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By The 2024 Game Awards kicked off with a surprise reveal that Witcher fans have been waiting for since 2015’s The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt ascended the throne of open-world RPGs. Developer CD Projekt RED has since released another blockbuster in Cyberpunk 2077, and has now refocused its team on their next big project: The Witcher IV. Starring Geralt of Rivia’s adoptive daughter Ciri in the titular role, this open-world, dark fantasy RPG is described as “the most immersive and ambitious game in the series” and will kick off a story unfolding over a new game trilogy.
The Cinematic Reveal Trailer which debuted during the 2024 Game Awards, tells a self-contained story reminiscent of The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt‘s monster contract side quests and of Andrzej Sapkowski’s short stories, which serve as the source material and narrative foundation of the video game series. The trailer does not show in-game footage, but it is pre-rendered with the same software that will power the actual game, Unreal Engine 5, and even uses some in-game assets. In visuals, story, and Ciri’s combat, CD Projekt RED describes the trailer as a clear indication of the type of game The Witcher IV aims to be, even if they can’t reveal any real footage just yet.
Besides the Cinematic Reveal Trailer, a few interviews were released in the following days providing more context and giving some clues that Witcher fans have already begun to dissect. As always, we’ve got Witcher fans covered with a recap of everything we’ve learned about this particular entry in the Witcher franchise.
Ciri is the new protagonist, but how about The Witcher III endings?
At this early stage, very little is known about The Witcher IV’s overarching story. Previous games in the series have certainly dabbled in monster hunting, similar to what we saw in the trailer, while also exploring the deep and complicated politics of the Continent where the story is set and its many lands and kingdoms. However, there is one key detail about the story that the trailer reveals, and which presents many questions fans of the lore will be asking until the game releases. The new game will pass the torch from Geralt of Rivia to his adoptive daughter, Cirilla of Cintra, better known as Ciri.
Ciri is not a new character to the Witcher franchise, nor will The Witcher IV be the first time Ciri is a playable character. Though previous books and games focused on Geralt, the story tends to revolve around Ciri, a young girl who was destined for many great things. As the bearer of the Elder Blood, Ciri controls immensely powerful magic, including the ability to travel through time and alternate dimensions. At the end of The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, Ciri finally confronts her destiny and halts the White Frost before it consumes the Continent.
The game has three possible endings for Ciri, and CD Projekt RED has indicated that it will not consider any one of them canon, but instead will allow all of them to flow into the story of the next game, perhaps with a little narrative ambiguity. In the first ending, Ciri disappears and is presumed dead, though the story never confirms this, which allows Ciri to eventually return.
In the second ending, Ciri is in the process of becoming the Empress of Nilfgaard, inheriting the role of her biological father, Emperor Emhyr. Evidently, Ciri has changed her mind about this, something that has already been hinted at in Ciri’s Corvo Bianco epilogue scene for that particular ending.
The last ending flows most organically into The Witcher IV, considering this is the one where Ciri becomes a witcher and is gifted the twin swords, steel and silver, by her father Geralt who will seemingly serve as her mentor.
CD Projekt RED loremaster Cian Maher stated that The Witcher III and IV won’t be in conflict because of the endings: “The one complication is probably the idea that there is an ending in which Ciri can die in The Witcher 3. There are hints in that ending that highlight the fact that she probably does not die.”
Game director Sebastian Kalemba explains that Ciri has always been the successor choice for The Witcher 4. In fact, Ciri was chosen back when The Witcher 3 was releasing: “There was an intention behind this choice. It was far from roulette. It wasn’t random. I remember we had discussions nine years ago, we were talking about who’s next? The very, very instant answer was Ciri.
He continued: “There are many reasons behind that. We’ve already mentioned a few. But she really deserves a stage and we want players to really experience her story because she has so much to tell, so much to prove. The amount of challenges that are in front of her give us so much amazing energy and fuel to create an epic saga that we had no choice but to go with it. We all felt that this is the way. I believe this is the super right choice.”
Is Ciri a mutant now?
Yes, in The Witcher IV, Ciri is now a fully a witcher, a mutant. In an interview with IGN, Sebastian Kalemba, Game Director of The Witcher IV at CD Projekt RED, confirmed that Ciri has fully become a witcher after the events of the previous game.
To be clear, Ciri has undergone the Trial of the Grasses, an excruciatingly painful transformation induced by various chemicals and procedures that mutate the human body into the body of a witcher: a strong, agile, sharp, and perceptive warrior destined to hunt the world’s most powerful predators, and also enables her to make use of the witchers’ alchemy and potions.
