Witcher 4

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[one-armed dwarf]

To me, this feels more like a 'we are moving on from Cyberpunk' announcement (even though they mention the expansion in it). Partly cause of the fact they are dropping RED engine.

 

Which is kinda sad. It was such a cutting edge engine. But you have to wonder how much it's lagging behind now and if the kind of next gen open worlds they have in mind aren't really possible on it. Cyberpunk was pretty impressive IMO on a visual and level design basis, but systemically not so much. 

 

I don't expect to see the next Witcher until we're nearly into the next decade. 

[shinymcshine]

There's the further Gwent (single player) spin off due this year though - if it's anything like Thronebreaker it could be great !

 

https://www.ign.com/articles/witcher-gwent-project-golden-nekker-new-game-2022-release-date

 

[merman1974]

8 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

To me, this feels more like a 'we are moving on from Cyberpunk' announcement (even though they mention the expansion in it). Partly cause of the fact they are dropping RED engine.

 

Which is kinda sad. It was such a cutting edge engine. But you have to wonder how much it's lagging behind now and if the kind of next gen open worlds they have in mind aren't really possible on it. Cyberpunk was pretty impressive IMO on a visual and level design basis, but systemically not so much. 

 

I don't expect to see the next Witcher until we're nearly into the next decade. 

 

Going to make it easier to port between consoles. But have they lost all the goodwill Geralt got them?

[shinymcshine]

Sadly seems like the Gwent spin-off "Project Golden Nekker" might not be coming to consoles, and will be PC and Mobile only.

 

https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2022/04/19/new-witcher-game-playstation-xbox/

[Maryokutai]

Spoiler

 

 

This is a bit of Geralt's voice actor messing about and reminiscing, and while doing so he mentions that Geralt won't be a prominent figure in Witcher 4 (around 7:30). Which I think most people suspected but hasn't been confirmed officially thus far.

 

I wonder if they're going a custom character route with the game instead. As much as I like the Witcher series, and I really like it, in regards to character progression and RPG systems it always felt limited by the fact that your avatar was a pre-determined character inside this universe with a specific skillset you could only nudge in certain directions but not escape from. It'd be a risky move of course, both in how the fanbase sees these games and development resources needed to make it possible, so maybe you'll just be Ciri or another Witcher and it'll be very similar.

[radiofloyd]

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/the-witcher-4-gets-its-a-first-trailer-and-yes-ciri-is-the-star
 

Ciri confirmed as main character. 

[Nag]

Nice to see something, not sure we needed to though... I'll be amazed if this comes out before 2027.

[one-armed dwarf]

'Running on an unannounced RTX GPU' is some effective marketing for the 5090. So they're saying that the game looks like that in real time on that, which makes me wonder if they're gesturing towards this being a next gen game.

 

Sorta feels like when Cyberpunk was announced in 2012 or whenever it was.

 

I've still not beaten a Witcher game. I have the novels, I got near the end of Witcher II. Might try to just use cheat engine to slog through that one.

[HandsomeDead]

I'd guess they won't do a console version until it's suitably optimised this time because they can't handle a second hit to their reputation.  But I don't expect to see this in a few years.

 

Urgh, I'm gonna end up giving Witcher 3 another attempt 

[shinymcshine]

Weird one, as they likely won't won't to pitch it directly against Elder Scrolls VI, but who really knows when we're likely to see either (and what platforms they might appear on).

 

Surprised that CDPR didn't do more of a tie in between W3 and the TV Series - more like a paid for DLC than the cosmetic tweaks they dropped in a patch - but then I'm similarly bewildered that Larian didn't do anything to incorporate the D&D movie (and the D&D 50th Anniversary) into BG3 - or Bethesda for Fallout 4 and the TV show (maybe not Gearbox Borderlands and that movies....)

 

Guess either they all work in independent silos, of lead times aren't compatible to align things, or as the latter the risk is too unpredictable- but seems like a missed business opportunity

[one-armed dwarf]

Weirdos are mad that Ciri is the main character, which shouldn't be surprising (that weirdos are mad) but it's also sort of baffling cause it kinda felt like the obvious direction surely. Especially the playable Ciri sections in WIII, feeling like they were setting expectations a bit

[HandsomeDead]

The weirdos just complain at everything.  If the game fails they claim victory even if it wasn't anything to do with them (Concord), if it doesn't fail they decide it wasn't woke after all (BG3).  Just a waste of oxygen, there is no logic beyond that.  They don't beat the allegations that they only get mad at games and don't play them.

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah I dunno why I brought it up tbh, it's better to not signal boost it. 

[Maryokutai]

Witcher 3 will be ten years old next year btw.

 

As mentioned above I would have liked a custom character in that universe, but I can totally see why they don't want to go that way. They have a certain penchant for this personal storytelling and that does work best with a predefined character, even if you can nudge them here and there a bit with player-made decisions. I also remember people were really happy about the Ciri segments in W3, which kind of shows just how much discourse about that stuff has deteriorated over the years. But anyone who has beaten Witcher 3 and seen its better endings should be well aware that Geralt's story was over and that any kind of continuation would need a new hero. And Ciri is just the logical next step here, at least if you move forward chronologically (which they will always do in an effort not cross paths with the books).

 

This will be cool, looking forward to it. Whenever, wherever, it'll come out.

[Nag]

Project Red being cagey as to whether we'll see this on current gen...

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/cd-projekt-red-stays-coy-on-whether-the-witcher-4-can-run-on-current-gen-consoles-including-xbox-series-s

 

What do we think?... me personally, I'd be amazed... especially after them trying and failing spectacularly with Cyberpunk.

 

Edit... and can we get this topic title changed too?

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah I definitely agree that it won't be cross gen, it's going full next gen.

 

The bit about the unannounced RTX GPU in the cutscene is what makes me think it's going to push next gen visuals as baseline, not just for PC upgraders. Also the Cyberpunk shit that happened

 

But they might not be committed to this yet

[mfnick]

Yea this is going to be a PS6 joint. I bet it’s 4-5 years off yet so that’d track too. 

[Maf]

This will absolutely be on PS5 because of sales potential 

 

It might not be where you want to play it 

[Nag]

10 minutes ago, Maf said:

This will absolutely be on PS5 because of sales potential 

 

Can they afford another hit to their reputation on a magnitude of Cyberpunk though... many other devs would've folded after that, they're lucky to have survived it.