Since then The witcher 4 polar Star was announced back in 2022, fans have been on tenterhooks waiting, begging, for more concrete information about the upcoming fantasy RPG.
Although it probably won't even be called The witcher 4, that's what we mean by the next game and project for the moment. In fact, we already know that it is called something else: developer CD Projekt Red announced The witcher 4 and referred to the game by its code name of 'Polaris'. That's what it's known as, certainly internally, while the announcement also confirmed that the game will kick off a “new saga” for the series.
The least hope we have now with the game and hearing more about it is that with the release of Cyberpunk 2077 2.0, and the Phantom Freedom expansion, a large number of developers at CDPR are now moving to The witcher 4 / Polar Star. Hopefully, this means that the development itself will accelerate and news about the game will also come more steadily.
While we wait for more news about The witcher 4Here's everything that's been revealed about the game so far. As the developer shares more details, you'll find this page updated; We're as excited as you are, so we can't wait for more details.
The Witcher 4: get to the point
- What is it? The next main game in The Wizard series
- When can I play it? to confirm
- What can I play it on? to confirm
- Who is doing it? CD Projekt Red
History and setting of The Witcher 4
Spoilers for The Witcher game series
As noted above, there are few details available on The witcher 4. The official blog post only confirms that it is in development and is being built on Unreal Engine 5. But over the years, CD Projekt Red has said a lot about what a future Witcher game would entail. To begin with, it's not really The witcher 4.
“The first three 'Witchers' were by definition a trilogy, so we simply couldn't name the next game 'The Witcher 4,'” Kiciński said in an interview. “This does not mean, of course, that we will abandon the world of The Witcher.”
At the end of The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, monster hunter Geralt was alive and well. Well, at least he was alive. But the story arc was over, the wild hunt was over. That doesn't mean he won't return in this new Witcher game, although he probably won't be the main character.
The developer said it in 2013: “We're not killing the world and moving away from it, but we definitely want this game to be the end in a big way,” executive producer John Mamais told Polygon. “We could even include Geralt in later games. We just have to talk about it and decide what we're going to do next.”
In 2015, speaking with IGN, senior writer Jakub Szamałek confirmed that the studio felt The Witcher 3 was a natural ending point for Geralt: “[he] “He's had such an incredible adventure, and his saga is already so long and complex, that it seemed like a good point to think about an appropriate ending to the story.”
Perhaps we will see the reins passed to Ciri, if it is decided that she canonically survived. The Witcher 3. To avoid continuity issues, perhaps the team will set their story before the events of Geralt's adventures. After all, Netflix is developing a series set long before the events of the books, Blood Origin is a prequel set 1,000 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. Potentially, that introduces a whole new school of Witcher.
The author of the Witcher books, Andrzej Sapkowski, has signed a new deal with the company to “further solidify their relationship.” So. the studio is free to use 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 engine
This is a relatively massive factor that is confirmed by The witcher 4, and one we can get excited about. In the spring of last year, the development team confirmed that The witcher 4 would be built on Unreal Engine 5, rather than the studio's own engine, REDengine.
The latter was used in The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 It has its advantages too, but in short, moving to Unreal Engine 5 means that the studio has more access to broader features, solutions and tools that can make environments more detailed, more realistic and have a great sense of visual fidelity general than ever. before.
As a note, this marks the beginning of a partnership with Epic, but does not mean that the game will be exclusive to the Epic Game Store.
The Witcher 4 Geralt
While The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its two expansions completed the Geralt trilogy incredibly well, there has been a constant desire from fans to know if Geralt will be in The witcher 4.
However, the core of the answer to this question is: we simply don't know if Geralt will be in The witcher 4. As a playable character, he main protagonist, or as an extra NPC, we just don't know.
However, we can speculate and assume that it is unlikely to play a major role. We know that CD Projekt Red always imagined it The Witcher 3 as an “ending” for the iconic monster hunter, and whatever ending you get in the third game really sets the stage for a now-aged Geralt to be retired and out of the game. However, we can easily imagine Geralt appearing as a supporting character or Ciri's mentor (if the series goes in that direction), so let's hope that's not the last we see of him.
The Witcher 4 news
The witcher 4 will have a focus on freedom
CDPR Game Director Sebastien Kalemba spoke in late 2023 about creating new versions of the RPG and features for The witcher 4. The intention is to push the limits of role-playing games and there is a desire to “tell something more intense, with more intense gameplay.”
A large portion of CD Projekt Red's workforce is now working on The witcher 4
In late November, CDPR revealed through an earnings report that the production team working on The witcher 4 had grown to around 330 people actively working on the game. This number is expected to rise to more than 400 by mid-2024 as production gains momentum. As first reported at the time of this news, 330 represents just under half of CDPR's development staff.
CDPR is already running internal demonstrations of The witcher 4 on consoles
Learning the lesson of Cyberpunk 2077, the developers at CDPR are already doing everything they can to test their next project, and they are doing it from the early stages. As reported by our sister site GamesRadar+, in an interview with Inven Global, CD Projeckt Red engineering director Colin Walder confirmed that, after learning from the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles in 2020, “for our next project, polar Star“We're already running our internal demos and reviews on the console from the beginning.” This means that The witcher 4 It is already being tested on consoles to ensure that when the day comes, it has a better chance of landing.
A “large part” of CDPR Cyberpunk 2077 The team will move to The witcher 4
CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński revealed in an August 2023 earnings call that following the release of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion, a “large portion” of that team will move to The witcher 4/polar Star. This indicates a major development breakthrough that could speed things up.
The Witcher 4 already has its game director
Sebastian Kalemba, former lead animator of The Witcher 3has been announced as the game director for The witcher 4. They announced it on Twitter, stating that their goal is to “raise the bar.”
Polaris and a new trilogy
In early October 2022, CD Projekt RED announced a bunch of new titles via Twitter, including a new Witcher trilogy. Polaris (what we've been calling The Witcher 4) will kick off the new saga, which will run for 6 years from the first release. This is obviously a huge task, so we'll have to wait and see if it's worth it.
Reconfirming the beginning of a new saga
CD Projekt RED has once again confirmed that The Witcher 4 will launch a saga. While he didn't confirm how many games this will entail, CEO Adam Kiciński made these comments during an earnings call. “We said there would be a new saga. Of course, now we are 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 about more than one game. But we are in pre-production of the first game of the second Witcher saga.
The witcher 4 The teaser image generates many theories.
When The witcher 4 It was first announced using the image we have as a header here, that of a Witcher medallion partially covered in snow, and sparked a lot of debate about what school it was and whether that gave anything away. As our brothers at GamesRadar+ reported at the time, the medallion was initially thought to be from the Cat School, which would imply a connection to Ciri, as she came into possession of one after snatching it from Leo Bonhart. However, this was debunked on Twitter when community director Marcin Momot reacted positively to a fan who asked him if it was actually the Lynx School medallion.
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