The Trial of the Grasses is also famous for killing many of the subjects who attempted it, all of whom were male until Ciri came along. But from a lore perspective, it comes as no surprise that Ciri survived the Trial, as she is perhaps the most special human on the Continent. As the bearer of the Elder Blood, she has already survived similar ordeals, such as her drinking the Water of Brokilon.
New Witcher school: the lynx
Where will Ciri undergo the Trial of the Grasses if not at Kaer Morhen, home of the Wolf School and her witcher family of Geralt, Lambert, and Eskel, all of whom would try to protect her and prevent her from doing the Trial? We already have an answer: in the cinematic trailer, Ciri can be seen wearing a new witcher medallion confirmed by game director Sebastian Kalemba to belong to the Witcher School of the Lynx.
Fan fiction aside, not much is known about the School of the Lynx other than the fact that it is a Witcher School like the School of the Wolf, Bear, Cat, Viper, and Griffin. And now we know that at some point, after the events of The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, Ciri will become a member of this mysterious new Witcher School. Or perhaps she’ll form that school herself?
Ciri as a character will be different from Geralt
Assuming Ciri did it against the wishes of Geralt and Yennefer, it wouldn’t be the first time Ciri decides to disobey her parents and follow her heart, it is actually one of the major differences between her and Geralt, which the new trilogy aims to lean into.
In a press kit, CD Projekt RED Story Director Tomasz Marchewka explained: “On one hand, she’s very similar to Geralt, a continuator of his values – honorable, brave, just, but she also has this side we haven’t explored much grim, rebellious, and fierce. She’s familiar, but at the same time she’s fresh.” Executive Producer Małgorzata Mitrega adds: “She’s open, curious, and drawn to people, yearning for connection and understanding. This opens up uncharted territory in storytelling, where relationships and emotions are just as important as the fight for survival.“
Even though Ciri has a pretty well-defined character, CD Projekt RED wants to let the players redefine her in this new journey, giving us more choices than in the past. This is possible because, despite everything she’s been through, Ciri is still very young and is only just starting her journey on the Path. “We want to let players try to define her,” Game Director Sebastian Kalemba told IGN.
Unlike Geralt, who has been a veteran monster hunter for the entire Witcher saga, Ciri is only just starting her career. That means there’s space for players to create their own version of her. “She’s about to form her own codex on her own terms,” Kalemba reveals. “The way she actually deals with the monsters, the way she deals with quests, the adventures, it’s her own unique way.”
Again, very little is known about the overarching story of this new game, its heroes and villains, and even its setting, at this stage. But we’ll leave you with an interesting quote from Narrative Director Philipp Weber: “The world of The Witcher IV is a place full of moral ambiguity, and so the stories we tell there rarely provide easy answers of good and evil. Make your choices, and live with the consequences.
Ciri’s story is a battle against destiny. This battle comes at a price that will have to be paid eventually — either by Ciri or by those dear to her. Your actions within the open world, the people you permit to come close to you, all have the potential to affect the path Ciri goes down on, and who she will become.“
When does The Witcher IV take place?
Though CD Projekt RED has played coy so far, not sharing many details about the game’s story, the onslaught of interviews and press releases has uncovered some clues about the time and place where the story of The Witcher IV will be set. In an interview with PC Gamer, Game Director Sebastian Kalemba confirmed that the game will be set “a few years” after The Witcher III.
Whether it’s two years or ten, this description offers a bit of leeway, but it suggests that the story will begin not too long after the conclusion of the previous game. This also fits the developer’s description of the game as the beginning of Ciri’s journey as a witcher.
When asked how the state of the Continent compares to when we last saw it in The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, Kalemba carefully elaborated: “It’s few years later, after Wild Hunt. So, I cannot tell you a lot here regarding, let’s say, let’s call it external stakes. But definitely, it is a few years later, the world is, you know, it’s changing, but generally, Ciri is is kind of proving herself on the Path to become the Witcher. So that’s that’s what I can share right now.” The comment about “external stakes” is interesting and likely refers to the grander story and the state of the world, but alas, we have no more information on that for now.
Where does The Witcher IV take place?
However, we do have some clues and details about the multiple regions and locations we will visit in the game, one of which will be the Far North. What does “far north” mean? It’s not specified whether it’s far north of the known map, which includes Kingdoms like Kovir and Poviss or even further north that that, beyond what we can see on the Continent maps.
