The Witcher IV: New Main Character, Geralt's Legacy and Huge Challenges

CD Projekt Red dropped a bombshell at The Game Awards 2024 with the announcement of The Witcher IV. We spoke to Narrative Director Philipp Weber and Cinematic Director Kajetan Kapuściński about the game, the challenges and Geralt's legacy.

Probably the biggest announcement at The Game Awards 2024 was The Witcher IV, which is being developed by CD Projekt Red in Poland. The game only went into full production at the end of September 2024, with a team of around 400 developers working on the role-playing game, while the US team is working on the next game in the cyberpunk series. However, the fourth mainline Witcher game will be very different from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The single-player open-world RPG will now feature a new main character, Ciri, who was already playable for a while in the prequel. The engine will also be changed. Instead of the in-house Redengine, a custom version of the Unreal Engine 5 will be used. We talked about this and much more with Narrative Director Philipp Weber and Cinematic Director Kajetan Kapuściński.

GamesMarkt: What was the reason for the early announcement of The Witcher IV? After all, the game has only been in full production for a short time.

Philipp Weber: "We want The Witcher IV to be a sequel to The Witcher 3, of course, but also to introduce it to a new audience. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is nine years old. Basically, it was time to show a new audience what The Witcher is, and in particular, what our version of The Witcher is. With this trailer, it was really important to show a lot of the core messages of what makes a Witcher video game. That was one of the reasons, and we wanted to remind people where we are. Yes, it's worth mentioning that it's not the start of a marketing campaign. But we just wanted to show the world of The Witcher and also introduce the new protagonist, which is Ciri, who becomes a Witcher in the new saga."

GamesMarkt: In The Witcher IV, Ciri will be the main character instead of Geralt. How did that come about?

Philipp Weber: "Basically, I think it's a decision that's been growing for a while. In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Ciri was introduced as a second protagonist. Players were able to take control of her. Sometimes, in Andrzej Sapkowski's books, Ciri was introduced as a second protagonist too. For us Ciri seemed like a really obvious choice. It was also important for us with Blood and Whine to actually give Geralt a really nice ending and not to destroy everything."

Kajetan Kapuściński: "Ciri is a very, very interesting character. She has a really rich past and she has some powerful abilities like her advanced magic. That makes her a really interesting character for an RPG. But importantly, and I think this is also a really core element, we can show the journey of someone becoming a Witcher. Geralt was already an experienced Witcher who had been through so much shit and learned so many lessons. And now we feel that it would be really interesting to tell a story about someone who has to learn. That's going to be the story that we're telling in The Witcher IV with Ciri, and as we've seen in the trailer, she's a very different person. Not just because of the skills and the lack of experience, but she also has a lot more passion and emotion in her and she longs for change. That's something that you could have seen in the trailer, that she really cares about people. She helps and it's hard for her to stay neutral when something bad happens. And it's super exciting for us to tell a story about that kind of character."

Philipp Weber: "The aspect of her just becoming a Witcher, being younger and just gaining all the experience that Geralt has already had. That's something we definitely want to explore. And she has other traits, like being a sorcerer, so she can use magic to a certain extent. She has a complex and interesting past, which may or may not have been that of a Witcher. Although she's starting to become a Witcher, even in the book she's called one. But we want to combine all of that, and we think it gives us a lot of opportunities to look at this dark and grounded world. But in a new way, through the prism of her eyes."

The Witcher is the defining franchise for CD Projekt Red. At the end of March 2023, the company released its latest sales figures, according to which the franchise has sold more than 75 million copies to date, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) alone selling more than 50 million copies. In recent annual reports, the company has repeatedly stated that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt continues to sell well.

GamesMarkt: How do you deal with the criticism often expressed on social media platforms that Geralt is "the only Witcher" and that some people lost interest in the upcoming game when they learned that Geralt was not the main playable character?

Philipp Weber: "Ciri was an obvious and natural choice. We introduced her as the second protagonist in the previous game, and we truly believe this is the best choice we could have made. We think the story of her becoming a Witcher will be exciting for all of our fans. But I think it's also important to say that I understand when someone basically says they would have loved to play another game as Geralt. But I think this is really the story we started to tell in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It was kind of the natural conclusion. For us, moving to Ciri is also a kind of honour for what we did before. As Kajetan says, it really felt like a natural progression. And of course we can also say that Geralt will be a part of this game as well."

