At the tenth annual Game Awards, CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher 4 — not as a continuation of Geralt's journey, but as a new chapter centered on Ciri, the apprentice who now inherits the mantle. Nearly a decade after The Witcher 3 set a benchmark for narrative-driven open worlds, the studio signals that honoring a legacy sometimes means willingly departing from it. The announcement arrives as gaming's industry calendar has quietly reorganized itself around this single December evening, making the Game Awards the new cathedral for the medium's most consequential revelations.
Ciri Steps Into Lead Role as CD Projekt Red Unveils The Witcher 4
Ciri takes on a contract in a rural village, hunting a monster that has been terrorizing the area.
Mark
So Ciri is the protagonist now instead of Geralt. That's a pretty bold move for a franchise that's been built around him for three games. Why would they make that choice?
Mimi
The trailer suggests they're thinking about what Ciri's story could be on its own terms. She's not Geralt—she has different skills, different relationships, different stakes. Making her the lead lets them explore that without constantly comparing her to the character players already know inside and out.
Luke
But we don't actually know yet what her gameplay will feel like, or how her abilities differ from Geralt's. The trailer was cinematics only. We're inferring narrative intent from a single contract sequence.
Mark
Fair point. What about the technical side—the Nvidia GPU thing. Does that actually tell us anything about when the game is coming out?
Mimi
Not directly. But it does suggest the studio has access to cutting-edge hardware, which means they're probably thinking about what the game can look like on next-generation systems. It's a signal that they're building for the future, not the present.
Luke
It tells us they have access to unreleased hardware. That's all. We don't know if that's because they're a major partner, or if it's just a normal part of engine development. And the release window is still completely unknown.
Mark
So we're in a holding pattern. They've announced it, shown us a direction, but there's not much concrete to grab onto yet.
Mimi
That's the nature of these big reveals. You get the announcement, you get the vision, and then you wait. But the vision here—Ciri as a witcher in her own right, dealing with the moral complexity of the job—that's substantial enough to think about.
Luke
It is. But it's also one trailer. We should be careful not to read too much into a single scene until we see more.
Le Pouls
- Geralt of Rivia — the face of one of gaming's most beloved franchises for nearly two decades — has been set aside, with Ciri stepping forward as the new playable protagonist in a move that redefines the series' identity.
- The trailer dropped without a single frame of gameplay, yet it carried enough narrative weight to ignite immediate debate: a monster-hunting contract unravels into moral complexity, signaling that the studio's signature ethical ambiguity is very much intact.
- CD Projekt Red is navigating the long shadow of Cyberpunk 2077's turbulent launch, and The Witcher 4 represents a deliberate homecoming — a return to the fantasy world where the studio earned its reputation.
- A buried technical detail has PC hardware enthusiasts on alert: the cinematics were rendered on unreleased Nvidia RTX 5000 GPUs, pointing toward a likely reveal at January's CES within weeks.
- No release window has been set, leaving the industry to sit with the central question the announcement quietly poses — can Ciri carry a world players have spent hundreds of hours inhabiting through someone else's eyes?
At the tenth annual Game Awards, CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher 4 — not as a continuation of Geralt's journey, but as a new chapter centered on Ciri, the apprentice who now inherits the mantle. Nearly a decade after The Witcher 3 set a benchmark for narrative-driven open worlds, the studio signals that honoring a legacy sometimes means willingly departing from it. The announcement arrives as gaming's industry calendar has quietly reorganized itself around this single December evening, making the Game Awards the new cathedral for the medium's most consequential revelations.
CD Projekt Red opened the tenth annual Game Awards with a declaration that will reshape one of gaming's most cherished franchises. The Witcher 4 is coming — and Geralt of Rivia will not be leading it. Ciri, his apprentice and adopted daughter, steps into the protagonist's role for the studio's first mainline Witcher entry since 2015.
The announcement landed on what has quietly become the industry's most important stage. After E3 collapsed during the pandemic years, the Game Awards filled the vacuum, becoming the primary venue for major reveals — a single December evening that now carries the weight of an entire trade show calendar.
