In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Witcher IV executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga addressed the power scaling issues regarding the protagonist Ciri. “We had to delve deep to consider how we would address this – we have huge respect for the lore,” said Małgorzata. “Both the books and what made it into our previous games. But this was one of the first questions we found the answer to, and it’s how we were able to create this original story, which starts with The Witcher 4.”
“She’s faster, more agile – but you can still tell that she was raised by Geralt, right?” “something totally happened in-between [the two games],” he said. “The gap between her being totally overpowered at the end of the previous game and now, with the skill set we showed off in the trailer.”
During The Game Awards, CD Projekt RED released a new trailer finally announcing The Witcher IV, a brand new mainline title that sees Ciri start a saga of her own. In the nearly six-minute trailer, players are “introduced to Ciri, the adopted daughter of Geralt of Rivia, as she takes on a witcher contract in a remote village that has been terrorized for generations by a fearsome monster demanding human sacrifices. Framed as a short, self-contained Witcher story, the trailer showcases Ciri’s new abilities and tools, including a chain and advanced magic powers.” A release date and platforms were not announced.
The full details:
During this year’s The Game Awards, CD PROJEKT RED offered a first look at The Witcher IV, previously known by its codename Polaris. The game, a successor to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—considered one of the most acclaimed games of all time—marks the beginning of a new Witcher saga with Ciri stepping into the role of the protagonist.
In the nearly six-minute trailer, viewers were introduced to Ciri, the adopted daughter of Geralt of Rivia, as she takes on a witcher contract in a remote village that has been terrorized for generations by a fearsome monster demanding human sacrifices. Framed as a short, self-contained Witcher story, the trailer showcases Ciri’s new abilities and tools, including a chain and advanced magic powers.
At the heart of the trailer is Ciri’s perspective as an outsider to the village. As the villagers say goodbye to one of their own — a young girl they are preparing for a traditional ritual sacrifice—Ciri chooses to intervene. Aiming to slay the beast and save the girl at the same time, Ciri finds herself at odds with the prejudices and superstitions of the people she tries to protect, leading her to confront a painful witcher lesson: that monsters come in all forms.
The trailer is pre-rendered in a custom build of Unreal Engine 5 on an unannounced NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU. Powered by the same tech that The Witcher IV is built on, using assets and models from the game itself, it aims to provide players with a cinematic look at the kind of experience the game is aspiring to provide. The trailer was created through a close collaboration between CD PROJEKT RED and Platige Image, who are no strangers to The Witcher universe, having been responsible for intro cinematics in the previous installments of the series.
The Witcher IV is a single-player, open-world RPG from CD Projekt RED. At the start of a new saga, players take on the role of Ciri and embark on a journey through a brutal dark fantasy world. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, it aims to be the most immersive and ambitious open-world Witcher game to date.
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