If it’s the former, we are possibly getting Kovir and Poviss, kingdoms we heard much about both in the books and the games, haven’t explored that well. Most notably, the short story “A Shard of Ice” takes place in the city of Aedd Gynvael.
If it’s the latter, the land beyond is located north of Kovir and Poviss, and possibly even beyond the Dragon Mountains that appear at the northern edge of the known maps of the Continent. It is located so far north that it isn’t even considered part of the Northern Kingdoms. This region is only mentioned a couple of times in the books, noted as a land of great craftsmen which made intricate Milva’s bow, and also a land inhabited by white dragons (better known as frost dragons) and possibly even mammoths.
The Cinematic Reveal Trailer gives us a little, familiar glimpse at the worldbuilding and storytelling the series is famous for. “The world of The Witcher is grim,” Kalemba tells PC Gamer. “As you probably experience it in the in the trailer. It’s really dark, but there is this light of hope always.” Executive Producer Gosia Mitręga confirms the location in the PC Gamer interview: “We can tell that the village you’ve seen in the trailer is called Stromford, and it’s in the Far North. It’s a very isolated one and it will be in the game.”
Kalemba adds: “Yeah, it’s just a small village you’ll be able to encounter, you’ll be able to visit. You’ll actually be able to get to know these NPCs.” In this village, Ciri intercepts the ritual sacrifice of a young woman to a monster that haunts the nearby cave. This village is starkly different from the great city of Novigrad, as its humble denizens are much more tribal and superstitious.
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This setting of the “Far North” opens up new forms of worldbuilding for the series that has previously explored more developed kingdoms but also offers more of the storytelling Witcher fans have come to love. “[Ciri] could potentially help [the woman], save her. This is what we [always do], right, we give these choices and consequences to the player. And I believe that seasoned players who remember Witcher 1, 2, 3, [who] remember Northern Realms, they will definitely be as satisfied as new gamers who will join us. Because that’s going to be a new story, new beginning, new protagonist, and what’s cool, new regions.“
“So we are expanding the map. We’re going to let players explore new lands that are also pretty unique, because we put a lot of emphasis of creating this identity for each region that is special to its own kind of root origin. And, yeah, new characters, new emotions, new adventures, but definitely what is in common is that Ciri as a witcher, she’s a monster hunter, a professional for hire.“
Which characters will appear in The Witcher IV?
Let’s get it out of the way. Yes, Geralt of Rivia will appear in The Witcher IV and he will be voiced by Doug Cockle, who voiced Geralt in The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt. This was confirmed by Game Director Sebastian Kalemba several times over the past few days, and also by Doug Cockle himself a few months ago. This is also not a particularly surprising development now that we know Ciri is our protagonist, because Geralt is perhaps the most important person in her life alongside sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (who is not yet confirmed to appear).
Fans who have completed the Blood and Wine expansion may be concerned that the story will pull Geralt back into the action and deprive him of his well-deserved retirement, but Game Director Sebastian Kalemba has some reassuring words: “We pay respect to everything we’ve created so far. Players that know this game, The Witcher, the world, they for sure remember that the last time they’ve seen Geralt was actually in the 10th anniversary video. He’s actually been there in this mansion that he got from Duchess Henrietta, he invited all these friends and, you know, he put this sword on the mantle and he’s there in Toussaint. He’s so important for us and for Ciri and, definitely, he’s going to appear in the game. I cannot tell you more, but I think the promise is enough.“
So Geralt is confirmed to return, but what about the rest of the game’s rich cast of characters? Well, we’d be shocked if a game focused on Ciri would not at the very least mention the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, Ciri’s adoptive mother and magical mentor, so we do hope to see her in the game. Besides her, there the sorceress Triss Merigold is somewhat of a sister-figure to Ciri, and the poet Dandelion is the silly uncle. If these three do not appear at some point throughout Ciri’s story, we will be quite surprised.
Of course, seeing as this is a new story and a new beginning for the franchise, we wouldn’t expect the returning characters to play a large role in the plot. Most likely, the story will focus on Ciri and on the new characters she will encounter on the Path. We already saw some new characters in the trailer, the villagers of Stromford, and the Kalemba has said that we will “actually be able to get to know these NPCs”.
There were a few notable characters in the trailer. Mioni is the young woman who was intended to serve as a ritual sacrifice, as confirmed in an IGN article. Other notable villagers are Mioni’s father, and another superstitious villager who argued with Ciri and may have actually killed Mioni.
