CD Projekt Red has confirmed it. Witcher 4 — codenamed Polaris — is in development. Ciri is the protagonist. And I’ve been counting the days since the announcement trailer dropped. I know the game is years away. I know the hype cycle for these things is dangerous. I also know what CD Projekt Red is capable of when they’re building inside a world they’ve spent 15 years making real. The images in the trailer alone were enough to make me want to go back and replay Witcher 3 again.
Ciri as protagonist is the right call. After three games of Geralt’s world-weary expertise, stepping into the role of someone who is still becoming who she is supposed to be opens up entirely different kinds of stories. Geralt’s journey was about navigating a world that doesn’t have clean answers. Ciri’s journey can be about building a self in the middle of chaos — and given where the Witcher 3 left her (depending on your ending), there’s enormous space to explore.
What I want from Witcher 4: I want the world to feel dangerous again. Witcher 3 managed this early and then the power creep made Geralt eventually feel invincible. A new protagonist means a clean reset on that. I want the writing to have the courage of the Blood Baron quest. I want at least one questline that completely devastates me. I want Dandelion. Give me Dandelion.
What I’m cautiously nervous about: CD Projekt Red went through a genuinely difficult period post-Cyberpunk launch. They rebuilt their reputation with the 2.0 patch and Phantom Liberty, which is the best possible evidence that they learned from what went wrong. But Witcher 4 will be a massive undertaking in a new engine (Unreal Engine 5), with a new protagonist, and presumably an expanded scope. The gap between announcement and release is going to be long.
I’ve got time. I’ll spend it replaying Witcher 3. There are still things in Velen I haven’t found, apparently. And when Polaris finally arrives, I’ll be ready.