It wasn’t exactly a huge surprise when a trailer for the next installment of CD Projekt Red’s Witcher series debuted at 2024’s The Game Awards–players have known The Witcher 4 was in the works for a while now. But one detail did catch some viewers off guard: The silver-haired witcher featured in the new trailer wasn’t the iconic Geralt of Rivia, it was his adoptive, Ciri.
Naturally, players took to the internet to share their thoughts. Although CDPR doesn’t care much for the opinions of players who are simply upset about the fact that the upcoming game’s main character is both female and fully clothed, the devs do have a message for genuine fans of the franchise who say they’re going to miss playing as Geralt.
The Witcher IV – Official Cinematic Reveal Trailer Breakdown
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“I think we definitely knew it could be controversial for some people because of course, in the previous three Witcher games Geralt was the protagonist, and I think everyone really loved playing as Geralt,” Narrative director Phillip Weber said in a recent interview. “I really loved playing as Geralt, so I think we’re aware that if some people think right now that they would still prefer to be Geralt, I do think that’s a legitimate concern, so if this is where that concern [about Ciri] is coming from, that’s valid.”
Of course, The Witcher 4 won’t be the first time players step into Ciri’s boots–The Witcher 3 saw players alternate between playing as Geralt and playing as Ciri, though Geralt was still the main focus of the game. This time around, it seems the story will be told primarily through Ciri’s eyes.
“Ciri was already being set up as a second protagonist in the Andrzej Sapkowski novels and as the second playable character in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, so for us, it really was the natural evolution of what we’ve already been making for so long,” Weber continued. “Also, for people who really love Geralt, it lets us honour the ending that Geralt had in The Witcher 3 and in Blood and Wine.”
Weber also added that the choice to make Ciri the game’s main playable protagonist wasn’t one that was made lightly, nor was it made recently.
“The best thing that we can do–and I think this is really our goal–is to prove that with Ciri, we can do a lot of interesting things so we can really make it worth it, because this decision to have Ciri as a protagonist wasn’t made yesterday, we started making this [choice] a very long time ago,” Weber explained.
CDPR hasn’t announced an official release date for The Witcher 4, and has yet to reveal which platforms the game will launch on, though the studio has, dating back to The Witcher 3, launched games on both console and PC. For more info on the next entry in The Witcher franchise, check out everything we know about The Witcher 4.