The Witcher 4 has its first trailer, and yes, Ciri is the star
Two and a half years after announcing it was working on the “next entry in The Witcher series,” CD Projekt officially unveiled the project – now officially titled The Witcher 4 – with its first teaser trailer during this year’s The Game Awards.
Excitement around CD Projekt’s next Witcher game has been steadily building for some time now, as the project has moved from a vague concept to something significantly more tangible. The studio confirmed that The Witcher 4 entered “full-scale production” back in November, and now the first look has finally arrived.
Details remain scant at this early stage of CD Projekt’s marketing plans, but The Witcher 4 demo trailer at least confirms one persistent rumor to be true. This new saga will shift the focus from Geralt of Rivia to a new (yet familiar) protagonist – now led by everyone’s favorite time-traveling dimension traveler Ciri. And she had to take part in a surprisingly long cinematic teaser, fighting a monster deep in the forest to save a village girl.
And the CD Projekt trailer also confirmed another long-standing question. Speaking in August, Geralt voice actor Doug Cockle hinted that the character would be “part of” the new Witcher game, adding: “We just don’t know how much, and the game won’t be Geralt-centric.” However, after his chatter earned him a slap from CD Projekt, he began insisting that it was just a “rumor” – but Cocker’s rough noises at the end of today’s trailer confirm that Geralt will indeed return in some form.
Unfortunately, aside from being developed in Unreal Engine, there are countless questions to be answered about the new game. Still, it’s nice to finally have an official title for CD Projekt’s next Witcher release, and it’s equally nice to be able to put a face to the title. And while we wait for more details, you can always read what Eurogamer learned about The Witcher 4, including CD Projekt’s technical ambitions, optimism and timing when we spoke to the studio earlier this year.