One of the biggest talking points in the aftermath of The Game Awards was the reveal of The Witcher 4. Given The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (itself a former Game of the Year winner) is still lauded as one of the finest RPGs ever made and CD Projekt Red seems to be out of the Cyberpunk woods, it’s no surprise that it’s the talk of the town. Unfortunately, it’s also no surprise it has generated a small corner of outrage.
The cinematic trailer reveals Ciri as the game’s protagonist. We see her arrive in town as a Witcher to interrupt a ritual where a girl is sacrificed to a mountain monster, and sends the girl home before killing the monster herself. She then returns to the townspeople to tell them of her victory, only to discover they killed the girl anyway, desperate to appease a monster they did not know was already dead. It’s all very Witcher, and anyone who had followed the series expected the fourth game to be about Ciri. Unfortunately, it seems many people who haven’t have now decided to be angry at it.
We Were Always Going To Be Ciri
Playing as Ciri is not a shock. It was not even a cool reveal – it was just assumed. We play as her in the third game as well, and while that game has many endings, the one where Geralt gives her his sword is generally seen as canon. It was my ending, which makes it the most important. I just thought we all knew Ciri was the lead this time? That was why, when Doug Cockle (voice of Geralt) mentioned he was going to be in it, this revelation was considered a leak rather than a ‘no doy’ moment.
Worse, I think had this been announced closer to The Witcher 3’s final ending, it wouldn’t have generated any outrage at all. Gaming discourse has regressed in recent years, and grows more disingenuous by the day. The current claim is that Ciri is simply too ugly, and the game would be better if she was hot.
This is happening at the same time as a discussion swirls on Twitter about whether Sydney Sweeney looking different without makeup should be “illegal”. The standards for beauty are too high for this line on Ciri to hold up to scrutiny. Also, to be crass for a moment, I think Ciri looks pretty hot.
I know that kind of doesn’t matter, but she has doe eyes, full lips, and a ski slope nose. There’s a Cate Blanchett circa Mr. Ripley going on. Make her a redhead and she would look like those weird ‘why doesn’t Aloy look like this’ yassifications, just without the makeup and eyebrows. She looks a little older, because, well, she’s older, but that’s about it.
People Like Not Liking Games These Days
It’s fairly clear that complaints about Ciri’s appearance are rooted in having to play as Ciri at all, despite the series obviously heading in that direction. Yes, they cannot make new true Witchers anymore. But Ciri does not stare into the camera and say ‘I am an official Witcher and here is my piece of Witcher paper signed by the CEO of Witchers to prove it’. She carries herself as a Witcher, does a Witcher’s duty, and is called Witcher by the townspeople. This is exactly as it goes in the books, and this unique position Ciri is in will likely form part of the game’s plot.
But okay, let’s give everyone the benefit of more doubt than they deserve. Let’s say they just really like Geralt, and thus wanted to play as him forever, even if it means impeding the character development that makes the games so great. Let’s say that was also the big objection to The Last of Us Part 2 – it wasn’t playing as a woman, it was that the character they loved (who happened to be a man) was being replaced. Let’s see how gamers feel about new IP with female leads.
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“Sony, you forgot to disable the comments.”
Oh.
It seems the objection is less playing as Ciri (a well established and popular character with a thematically relevant arc) and more the objection to playing as a woman at all. Our pop culture has become so contorted that even Sydney Sweeney (blonde, busty, bubbly, straight, private about her political opinions, face of several sexualised advertising campaigns) is considered treacherous. It’s no wonder Eve, the opinionless naked robot from Stellar Blade, is the only female considered worthy.
This Will All Be Forgotten When The Witcher 4 Comes Out
The worst part is how disingenuous this all feels. Ciri was always going to be the protagonist, it’s such a pointless argument to make. It’s like being sad when Kenny dies in South Park. Where have you been? You either don’t like The Witcher, in which case you should be embarrassed, or you do, which is worse. I don’t know if people are actually angry or just acting as if they are, and I’m also not sure which is more humiliating.
It’s tempting to just ignore it all, but the playbook is always to infect the empty space that forms around these games in the run up to release. If the games flop, they take a victory lap. If it’s a hit, as was the case with Space Marine 2, Indiana Jones, Baldur’s Gate 3, and more than likely The Witcher 4, they’ll quickly pivot and pretend it never happened. The hypocrisy should be remembered.
