“We will be adding new gameplay elements and new mechanics that you have not seen in our previous games,” says co-CEO Michał Nowakowski.
With support for Cyberpunk 2077 having (mostly) wrapped up, The Witcher 4 (or Project Polaris, as it’s currently referred to) is the next game that CD Projekt RED is focusing on. The developer recently revealed that the next instalment in the fantasy RPG series has over 400 people working on it, with the project currently in the pre-production stage and set to move into full production sometime this year.
Obviously, it’s still too early in the game’s development cycle to have any clarity on what it’ll turn out to be, but though CD Projekt RED isn’t ready to start sharing those details just yet, the studio does want to assure fans that The Witcher 4 (or whatever it ends up being called) isn’t just going to be “The Witcher 3 in new clothing.”
Speaking during a recent Q&A with investors, co-CEO Michał Nowakowski touched on the inherent risks of making a new game and trying to innovate with it, before adding that though the next Witcher game will building on what CDPR has learned from past games, it will also be doing things the studio hasn’t “done before.”
“When it comes to the risks of innovative elements- making a new game is always a creative risk, especially since we’re trying to push new boundaries and explore new fields, do something we haven’t actually done before,” Nowakowski said (transcription via Rock Paper Shotgun). “I guess what I’m saying is that you should not be expecting The Witcher 3 in new clothing, of sorts. Of course, we’re building on the shoulders of what came before and on what we’ve learned, but we will be adding new gameplay elements and new mechanics that you have not seen in our previous games. I’d say doing such things is always a risk. It’s not just repeating what was done before.”
Details on The Witcher 4 have been scant up to this point, with CD Projekt RED only having confirmed that it’s being developed using Unreal Engine 5, and will be the first instalment in a new trilogy. Game director Sebastian Kalemba has also said it’ll serve as “an excellent entry point” for series newcomers.
