Practical guides for The Witcher 4 — CD Projekt Red's first chapter in a new Witcher trilogy, developed under the codename Project Polaris. Years after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Cirilla has survived the Trial of Grasses and become a fully-fledged witcher, hunting monsters across the northern kingdoms of Kovir and Poviss with her horse, Kelpie, at her side.
CD Projekt Red hasn't shipped the game yet, but there's already plenty confirmed — here's what we know so far, kept up to date as more details drop.
Ciara Berkeley's Ciri recast explained, plus Doug Cockle's confirmed return as Geralt.
02Everything confirmed so far — release timing, Ciri as protagonist, platforms, and whether you need the earlier games first.
03A timeline of what CD Projekt Red has actually confirmed about timing, team size, and the six-year trilogy plan.
04What a "Source Warlock" means, the Kovir and Poviss setting, Geralt's mystery cameo, and Gwent's return.
05Ciri's "liquid" fighting style, her chain weapon, combined signs and sorcery, and new verticality options.
06A direct look at what's actually changing — protagonist, engine, map scale, combat, and expansion plans.
CD Projekt Red has not announced a release date. The studio's own CFO has confirmed The Witcher 4 will not launch before 2027 — full production only began in November 2024 after a lengthy pre-production phase, and by mid-2026 the team had grown past 500 people. Treat any specific date you see elsewhere as speculation until CD Projekt Red confirms one officially.
Unlike the original trilogy, which put you in the boots of Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher 4 is played entirely as Ciri — Geralt's adopted daughter. The story picks up years after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and the big twist is that Ciri has since survived the Trial of Grasses and become a fully-fledged witcher in her own right, complete with witcher signs, potions and a silver sword for monsters.
Project Polaris was CD Projekt Red's internal codename for The Witcher 4 before the game was formally announced. It's also described as the first installment of a brand-new Witcher trilogy, separate from the original Geralt-led saga, so expect it to lay groundwork for two further sequels down the line.
The gameplay reveal confirmed the story is set, at least in part, in Kovir and Poviss — the wealthy, magically progressive northern kingdoms of the Continent that were only mentioned in passing in earlier games. Expect a colder, more mercantile and politically distinct region than the war-torn areas Geralt travelled through in The Witcher 3.
The Witcher 4 is built on Unreal Engine 5, replacing CD Projekt Red's proprietary REDengine used for the original trilogy and Cyberpunk 2077. In practice this should mean better tools for the studio (and modders down the line), plus modern features like improved lighting and crowd density — CD Projekt Red has also built and open-sourced its own Unreal Engine extensions for large open worlds.
Not strictly — CD Projekt Red has designed The Witcher 4 as a new entry point with Ciri as protagonist. That said, playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (and its Blood and Wine / Hearts of Stone expansions) first will make Ciri's relationships, her Elder Blood power, and the state of the Continent land with a lot more weight, since this story continues directly from where that game left off.
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