt (for now), so this can change in the future.
As for job listings, The Molasses Flood is hiring for these positions (according to their website):
- Technical Game Designer
- Senior Combat Designer
- Senior Level Designer
- Narrative Director
There were also open positions for artists (Senior Character Concept and UI) and Lead Level Designers. Meanwhile, CDPR is looking for the following:
- Senior Combat Designer
- Senior Level Designer
- Senior Multiplayer Designer
- Senior Gameplay Designer
There are statements from the job description listed on CDPR’s site that gives us a bit more information. The Combat Designer is responsible for the enemy and weapon types, placing I-frames, tweaking damage scaling, and other related things. The Level Designer would create hand-crafted and procedural elements. The Multiplayer Designer must work on the multiplayer aspect, ensuring that its features, activities, and modes will be enjoyable and engaging. Each one will collaborate with the systems, art, and engineering teams, making the product cohesive and beautiful.
There are a few keywords here that are interesting. One is ‘procedural elements,’ implying that the game will have levels that will be different every time you repeat it. It’s a hallmark of roguelike games, or it could be for dungeon crawling. This bleeds in the narrative, as one designer’s LinkedIn describes his job as ‘implementing procedural narrative systems for an upcoming project.’ It could mean a branching storyline for Project Sirius.
The game could also have a stylistic art style and survival elements. There will be some combat, likely to be in third-person POV. It could be similar to Drake Hollow combat, which, in turn, is like the combat in Souls games or other action RPGs.
Regarding Souls games, Project Sirius could follow that franchise’s approach to multiplayer. It is primarily a single-player game, but you can co-op with other players or play against them in PvP. Of course, with all these expectations, it could follow in the footsteps of Elden Ring. However, people should keep their expectations manageable.
Having too high expectations can lead to disappointment because the game could fail to meet them. It’s an easy trap to fall into, especially when there’s so little confirmed for the game. That makes people’s imaginations go wild and raise expectations. It doesn’t help that there’s a comparison to Souls games already. Also, being tied to the Witcher series can create similar (less so, but still) unfair comparisons.
The Conclusion
Project Sirius is looking to be an ambitious game. However, remember that things are still nebulous and uncertain as it is a game still in development. Specific features and mechanics may not make it to the final version. As time passes, there will be more information about it, and we should adjust expectations and hype accordingly.
Still, this is something to be excited about. A multiplayer Witcher experience would be novel, and the game is targeted at more casual players. It has much to offer both newbies and veterans of the universe of the Witcher.
Enjoy The Witcher, whether through books, games, or TV shows!
