The Witcher IV Revealed at The Game Awards
During this year’s The Game Awards, CD PROJEKT RED offered a first look at The Witcher IV, previously known by its codename “Polaris.” The game, a successor to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt marks the beginning of a new Witcher saga with Ciri stepping into the role of the protagonist.
“We’re kicking off a brand-new Witcher saga, this time with Ciri as the heart of the story!” said game director Sebastian Kalemba. “It feels so good to finally be able to say those words — for the longest time we knew that we wanted Ciri to be the protagonist of The Witcher IV; it just felt natural to us and we believe that Ciri deserves it.
Kalemba added: “In this game, we want to explore what it means to truly become a witcher by following Ciri on her Path. This trailer is a taste of both that and just how dark and grounded the world of The Witcher can be.”
In the nearly six-minute trailer, viewers are introduced to Ciri, the adopted daughter of Geralt of Rivia, as she takes on a witcher contract in a remote village that has been terrorized for generations by a fearsome monster demanding human sacrifices. Framed as a short, self-contained Witcher story, the trailer showcases Ciri’s new abilities and tools, including a chain and advanced magic powers.
At the heart of the trailer is Ciri’s perspective as an outsider to the village. As the villagers say goodbye to one of their own — a young girl they are preparing for a traditional ritual sacrifice — Ciri chooses to intervene.
Aiming to slay the beast and save the girl at the same time, Ciri finds herself at odds with the prejudices and superstitions of the people she tries to protect, leading her to confront a painful witcher lesson: that monsters come in all forms.
The trailer is pre-rendered in a custom build of Unreal Engine 5 on an unannounced NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU. Powered by the same tech that The Witcher IV is built on, using assets and models from the game itself, it aims to provide players with a cinematic look at the kind of experience the game aspires to provide.
The trailer was created through a close collaboration between CD PROJEKT RED and Platige Image, who are no strangers to The Witcher universe, having been responsible for intro cinematics in the previous installments of the series.
The Witcher IV is a single-player, open-world RPG from CD PROJEKT RED. At the start of a new saga, players take on the role of Ciri and embark on a journey through a brutal dark fantasy world.
CD PROJEKT RED says The Witcher IV aims to be the most immersive and ambitious open-world Witcher game to date.
