Things are looking pretty good for fans of The Witcher right now. A remake of the first Witcher game was announced late in 2022, which should help a lot of people ease into the franchise. Even though The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was designed to be accessible to series newcomers, it's still nice to see where the game adaptation's celebrated story began. Meanwhile, The Witcher 3: Complete Edition also came out recently, and fans are enjoying their latest playthrough of the best version of it yet.
There are more good times on the horizon, as The Witcher 4 has been more or less confirmed to be in development under the working title Project Polaris. Indeed, now that things have turned around for Cyberpunk 2077, it's a good time to be a fan of CD Projekt Red games in general. However, even with so many good titles out and more likely to come, there's been a shift regarding the perception of the prolific Polish developer. Chances are good that the lead-up to CD Projekt Red's next major release, which will probably be The Witcher 4, won't feel like it did for its other games.
Cyberpunk 2077 Left CD Projekt Red Fans Cautious
Obviously, Cyberpunk 2077 is the main culprit behind this. The game's launch has gone down in infamy, to the point where it's a wonder that it's been able to pull a No Man's Sky-esque recovery. Cyberpunk 2077 was a technical disaster at launch, and the previous generation console versions were especially problematic. Cyberpunk 2077 may be the most broken game CD Projekt Red has released, but not by as wide a margin as many would think. The Witcher 1 and 2 were and still are very rough action RPGs without mods, and even The Witcher 3 shipped in a subpar state.
For players used to big games launching unpolished nowadays, one must remember that the hype for Cyberpunk 2077 was astronomical. The game was announced very early into development but was able to benefit from it only when The Witcher 3 began snowballing in popularity. Its hype only grew over time, and actually managed to penetrate mainstream gaming discussions.
Before release, Cyberpunk was the sort of game that a YouTube news and analysis channel could base its career around. Outstripping the older CD Projekt Red fanbase who knew that the company's games have a tendency to be shipped rough around the edges was the best and worst thing to happen to it, and more people will share this familiarity in the future.
The Witcher 4 Is Going To Be Huge Regardless
All of that will contribute some reasonable caution to the pre-release hype for The Witcher 4. However, there are still good reasons to be excited about projects coming from Poland's biggest AAA development studio, and The Witcher will benefit from a few extra ones. Aside from the narrative and scope pedigrees associated with CD Projekt Red, The Witcher's name has taken on fame that wasn't present when The Witcher 3 first came out. It's telling that the recent Complete Edition launched with new content based on the ongoing Witcher TV show. No longer just a book series getting RPG adaptations, The Witcher has become a cultural phenomenon.
When The Witcher 4 is properly announced, everyone is going to hear about it. Even with higher awareness of CD Projekt Red's development troubles and Cyberpunk 2077's launch, Witcher fans from different media industries around the world will still celebrate that it's on its way. Caution will temper the hype this time around, but there's no doubt that hype levels are still going to be very high. With any luck, The Witcher 4 will be designed with hindsight in mind to avoid the problems CDPR titles have faced in the past.
A new Witcher game is in development.