The Witcher saga has become a cross-cultural phenomenon, with Netflix's TV adaptation of the source books only enhancing the interest in CD Projekt Red's series of games about Geralt of Rivia.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt came out back in 2015 and, a couple of excellent expansions aside, is the last full game in The Witcher series, but we now know another is coming. Find out all the key details, right here.
The Witcher 4 release date
CD Projekt Red announced the next Witcher game was in the works in March 2022, confirming rumours that it would indeed be returning to the dark fantasy world after its extensive dabble with science fiction in the form of Cyberpunk 2077.
https://t.co/XtbfqscMWr pic.twitter.com/eK6ZIbfLRa
â€" The Witcher (@witchergame) March 21, 2022
However this announcement is clearly a very early one - it's obvious from the language that the game is still in the early stages of development, and the developer simply wanted to let people know what it was embarking on, rather than giving any really concrete details.
The announcement does have a couple of key details, though, including the fact that the game will be built on Epic's Unreal Engine 5, rather than CD Projekt's own engine like most of its games historically. This is a major change but might be a canny reaction to the huge technical issues that plagued Cyberpunk on its release.
However, there is no timeline on a release date or even a window - the game is still a long way off, although it finished the concept phase and moved to pre-production in May 2022, according to its developers.
Q1 2022 - financial update from Piotr Nielubowicz, CD PROJEKT's CFOhttps://t.co/dKIChe4Wbo
â€" CD PROJEKT IR (@CDPROJEKTRED_IR) May 26, 2022
This still means we're realistically at least two or three years away from any sort of release window, though, so don't bank on playing The Witcher 4 any time before late 2024.
The Witcher 4 title
Of course, we're calling the game "The Witcher 4" at present since it's the fourth main game in the series, but we don't actually know what the game will be called. After the first game each Witcher title had a subtitle (Assassin of Kings and The Wild Hunt respectively), so we could be in for a numbered entry with a new subtitle.
Equally, the announcements are leaving the possibility very much open that we might not be getting a full sequel, but rather a spiritual continuation, with new characters and perhaps locations. It's all up in the air, but for now we have no idea what the game will be called.
The Witcher 4 story
In line with that speculation about the game's title, its story could go in myriad directions. While the games have basically covered much of Geralt and Ciri's fated journeys, especially in The Witcher 3, there's still loads of material from the books that could be used.
For one thing, Geralt's a long-lived guy so could easily accommodate stories in flashback form, with a younger outlook, while Ciri's adventures through different realities also offer up plenty of options.
The teaser image is of a different sort of Witcher medallion, though, either a cat or a lynx of some sort, so there are plenty of suggestions that we could meet an all-new protagonist from a different, henceforth unknown Witcher school.
That would be intriguing, while the amount of snow in the teaser image also suggests that we could be in for a more wintery time of it when the game does eventually surface.
The Witcher 4 gameplay
There are some elements of the upcoming game's actual systems that we can be fairly confident of - we'd assume that hack-and-slash RPG combat will return, hopefully with an even smoother and more responsive combat system.
If you're playing as a Witcher then magical signs will again let you power past opponents, while we're also hoping that the game is another open-world title. The change to a full open-world was revelatory for The Witcher 3, after all.
Graphically the game is nearly guaranteed to run only on current-gen hardware, meaning the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, so we could be in for a visually stunning game. If Cyberpunk's performance now that its next-gen version is out can be a guide, things could look really gorgeous.
Source : https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/news/161323-the-witcher-4-trailer-gameplay-story-release-date
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