The studio is returning to fantasy after years spent on Cyberpunk 2077, an ambitious neo-noir RPG that earned both critical praise and a notoriously troubled launch. The Witcher 4 represents a homecoming — a chance to build on the foundations of The Witcher 3, which earned a 92 on Metacritic and became a touchstone for narrative depth and open-world craft. CD Projekt Red appears committed to preserving those qualities.
The trailer established tone rather than mechanics. Ciri takes a contract in a rural village, hunting a monster terrorizing the local population — but the situation grows complicated. The creature is entangled in a 'chosen one' narrative, and the act of saving someone carries consequences that aren't clean or heroic. It's precisely the kind of moral texture that made The Witcher 3's best moments so memorable.
Ciri's promotion to protagonist is a meaningful structural shift. She was a vital presence in The Witcher 3, but always through Geralt's story. Centering her suggests the studio is willing to fundamentally reimagine the franchise rather than simply repeat its formula.
One technical detail caught the attention of PC enthusiasts: the Unreal Engine 5 cinematics were pre-rendered on unreleased Nvidia RTX 5000 series hardware, suggesting those graphics cards could be formally announced at January's Consumer Electronics Show — giving PC gamers a clearer picture of the hardware landscape within weeks.
No release window has been announced. But the studio has made its intentions clear, and the question it leaves behind is a genuine one: whether Ciri can carry the full weight of a world that players have spent hundreds of hours exploring through someone else's eyes.
CD Projekt Red opened the tenth annual Game Awards with an announcement that will reshape one of gaming's most beloved franchises: The Witcher 4 is coming, and Geralt of Rivia will not be leading it. Instead, Ciri—the witcher's apprentice and adopted daughter—steps into the role of protagonist for the studio's first mainline entry in the series since 2015.
The reveal came as the Game Awards kicked off on Thursday night, the event that has quietly become gaming's answer to the trade show circuit after E3 collapsed during the pandemic. Where E3 once dominated the calendar, the Game Awards now serves as the industry's primary stage for major announcements, mixing trailers with awards in a format that leans heavily toward the former.
CD Projekt Red is returning to fantasy after spending years on Cyberpunk 2077, its ambitious neo-noir science fiction RPG that launched to both critical acclaim and technical turbulence. The Witcher 4 represents a homecoming of sorts—a chance to build on what made The Witcher 3 resonate so deeply with players when it released in 2015. That game earned a 92 on Metacritic, with critics particularly praising its narrative depth, the quality of its side quests, and the way it constructed its open world. The studio appears committed to preserving those strengths in the new game.
The trailer shown Thursday night did not include gameplay footage, but it did establish the tone and stakes. Ciri takes on a contract in a rural village, hunting a monster that has been terrorizing the area. What unfolds is more complicated than a straightforward kill: the creature she's hunting turns out to be connected to a "chosen one" narrative, and saving that person carries unexpected consequences. It's the kind of morally textured storytelling that defined The Witcher 3's best moments—the recognition that heroic action does not always produce heroic outcomes.
Ciri's elevation to protagonist is significant. She appeared in The Witcher 3 as a crucial character in Geralt's story, but she was never the center of the player's experience. Making her the lead suggests the studio is willing to fundamentally reshape the franchise's identity rather than simply repeat what worked before. The Witcher 4 will remain a single-player RPG in the mold of its predecessors, but the shift in perspective signals a new chapter.
There was also a technical detail buried in the trailer that caught the attention of PC gaming enthusiasts. The cinematics were pre-rendered using Unreal Engine 5 on an unannounced Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU—specifically, hardware from the anticipated RTX 5000 series that has not yet been released to the public. The fact that CD Projekt Red already has access to this unreleased hardware suggests the cards could be announced sooner rather than later. The Consumer Electronics Show in January is a likely venue for Nvidia to reveal more details about the next generation of graphics processors, which means PC gamers may have concrete information about the hardware landscape within weeks.
The Witcher 4 does not yet have a release window. But with the announcement made and the narrative direction set, the studio has signaled that it is ready to move forward with one of gaming's most anticipated sequels. The question now is whether Ciri can carry the weight of a world that players have spent hundreds of hours exploring through Geralt's eyes.
Citations marquantes
The trailer showed Ciri taking a job in a rural village and facing unexpected consequences for saving a 'chosen one' from a monster attack.— Game Awards reveal
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