When gaming fans think of iconic fantasy IPs,The Witcherfranchise is likely to come up before long. With two titles that proved to be a successful introduction to Andrzej Sapkowski’s world of monsters, witchers, and more, and a third game that managed to skyrocket the popularity of the series, a lot of gamers are looking to see what CD Projekt Red has planned next forThe Witchergames. While the developer may be currently working on the release ofCyberpunk 2077’sPhantom Liberty expansion, it seems CD Projekt Red has plenty ofWitchercontent lined up as well.
A few upcomingWitcherprojects are currently in the works, including thenext-gen versions ofThe Witcher 3, which are set to release by the end of 2022. Also, there’s the Unreal Engine 5 remake of the firstWitchergame, which will give fans a reason to try out Geralt’s first video gaming adventure and hopefully give the dated title a much-needed freshening up. Thirdly, there is a game codenamedPolaris, which is currently in pre-production but will be the “beginning of a newWitchersaga,” according to CD Projekt Red. While a completely new story forThe Witcheris exciting, CD Projekt Red is going to have to be careful in how it handles this ambitious project going forward.
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Why a Fresh Start is a Good Thing for The Witcher
Diving into the unknown may at first appear a slightly scary thing forWitcherfans, but giving the franchise a new saga is perhaps one of the best directions it could go in order to preserve the quality of the original trilogy. While not a lot might be known aboutPolaris, by CD Projekt Red labeling it as the beginning of a new saga, it seems all but certain fans won’t be getting to play as Geralt of Rivia this time around. From the promotionalimages for the newWitchergameas well, which show the medallion of the School of the Lynx, it could be the case that even Ciri won’t appear in this new game.
Back before the next entry in the franchise was confirmed, many fans did assume thatGeralt of Rivia’s storymet its end inThe Witcher 3, but there was also the idea that Ciri would then take over for the eventual sequel. Now, it seems more that CD Projekt Red is aiming for a completely fresh start, and that could very well be a good thing for the franchise moving forward.
Without Geralt,Polariscan still exist within the wider world Sapkowski has created, but without the weight of the author’s pre-existing characters to ground it. This could allow for a lot more creative freedom from CD Projekt Red in the stories it wants to tell within the universe ofThe Witcher.
Moreover, from the snowy backdrop of the teaser image revealed alongsidePolaris, a new saga gives CD Projekt Red the chance to move away from the usual setting of the Northern Kingdoms. WhileThe Witcher 3’sDLCdid take fans to a setting they’d not seen before in the land of Touissaint, to have a new environment on the scale of a game likeThe Witcher 3would allow the franchise to divert from what gamers know and give them something fresh. Essentially, both because of the characters and places explored already inThe Witchertrilogy, it does feel as though CD Projekt Red has done most of what it can with the story of Geralt of Rivia, and needs a new beginning to avoid things getting stale.
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A New Witcher Saga Will Still be a Risky Move
Even though it’s logical that CD Projekt Red would look towards a newWitchersaga rather than coming up with a way for Geralt to pick up his swords again, this doesn’t mean a fresh start will immediately be successful. By departing from thecharacters fans love fromThe Witcherfranchise, CD Projekt Red allows space for new players to shine, but this also means leaving incredibly popular faces such as Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer behind, something that it might take fans a while to get used to.
InThe Witcher’s books, games, and TV show, Geralt of Rivia has been at the center of it all, and while there may be some nods to him in the new saga, it does appear as though the upcoming title won’t feature the White Wolf. This departure is likely not going to be the only one, as if theSchool of the Lynxis the focus of the newWitchergame, CD Projekt Red will be making up a lot of the lore around that Witcher School and leaving the more established ones behind. There was a nod to the School of the Lynx in Sapkowski’s books, but it is a largely lesser-known Witcher School and so there is a lot of space for creative freedom on CD Projekt Red’s part.
However, while again this gives the developer freedom to go off in its own direction, when a series is based on a popular set of source material, rarely do fans enjoy it when that material is ignored.The Witcher’s Netflix show proved to be controversialwith its storytelling choices, for example, and this reportedly led to Henry Cavill’s departure from the series. This means that CD Projekt Red will have to ensure that it respects Sapkowski’s work in this new saga, even if it wishes to go off in its own direction.
From its previous work onThe Witcherfranchise, it appears fans might not have to be worried about CD Projekt Red’snewWitchersagain terms of it respecting the source material. A lot of fans of the books see the current games as a well-written form of fan-fiction, which essentially tells the story of Geralt and Ciri were it to have continued past the books. This means that even if a newWitchersaga might be a scary and unknown thing for some fans, CD Projekt Red has cultivated a large amount of trust from gamers over the years – and for good reason.
A newThe Witchergame is in development.
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