Witcher developer looking to Elden Ring for open-world game inspiration

Miles Tost of CD Projekt Red has tweeted about how Elden Ring has him thinking about open-world games. Could he mean the next Witcher game?

Developer Miles Tost is a senior level designer and one of the masterminds behind CD Projekt Red games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. He’s also likely to be working on the next Witcher game.

It looks like Tost has been playing a lot of Elden Ring, as a tweet from him mentions how playing FromSoftware’s masterpiece has made him consider new ideas.

More specifically, Tost has been pondering open-world games and what makes them special. His tweet reads:

“Since Elden Ring, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a good open world.

There’s so many takes on this, especially once you start looking outside the RPG genre (Outer Wilds, hello!) and it’s made me curious.”

He then asked, “What do you fine folks actually seek in an open-world game?”

Elden Ring as inspiration for next Witcher game

While Tost also gives a shout-out to Obsidian’s The Outer Wilds, it sounds like Elden Ring’s take on the open-world genre has given the veteran developer some food for thought.

Elden Ring takes a bold approach to level design, forgoing traditional waypoints in favor of a system that trusts the player to carve their own path. Zelda Breath of the Wild offered a similar mechanic, but Elden Ring really took the baton and ran with it.

• Read More: 5 things CD Projekt Red should do with the next Witcher game

Tost also asked his followers what they look for in an open-world game, which has led some to suspect he’s considering fresh ideas for CD Projekt Red’s next Witcher title. However, Tost never mentioned The Witcher in his tweet.

It will be interesting to see if the Witcher 4, or whatever it ends up being called borrows from Elden Ring. After all, Elden Ring borrowed heavily from The Witcher 3 when crafting its own open-world.