It’s important to remember that in The Witcher, monsters are characters as well, often with as much depth as the humans (and non-humans) who roam the Continent. In this case, perhaps, the monster was rather simple. “His name is Bauk”, Kalemba told IGN. “He has this ability to smell your fear, to be able to play with your traumas, to paralyze you. So that you finally become easy prey, an easy meal. A fun fact is that when we started to develop [this trailer], the big idea was that when you see the silhouette in a fog, you want to feel or at least think that it’s a very old granny sort of character that is in a hooded coat, then he unfolds to [reveal] the big monster.” As usual, the Bauk is inspired by Slavic tales and folklore.
Well, we got this far without mentioning Ciri – but only because we dedicated the entire story section to her. Of course, Ciri will be the protagonist and central character of The Witcher IV and its two sequels. We recently found out that Ciri’s voice actor will be Ciara Berkeley, an up-and-coming young actor who will be replacing The Witcher III‘s Jo Wyatt.
A while back, we uncovered a second voice actor who has joined the project: Jake Lampert will portray a character called Branko, whose name suggests he is from the North, rather than the Skellige Islands or Nilfgaard. Perhaps he is from the Far North as well.
What do we know about the gameplay of The Witcher IV? How does Ciri differ from Geralt in combat?
Ciri is now a full-time witcher, which means we can expect a lot of the previous games’ gameplay mechanics to carry over into The Witcher IV, perhaps with some newly added flair that is special to our new protagonist. The trailer already showed some key Witcher mechanics.
Ciri is seen carrying twin swords on her back, the steel and the silver sword. Game Director Sebastian Kalemba has confirmed that the silver sword in particular is Zirael, a weapon Geralt gifted to Ciri in one of the three possible endings for the character. As Witcher fans will know, the silver sword is used against monsters, many of whom are sensitive to the touch of silver, while the steel sword is reserved to monsters of the human kind. Geralt has fought a lot of both, and we expect Ciri to do the same.
Another iconic weapon in the Witcher arsenal is potions, elixirs, and oils, which serve various purposes. Witcher alchemy was a key feature in the last game, which allowed players to gain a specific advantage against their enemies if they chose to plan their fights ahead of time, and this stat optimization was particularly useful in the more challenging difficulty settings. In the trailer, we get a glimpse of this mechanic when Ciri chugs a potion that gives her reptilian eyes, and seemingly better vision. Most likely, this is the Cat potion.
The Witcher arsenal would be incomplete without some basic magic, of course. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be called witchers. This comes in the form of the familiar Witcher Signs, simple and useful spells that witchers learn in their training. In the trailer, we see Ciri use the sign Quen to create an energy bubble that shields her from the monster’s strikes. We expect to see most if not all the other Witcher Signs return as well: Aard (force push), Igni (wave of fire), Yrden (slows and scares monsters), and Axii (calms down people and creatures).
So far, it seems familiar, as it should. But Ciri also offers the game developers a lot of new opportunities to deepen the gameplay by redefining existing gameplay mechanics and adding completely new ones. In an interview with PC Gamer, Game Director Sebastian Kalemba talks a little about the similarities and differences in the game’s combat mechanics. “It’s definitely, definitely not… Not Geralt. But we have to also remember that she was brought up in Kaer Morhen and Geralt was training her, so you should feel she’s way more agile, right? When it comes to the, the way she fights. But there are some pirouettes, some, you know, the combat style and the way she deals with the sword.“
But Ciri’s agility is just the beginning of the differences, as the game will also introduce whole new weapons and systems to enrich the experience and give players more choice and build variety. One example of this which was clearly shown in the trailer is Ciri’s chain. “The chain is one of her tools that that’s, she’s going to use it, which is a cool segue when you look at that from the perspective of, like, let’s say, the past, the very first trailer for The Witcher 1, you remember it was Geralt fighting Striga with the chain. So it’s a kind of wolf thing when when it comes to the skills, right? And like with every next game, we are pushing the boundary when it comes to the gameplay.“
In the trailer, Ciri uses the chain to trip over the monster and stagger it, which we assume will be a move players can use in the game. What’s more interesting, however, is the follow-up move where Ciri lights the chain on fire. Though this might just be Ciri using Igni, it could also be something else which is key to Ciri’s character: Magic.
