Have your blade oils ready because The Witcher 4 is now a reality. Back in March, CD Projekt Red announced that it is currently developing “the next game in The Witcher video game series,” which will “begin a new tale for the franchise.”
The “first game” of a series of games will be The Witcher Polaris, as it is internally known. In reality, CDPR has stated that it is creating a new “AAA RPG trilogy,” which means that after The Witcher 4, there will be two games available (turns out there are a lot of upcoming CD Projekt Red games in the works). Even though we haven’t heard anything about the plot, the prospect of three new Witcher games is immensely thrilling for obvious reasons.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of the best RPGs ever, was released seven years ago, thus the announcement of a new trilogy is good news in this area. Continue reading to learn what we currently know about The Witcher Polaris, including information on the other upcoming Witcher video games that are in development as well as the move to Unreal Engine 5.
The Witcher 4: Polaris
On October 4, 2022, CDPR published an update for The Witcher 4. The internal codename for the upcoming game, which was disclosed as part of the story, is The Witcher Polaris. The second episode of the series is in pre-production, and according to CDPR, it will mark the “start of a new saga.” The developer added: “We hope to release two more Witcher games following Polaris, establishing a new AAA RPG trilogy.”
Also, we know that The Witcher Polaris won’t be made with CDPR’s exclusive RED engine, which was utilized for The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077, but rather with Unreal Engine 5. Meanwhile, CDPR said in May that The Witcher 4’s “research phase” was over. Since then, the studio has been dividing its work between pre-production on this new RPG series and on the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion.
Witcher 4 title: Will Polaris be called the Witcher 4?
As The Witcher 4 is essentially what the upcoming Witcher game is, it’s much simpler to refer to it as such for the time being. The Witcher 4: A Game of Two Thrones has not been announced by CD Projekt Red, according to Radek Grabowski, the company’s global PR director.
What we have NOT announced today:
– A game called The Witcher 4.
– A game exclusive to one storefront.
It was our initial confirmation of a new saga in The Witcher franchise. Right now, we are not discussing any specifics in terms or story, characters, mechanics, or plot details.— Radek (@gamebowski) March 21, 2022
It was essentially confirmed that the game won’t be called The Witcher 4 too by CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciski back in 2018, so you can pretty much rely on the fact that this upcoming Witcher game will be something a little different.
“By definition, the previous three “Witchers” constituted a trilogy, thus we were unable to call the following game “The Witcher 4.” Of course, this does not imply that we will abandon the world of The Witcher “Kiciski remarked in a Bankier interview.
That was essentially a repetition of a similar remark made by Marcin Iwinski, a co-founder of CD Projekt Red, on an investor call in March 2017.
RELEASE DATE
The Witcher 4 release date is probably a long way off
Developer CD Projekt Red essentially stated that we shouldn’t anticipate a Witcher 4 release date before 2025 in a Q&A with investors earlier this year.
When asked about the new trilogy’s schedule of development, CDPR President Adam Kiciski replied that “We are gearing up technologically for Polaris. This is the first project made with the brand-new Unreal 5 engine. Making this technology workable for massive, open-world, story-driven games will require some additional development. We must therefore put up more effort to complete this assignment. This is all I can tell at this time; the second and third parts should go more smoothly since the technology will be better and there will be tools and pipelines available.”
The Witcher 4 development will likely take longer than three years, and Kiciski responded “Yes, it is” in response to a follow-up query. Hence, it is at least 2025.