The Witcher 4: New trilogy, narrative details & reveal trailer

The Witcher 4 is on the way, and here’s everything we know about the next entry in the beloved CD Projekt RED franchise so far.

Nearly six years after the release of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, CD Projekt RED revealed that they’re ready to return to the fantasy RPG series. In an announcement on their website, the Polish developer revealed they were working on a new game using a new engine.

The next Witcher game, codenamed ‘Polaris’, will be the beginning of a new trilogy, the dawn of which heralds a lot of change — including Geralt taking a backseat as the main protagonist.

Cinematic reveal trailer

The first official trailer for The Witcher 4 was shared at the 2024 Game Awards.

It’s a cinematic trailer confirming that Ciri will take center stage as the main playable character in the RPG. However, we hear a brief snippet of Geralt’s voice at the end. You can check out the full trailer below:

A new saga announced for The Witcher

CD Projekt RED originally surprised fans on March 21, 2024, when they announced that a new Witcher game was in development:

“We’re happy to announce that the next installment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise,” they wrote.

It was also recently announced that Sebastian Kalemba – the animation director for Cyberpunk 2077 – has been appointed as the game director for The Witcher 4. Upon the news being shared, Kalemba stated on Twitter:

“I believe nothing is impossible and raising the bar, telling emotional stories & creating worlds is what we’re here for. I’m proud to be part of CDPR and work with such a talented and passionate team.”

The developer also revealed that the new title would not be on their own REDengine but Unreal Engine 5. According to a press release, the decision to change the engine was part of a “multi-year” partnership the studio has made with Epic Games.

“This is an exciting moment as we’re moving from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5, beginning a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games,” the blog post read.

“It covers not only licensing but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant. We’ll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences.”

https://t.co/XtbfqscMWr pic.twitter.com/eK6ZIbfLRa

— The Witcher (@witchergame) March 21, 2022

Story details for The Witcher 4

The Witcher 4’s reveal trailer confirmed that Ciri will take the reins as the main protagonist, something that had been speculated by fans since the surprise announcement.

The official description for the game reads “At the start of a new saga, players take on the role of Ciri, a professional monster slayer, and embark on a journey through a brutal dark-fantasy world. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, it aims to be the most immersive and ambitious open-world Witcher game to date.”

In a 2020 interview with VG247,  lead CD Projekt RED writer Jakub Szamalek teased a future game starring the ashen-haired Witcher. “I regret we didn’t get to explore Ciri’s past a bit more, but maybe it’s something we’ll get to get back to in the future,” he said, before asking the interviewer if he would like a game led by Ciri.

The first promotional image also featured School of the Lynx medallion covered in snow instead of Geralt’s iconic Witcher medallion, which had become the logo for the original trilogy. The developers have now confirmed that the medallion is indeed a Lynx, which implies the School of the Lynx will factor into the story somewhat.

While exciting, this is also surprising, as the School of the Lynx technically originated in unofficial Witcher stories, rather than something either CD Projekt RED or author Andrzej Sapkowski came up with.

The Witcher 4 size revealed

Concrete details on the story are sparse aside from Ciri’s involvement as the primary protagonist. What we do know is that The Witcher 4 will approach or even match the expansive nature of The Witcher 3.

This was confirmed by Executive Producer Gosia Mitrega in an interview that took place on an episode of Skill Up’s Friends Per Second podcast. Mitrega revealed that The Witcher 4’s map is “definitely more or less the same when it comes to the size” in comparison to The Witcher 3.

Hazarding a guess, Mitrega’s speculation was that this latest entry in the franchise will have a playable area that is roughly “90, 85, or 100 percent” the size of its predecessor.

While it’s still early in the game’s development cycle, the devs have reiterated a focus on quality rather than quantity. So, even if The Witcher 4 falls short of the previous game’s total size, players can expect the same level of care when it comes to quests and storylines.

Do we know anything about a release date?

There are currently no details on the launch of The Witcher 4. Ahead of Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion, the studio announced that 250-plus devs had entered production on the next Witcher title. 

In November 2023, two months after Phantom Liberty’s launch, CDPR noted in an earnings report that the Witcher 4 headcount had climbed to nearly 330 employees. The number has since increased, with a November 2024 report revealing that 400 developers have joined Polaris.

As the November 2024 information made the rounds, Sebastian Kalemba also confirmed that “Project Polaris has entered the full-scale production phase.”

This means fans shouldn’t expect CDPR to share release information anytime soon. Either way, we’ll be sure to update readers as soon as more information becomes available.

What platforms could The Witcher 4 be on?

Given the scarce details, it’s currently impossible to know definitively what platforms the next Witcher trilogy will be on. Unless it ends up being a next-gen-only title, it will likely land on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC at the very least.

Speaking of platforms, the official Witcher Twitter account confirmed the game would not be exclusive to the Epic Games Store despite its Unreal Engine 5 deal. “We are not planning on making the game exclusive to one storefront,” a social media rep wrote in response to a fan.

We are not planning on making the game exclusive to one storefront.

— The Witcher (@witchergame) March 21, 2022

A new engine

As mentioned earlier, the new Witcher is being made from the ground up on Unreal Engine 5 which was revealed in a press release in March 2022. Not only that, the developer stressed that they will be working closely with Epic Games to make sure the engine is optimized for their open-world release.

This will likely come as a relief to many fans of the developer as Cyberpunk 2077’s debut was filled with so many bugs that Sony pulled it from its PlayStation store for months.

So, if nothing else, it appears that the studio is working hard to make sure the next Witcher game delivers right out of the gate. Given the high bar that 2015’s Wild Hunt set for the industry, this sounds like a return to form for the critically acclaimed franchise.

More Witcher games: Project Canis Majoris & Sirius

CD Projekt Red has revealed that two other Witcher games are in development, Cabus Majoris and Sirius, both of which are separate from the Polaris Trilogy. The first of these is called Canis Majoris and will be “a full-fledged Witcher game”, developed by an external studio headed by experienced developers who have worked on past Witcher games.

The next is codenamed Sirius and will also be set in The Witcher universe and created with support from CDPR. It will offer multiplayer gameplay on top of a single-player experience — including a campaign with quests and a story. 

However, the announcement means that there is now a total of 5 Witcher games in development, including the Polaris trilogy and projects Canis Majoris and Sirius.

So, that’s everything we know so far about The Witcher 4. For more upcoming games, check out our hubs for Borderlands 4, Dying Light: The Beast, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, GTA 6, and Gears of War E-Day.