With CD Projekt Red hard at work onCyberpunk 2077, it is doubtful there will be another epic levelWitchergame anytime soon, especially not theWitcher 4. Considering that CD Projekt has been negotiating a new deal for the last couple years to obtain the rights for the Witcher franchise from its author and creator, Andrej Sapkowski, it seems reasonable to believe that the future looks bright for moreWitchergames to come at some point.
CD Projekt is already stating they are working on their next big game afterCyberpunk 2077, slated for a 2021 release. The current title and theme is unknown, but it could beanotherWitchergame.
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One notion that CD PRojekt has firmly stated is that Geralt of Rivia will not be returning as a protagonist in the next bigWitchertitle that comes to fruition. Marcin Iwinski, CEO of CD Projekt, also stated that the third installment in theWitcherseries would in many ways be the finale of the series, in what he describes as a stand-alone trilogy comprisingWitcher 1-3.
In many ways, this means that that, at least in the conception of a direct sequel to 3,The Witcher 4will likely not transpire, or not in the context many people may envision. However,The Witcherworld is rich with lore, concepts and history, and there is plenty of room to make epic level games within the same universe which flesh out its unique world-building concepts.
Perhaps it is these many possibilities and overall unpredictability that make such a mystery arguably more exciting than a simpleWitcher 4sequel. In understanding much of the lore of theWitcheruniverse and its history,it actually fits in well with some of modern gaming’s most popular gaming trends, bringing an array of possibilities which could be enjoyed.
Take for instance the concept of a witcher, a mutated individual whose main purpose in this dark fantasy setting is to slay monsters for coin, and help maintain population control to ensure societies sustain themselves safely without mutated or supernatural threats from the wild or from within.
With games such asThe Monster HunterandDauntlessbecoming all the rageand carving out its own genre to a degree, what better monster hunter, world-setting and means of slaying foul beasts present themselves better than a witcher? There is ample room to create an experience focused on monster-hunting contracts in a time and setting earlier in theWitcheruniverse, when there were a more prominent population of witchers.
Furthermore, theWitcheruniverse is already setup very well for such a type of game system, given the different witcher schools, which can represent classes and combat styles, and which were once more prominent institutions in earlier settings before the witcher populace dwindled.
To date, there are seven different witcher schools, being The School of the Cat, Wolf, Viper, Griffin, Bear, Crane and finally, the Manticore. Each one uses different styles of combat, as well as different armor and have their own world-view and culture.
Another possibility for a game of epic proportions, though more controversial and risky, is an MMO in a Witcher setting, or some sort ofhybrid-MMO title, similar toDestiny.The numeric value behind the witcher schools and their names makes for some interesting ideas to base a game off of as well, as well as much of the ambiguity left to fill them in with new storytelling.
For example, the School of the Manticore essentially has a clean slate to develop an entire story around. It was introduced in theWitcher 3’s Blood and WineDLC, but almost no lore is revealed about this school, other than it comes from the far east -lands never explored in theWitchergames and universe- and Geralt mentions wearing a Manticore set of armor in the very original Witcher game.
The name is also interesting, given that it is the only Witcher School named after an inherently evil monster, rather than an animal. The only slight exception is the School of the Griffin; however, a Griffin is not inherently evil, and this school is also often referred to as the School of the Eagle. Clearly, this makes the mysterious School of the Manticore the odd one out, and could theoretically set some sort of ethical or moral dilemma in creating a Witcher school that embellishes characteristics of evil to draw its powers, style, world-view and culture from.
With the School of the Manticore singled out as a potential source for creating a villainous, non-neutral or more controversial group of Witchers, this leaves a numerically even six other witcher Schools to base two, or even three, alliances if needed in an online or hybrid-online type of game, with a Manticore school playing a central role to a storyline.
This potential premise can also take theWitcheruniverseand games back to the origins of witchers themselves, known as the Order of Witchers. Again, not much is known about the Order of Witchers, which leaves plenty of creative freedom for an epic prequel settings.
The Order of Witchers was originally founded by northern kingdoms to create an order of knights that wielded magic and fought in the interests of those kingdoms, mainly against monsters that posed as powerful threats to their agendas.
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Eventually, the Order of Witchers broke up and the various Schools came into existent, sharing a code of values that emphasized neutrality and only slaying of monsters that were purely evil or posed unconditional threats to society.
Little is known about the events that led to the breakup of the Order, nor the lore and origins of the School of the Manticore. But it certainly poses plenty of creative freedom for the backdrop of a rich story and potential prequel of, hopefully, epic proportions for a future game.
We can only speculate what is to come in theWitcher’sgaming universe. WiththeWitchertelevision show reviving much excitementover Geralt of Rivia, a recentWitcherDLC pack for Capcom’sMonster Hunter World, and seemingly much effort into establishing a long-term licensing deal for the future of the Witcher gaming franchise, it seems more likely than not that we will see the return of theWitcherworld in future iterations of games, with or without Geralt of Rivia.
As Geralt appears ready for retirement at the conclusion ofWitcher 3and itsBlood and WineDLC, as well as the rivalries between the various kingdoms seemingly mending their conflicts in extremely different outcomes depending on player choices, the post-Witcher 3narrativeperhaps seems more difficult to flesh out than the ambiguity and size of its unexplored past. It seems possible that the future of the series will find itself exploring its rich, yet mysterious past, or voyaging into one of the many regions of land so far unexplored in theWitcheruniverse, or both.
