The Witcher 4 reveal trailer didn’t give away too much, but it did exactly what it needed to do. Coming in at a surprisingly lengthy 6 minutes, the Witcher 4 reveal trailer confirmed that Ciri will be the sequel’s protagonist, showcasing her unique fighting style via a fierce and bloody battle against a brand-new monster.
In an interview with Gamertag Radio’s Parris Lilly back in December, The Witcher 4‘s director, Sebastian Kalemba, confirmed that this new monster is called a “Bauk.” Inspired by Serbian folklore, Kalemba claimed the Bauk will “play with your own fears,” and that in order to defeat it, players will first need to fight their “inner demons.” These statements hint at some kind of gameplay mechanic that’s exclusive to this new monster, and CD Projekt Red has a perfect blueprint to follow, hidden away in an unlikely place.
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How Metal Gear Solid’s Psycho Mantis Toys With The Player’s Mind
The Metal Gear Solid franchise is home to some of the most innovative boss fights in gaming, and the first game in the series contains a particularly mind-bending one. A now-infamous encounter, Metal Gear Solid‘s Psycho Mantis uses a strong cocktail of narrative, atmosphere, and gameplay mechanics to deliver an eerie, fourth-wall breaking fight.
Before the battle even begins, Psycho Mantis analyzes the player’s playstyle up until that point. If players are reckless and are frequently spotted by guards, Psycho Mantis will call them careless, and if players prefer to use lethal takedowns, Mantis will call them a warrior. Mantis follows that “psychic” trick by reading the player’s mind (console memory card), commenting on their most-played games.
Psycho Mantis will then ask the player to put their controller on the floor, and he proceeds to move it with his mind (activating the controller’s rumble). Once actually in the battle, players are unable to land a hit on Psycho Mantis, with the boss being able to predict the strikes before they even happen. To counter Mantis’ precognition, players need to manually plug their controller into a different port on the console. The meta nature of this boss fight was fairly groundbreaking back in 1998, and it continues to be one of the most renowned encounters in Metal Gear Solid history.
The Witcher 4’s Bauk Could Mess With Players Using Similar Gameplay Mechanics
It’s said that The Witcher 4‘s Bauk can smell its victim’s fears, and use them to catch their prey off-guard. This is a great premise for a Witcher monster, and while CD Projekt Red can already make a Bauk encounter terrifying through the use of atmosphere and environmental storytelling, it’d be great to see the Bauk use the game’s mechanics to catch players off-guard, just as Psycho Mantis did in 1998.
For instance, The Witcher 4 could subtly determine the player’s greatest personal fears through a series of seemingly non-related quests. NPCs could question the player on particular creatures or scenarios they find the most unnerving, and the Bauk could use that information to deliver a personalized boss fight. Alternatively, the Bauk’s fear-inducing powers could be represented by a sudden inversion of controls.