GamesMarkt: The Witcher IV is no longer based on CD Projekt Red's own Redengine, but on Unreal Engine 5. What is the reason behind this?

Kajetan Kapuściński: "The trailer is actually pre-rendered. That was done in our custom build of a Unreal Engine 5, this is something that engineers from both companies are working on. Epic Games and we at CD Projekt Red are very excited about this collaboration and we believe that by using the strengths of Unreal and also our experience with our previous engines, we can create technology that will allow us to make the game we dream of - and a game our fans will love. The trailer also sets out our ambitions in terms of quality and direction for the game."

GamesMarkt: Does the reveal trailer set the style and tone for The Witcher IV?

Philipp Weber: "It does. We are using our own specific style for trailers - but we also plan to use it for the actual game. We call it "paintarly look" as it's aiming to remind you of the base style of historic oil paintings. The trailer captures this very well. The setting of the Witcher has always been quite dark on the outside (The Witcher 3) or on the inside (Blood & Wine). This world is hostile and rough, especially if you are a witcher. We're not gonna change it."

GamesMarkt: In an era of more and more games-as-a-service products, do story-driven single-player titles still have the potential to be big sellers?

Philipp Weber: "They have. Great stories will always work - and the more games without that apporach you have... the more people will appreciate the way we're chosing. We have amazing source material and experienced writers turning this into something that will resonate well with gamers. And with everyone else who loves great storytelling and shocking twists."

GamesMarkt: You said that The Witcher IV would be the "most immersive and ambitious open-world" Witcher game to date. Is bigger really better? And how are you trying to fill the world with life and quests that are memorable?

Kajetan Kapuściński: "Our team is super ambitious. With every game and title we have released, we have pushed the boundaries, both technologically and in terms of art and design. We want to use the experience we've gained over the years - and it's worth mentioning that the team is a perfect mix. We have veterans who have been here since The Witcher 1, a lot of people who worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. We've also got new talent coming in from different companies, and we want to use all of that to create something that's both new and familiar."

Philipp Weber: "Making a really ambitious open world is not just about making it bigger - because with modern technology, that part is actually easy, just making it bigger. I think the challenging and interesting part is making it deeper. We don't want to be as wide as an ocean and as deep as a puddle. We actually want to create a really immersive world - and that means it's going to be big, of course, because our games are about exploration and discovery. That makes the world meaningful."

GamesMarkt: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is considered to be one of the best RPGs of all time. How difficult is this legacy for the team? After all, the expectations for the new game will be extremly high...

Philipp Weber: "It is difficult, no doubt. Game dev is difficult. This is also one of the reasons why we did Cyberpunk 2077 after finishing The Witcher 3 and its expansions. We wanted the team to work on something new and get some distance from The Witcher. Working on Witcher IV right after Witcher 3 didn't feel right and was probably also a bit scary. But now we're even more excited to come back to this series, which has been life changing for many of us. We've gained more experience and are able to use brand new technology. And while it's always difficult to make a sequel for a much beloved game... it's also a great position to be in."

GamesMarkt: To what extent are you working with the author of The Witcher books (Andrzej Sapkowski)?

Philipp Weber: "Essentially the same as our previous three Witcher games. We pick up the story where the books left off. That also means that we basically have the freedom to go wherever the story takes us. We really want to tell the story that we have been working on for a number of years, and we feel that this is the cool new direction. But at the same time, it means that The Witcher IV has to respect the three games that came before it - the stories we told, the characters we created, and of course the books as well. It's important for us to stay true to the lore of the books, the lore of the world that Andrzej Sapkowski created, and the spirit of that world. I think Andrzej Sapkowski has a very specific way of dealing with difficult subjects like the peasantry in a really respectful and interesting way. He can write simple people who may be uneducated but are actually super smart. And I think there's so much of what makes The Witcher in those books and in the previous three games, and it's really important to us to have that in The Witcher IV. So we're telling a new story and we're continuing everything, but we're really paying that respect to what's came before."