The Witcher 4: everything CD Projekt Red said about Polaris

The Witcher 4 is in development at CD Projekt Red, the studio responsible for The Witcher trilogy and spin-offs such as Gwent. Originally developed under the code name Polaris, The Witcher 4 will mark the beginning of a “new trilogy of AAA role-playing games” for the Witcher brand, CD Projekt Red reports.

As in previous Witcher games, The Witcher 4 It will be a single-player open world RPG. CD Projekt Red says it aims to create “the most immersive and ambitious open-world Witcher game to date.” One of the biggest changes coming The Witcher 4 is its main character: Ciri will replace Geralt of Rivia after completing his story in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

CD Projekt Red confirmed The Witcher 4and Ciri as its star at The Game Awards 2024. Game director Sebastian Kalemba later commented in a press release: “For a long time we knew we wanted Ciri to be the main character The Witcher 4; It seemed natural to us, and we think Ciri deserves it. In this game we want to discover what it means to truly become a witcher, following Ciri on her Path.”

At The Game Awards, CD Projekt Red also presented a cinematic trailer for the game. The Witcher 4talking about Ciri’s upcoming trials and the “dark and mundane” world of her new game.

First trailer for The Witcher 4 shows Ciri taking on a witcher’s contract in a village that has long been terrorized by a monster demanding human sacrifices. The trailer doesn’t just set the scene; it features some of Ciri’s new abilities and weapons of war, including a chain and advanced magical abilities.

According to CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 4 The cinematic trailer shows how Ciri will struggle “with the prejudices and superstitions of the people she is trying to protect, leading her to a painful witcher lesson: monsters come in all forms.”

Based on events The Witcher 3 and a variety of choice-based endings, good and bad, there’s a lot to think about about the series’ new direction after Geralt’s story. If you want to read about the possibilities, here’s a look at where The Witcher could go. Wild Hunt.

CDPR says this isn’t just “The Witcher 3 with new clothes”

In March 2024, while the new Witcher game was still in pre-production, CDPR joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said during an earnings Q&A that the developer was “trying to push new boundaries and explore new areas.”

“I guess what I’m saying is what you shouldn’t expect.”The Witcher 3 in sort of new clothes,” Nowakowski said. “Of course we’re building on what’s come before and what we’ve learned, but we’ll be adding new gameplay elements and new mechanics that you haven’t seen in our previous games. I would say that doing such things is always a risk; it’s not just repeating what’s been done before.”

The technology behind The Witcher 4

The Witcher 4The first trailer was created using pre-rendered footage using a custom build of Unreal Engine 5 running on an “unannounced Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU,” CD Projekt Red says. So yes, it looks good for a reason – it was created using next-gen graphics technology.

CD Projekt Red claims that The Witcher 4 will be powered by the same Unreal Engine technology, and the models and assets shown in the trailer are taken from the game itself.

As previously announced, CD Projekt Red is moving away from using its internal REDengine, the technology behind The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings And The Witcher 3: Wild Huntand will instead use Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. CD Projekt and Epic announced a “multi-year strategic partnership” in March 2022, and as part of this agreement, developers at CD Projekt Red are collaborating with Epic “with the primary goal of helping adapt (Unreal Engine) to run in an open world.”

When will The Witcher 4 be released?

CD Projekt Red has not announced a release date The Witcher 4. In fact, he didn’t even provide a release windowso it’s unclear whether the game will release in 2025, 2026, or much later. Fans of The Witcher can probably expect a long wait, as CD Projekt Red announced in November 2024 that The Witcher 4 has just entered mass production.

“I am proud to confirm that several weeks ago the Polaris team completed pre-production and moved into full-scale production, the most intensive phase of development,” said joint CEO Michal Nowakowski, speaking about the company’s financial results. “We are very pleased with our progress on this project and I want to thank the team for their dedication.”

The previous game in the franchise. The Witcher 3: Wild Huntentered development in the summer of 2011, but was officially announced only two years later. And the final version of the game was released only in May 2015. The studio’s latest game Cyberpunk 2077was first teased back in 2012, and it took eight grueling years to finally appear (and in not very good shape either).

Suffice it to say that the next Witcher game will most likely appear in a few years. CD Projekt Red will almost certainly spend extra time refining and fixing bugs in its sequel to The Witcher trilogy, because it simply won’t be able to repeat the mistakes made during development. Cyberpunk 2077.

On which platforms will The Witcher 4 be released?

CD Projekt Red is not officially tied to any platform yet, but The Witcher 4 will likely be released on PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X.

Depending on how long the game has been in development, there’s a pretty good chance The Witcher 4 could also appear on the PlayStation 6 and next-gen Xbox, which some estimate could arrive as early as 2027 or 2028.

It’s (probably) not exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

CD Projekt Red and Epic Games have entered into a “multi-year strategic partnership,” the companies said, but that doesn’t mean the next Witcher video game will be exclusive to the Epic Games digital store. While Epic has invested many millions in securing games exclusive to the Epic Games Store, that arrangement doesn’t appear to be in the cards for the next Witcher. Or at least CD Projekt. wants to downplay the possibility of any exclusivity is happening. After all, CD Projekt has its own game store, GOG.com, and has achieved multi-platform success over the past decade.