One must remember, as the daughter of both Geralt and Yennefer, Ciri is a witcher and a sorceress. Not only that, she is possibly the most powerful sorceress in the game’s universe, a Source of untapped power rooted in the Elder Blood. Ciri is so powerful, in fact, that the game will likely need to find a narrative reason to nerf her and make regular humans and monsters sufficiently challenging. Fans are already speculating about the narrative excuse for the nerfing of Ciri’s powers. Some are speculating she has lost her powers during her confrontation with the White Frost, while others believe it is the Trial of the Grasses which reduced the potency of her Elder Blood – but for now, this is just speculation.
What we do know is that Ciri will indeed have access to magic in the game, and this is an entirely new mechanic separate from the simple Witcher Signs. How deep and complicated this mechanic will be remains to be seen, but we have already gotten an interesting glimpse of this in the trailer. In one shot, Ciri can be seen pulling energy from the nearby stream of water, and generating a pulse of lightning which shocks and the monster attacking her and drops it to the ground. This lore accurate portrayal of channeling magic from the environment is interesting, and we hope the game will explore the in-game laws of magic as Ciri adds more spells to her arsenal.
We talked about Ciri and her combat mechanics, but of course the subject is incomplete without discussing the enemies she will face. As previously mentioned, and very much like Geralt, Ciri will be fighting monsters and men. The trailer shows Ciri fighting the Bauk, a multilegged creature that is able to weaponize the fear of its prey. “We wanted to have a creature that is able to be very heavy and strong,” Kalemba told IGN. “But at the same agile. So the Bauk is able to also use all kinds of surfaces to explore and to run. We wanted to push the entire monster design for the project.”
The monster design is inspired by Slavic mythology, but also by CD Projekt RED’s rich experience as a video game developer. In the IGN interview, Kalemba specifically mentions Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty‘s Chimera boss fight as a source of inspiration. “This is a never-ending learning curve”, he states. “It is an evolution of everything we’ve created so far. We try to raise the bar with every next title. And absolutely, the Chimera was a very, very good lesson on our path when it comes to designing big creatures. In this case, of course, we have an organic monster, but still, [we learned] some lessons when it comes to the way we want to let players ultimately defeat it. It’s something that we have definitely been inspired by.”
When will The Witcher 4 be released?
As of now, there is no official launch window for The Witcher IV. However, CD Projekt RED has commented a few years ago about just this subject.
In a recent conversation with Eurogamer, Vice President of Technology Charles Tremblay explained that the studio had learned its lesson from the many delays and rough launch of Cyberpunk 2077, especially with regards to marketing. As the article described, the studio hopes to reveal a new game between 1 year and 2 years ahead of its release, to prevent an overstretched and expensive marketing campaign and fan disappointment.
To achieve this, the studio has chosen to only reveal games when progress is made and they are confident that there will be no unforeseen obstacles on the road to launch. The takeaway, if you choose to be an optimist, is that The Witcher IV could release in up to 2 years, although it’s always wise to temper your hopes.
CD Projekt RED has been working on The Witcher IV in a limited capacity since work was completed on The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt and its downloadable content. When CD Projekt RED released their next game, Cyberpunk 2077, in 2020, the company’s focus gradually shifted back to The Witcher and by 2022, the project then codenamed Polaris was confirmed to be deep into pre-production. By the end of 2023, the developer had released its final big update for Cyberpunk along with the Phantom Liberty expansion, allowing most of its staff to start working on The Witcher IV. In November 2024, a few weeks before the cinematic trailer was revealed at The Game Awards, CD Projekt RED had revealed in a finance report that the game has finally entered full scale production, the final and most intensive stage of development.
That covers everything we know so far about the exciting sequel to The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt. It will probably be at least a few months before CD Projekt RED is ready to share more information on the project, so you better strap in and prepare for a long ride.
Fortunately for us Witcher fans, we have quite a lot to look forward to in the meantime:
- A new Witcher novel has been released in Polish by author Andrzej Sapkowski, titled The Crossroad of Ravens, which follows a young Geralt’s first steps on the Path. The English translation is expected to be released in 2025, although there is no confirmation as of yet.
- A second Witcher anime film, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, will be released on Netflix on February 11, 2025. This is an adaptation of the fan-favorite short story A Little Sacrifice from the collection titled The Sword of Destiny.
- Netflix has completed filming of Season 4 of its adaptation of the Witcher Saga, this time starring Liam Hemsworth in the titular role. Season 4 is expected sometime in 2025.
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