The Witcher 4: Everything we know so far

The Witcher 4 can't come soon enough for fans of the video game, television, and book series. The Witcher franchise has been going strong ever since Andrzej Sapkowski wrote the first short story of the series in 1986, and now, the franchise is poised to continue with another new entry in the video game series.

Fans may still have to wait a little while longer before getting their hands on another new mainline Witcher game, however, as in a blog post announcing the existence of a new game, the studio said that it couldn't provide a development time frame for The Witcher 4.

CD Projekt Red has only referred to it as "the next instalment in The Witcher series of video games." The only image we have received from the game so far depicts an animal medallion lying in the snow - but it is not the medallion of Geralt's School of the Wolf.

Are there any gameplay details for The Witcher 4?

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While no explicit gameplay details have been announced for The Witcher 4, fans can likely expect to see the return of many of the mechanics that defined previous games in the series.

In general, The Witcher video games are action role-playing games that allow the player to control Geralt of Rivia as he fights humans and monsters alike using a mix of weapons, melee attacks, and magic signs. 

Of course, gameplay has not remained completely static throughout each entry of The Witcher series. For example, Geralt gained the ability to perform actions like jumping, swimming, and climbing for the first time in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

In a similar vein, fans can likely expect an array of new mechanics to make their way into The Witcher 4 in order to mix up the traditional gameplay formula of the series.

In another change for the franchise, the developers announced that they will develop The Witcher 4 using Unreal Engine 5 as opposed to their in-house REDengine, which powered every other The Witcher game as well as Cyberpunk 2077. 

To that end, CD Projekt Red announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games, the famed Fortnite creators and, more importantly, the developers of Unreal Engine.

According to CD Projekt Red's blog, the partnership will cover licensing and technical development for Unreal Engine 5, in addition to potential future versions of Unreal Engine. 

What could The Witcher 4's story be about?

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Even without any official story details being released, what we do know about The Witcher 4 suggests it will revamp what we currently know about the storyline of The Witcher series. The developers have stated that The Witcher 4 will mark the beginning of a "new saga for the franchise," suggesting we could leave behind Geralt's story in order to begin a brand-new plot.

This theory is further supported by the lynx medallion in the game's sole promotional image. Up to this point, no School of the Lynx has ever existed in The Witcher canon, with the idea as we know it having only appeared in fanfiction.

However, it is not far-fetched to think that this new School of the Lynx could play a prominent role in The Witcher 4, potentially even introducing a new main character to accompany the game’s new plot direction.

What do we know about The Witcher 4's platforms?

When it comes to platforms for The Witcher 4, the only thing that CD Projekt Red has explicitly confirmed is that, despite the new partnership with Epic Games, The Witcher 4 will not be exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

Beyond that, fans can only speculate about potential platforms until closer to The Witcher 4 release date. That said, The Witcher has been a multi-console series in the recent past. Both The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales launched on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, then later made their way to Nintendo Switch.

Because of this, there's a solid chance that fans of the series could get to play the new game on every current-generation console.