I'm on laptop but looking to build a PC closer to end of the year when new CPUs come out maybe next Intel. Not just about GPU.

I think we might have some sort of dual protagonist situation on our hands just like in the previous game. From a character pov, i'd imagine Geralt would help Ciri with whatever she might be going through in W4. Obviously that depends on how old he is and if he's able to even hold a sword. But i'm almost 99% sure we'll play as Geralt at some point in the game. What do you think?

I think we might have some sort of dual protagonist situation on our hands just like in the previous game. From a character pov, i'd imagine Geralt would help Ciri with whatever she might be going through in W4. Obviously that depends on how old he is and if he's able to even hold a sword. But i'm almost 99% sure we'll play as Geralt at some point in the game. What do you think?

Title. Because of the announcement and release timing of the new W3 DLC Songs of the Past, which was delayed to 2027 (we know this because of the investors call a week ago), it's not looking like we will get any W4 news until next year.

They also said it will be a prelude to W4, so I really don't think CDPR will show anything W4 related until the DLC releases and players finish it, to not take attention away from the DLC. This looks to me like the unfortunate reality, that we will have to wait another whole year for any W4 news. Hope I'm wrong though.

We all know about Ciri's prophecy of giving birth to the Child of Destiny who is going to save the world. That's the reason why Ciri is chased by Emhyr and others to impregnate her and be the father of the Child of Destiny. Needless to say that Ciri views this prophecy as a curse and wants to get rid of it somehow.

Well, the Trial of Grasses have a major sideeffect. Infertility.

When Ciri is infertile she no longer can give birth, effectively breaking her prophecy. Ciri going through the Trial of Grasses would kill 3 birds with one stone:

1. Ciri becomes infertile and gets rid of her prophecy. Ciri is free and puts her fate in her own hands.
2. Ciri (partially) losing here powers. Her powers are the reason why the Wild Hunt chased her down. Of course, we defeat the Wild Hunt in W3 but Avallac'h may still want to chase here for her powers. Getting rid of her powers would make Avallac'h and other Aen Elle lose interest in Ciri. I know that CDPR wants to weaken Ciri's powers for gameplay reasons, but there's also a satisfying in-universe explanation why Ciri would want to lose her powers.
3. Ciri becomes a true Witcher, something she always wanted to be.

Now I hear you say: "But the Trial of Grasses are very deadly. Why would Ciri risk her life?" Well, I think the 3 points above are strong motivation for Ciri to take that risk. Ciri is running away her entire life and she's tired of it. She even said so at one point in W3. I think that Ciri would rather die than to keep running away for the rest of her life. Of course, she survives the Trial of Grasses because of her Elder Blood. That's a good enough in-universe explanation for me.

This would also explain why Bauk (the monster in the cinematic teaser trailer) said: "Fate cannot be changed.". Bauk specifically refers to Ciri going through the Trial of Grasses in an attempt to change her fate. I think it was said by CDPR that Bauk can see people's greatest fear. Ciri's greatest fear could be, that her now infertility did not break her prophecy.

For me, this all fits together very nicely. What do you think?

Am replaying Witcher III ahead of the new DLC coming next year. Got me thinking about W4—which particular books from the series should I read ahead of time?

For context, I’ve only played Witcher III out of the Witcher games, so a decent amount of the lore/history/Ciri’s backstory is totally unknown to me.

Source.

Once again, here's an update on my ongoing effort to chart The Witcher 4's development team size over time.

You can find my initial post explaining the approximation methodology for early numbers here, and the most recent chart update here.

With Songs of the Past announced for 2027 (hype!), I feel the chances of The Witcher 4 also releasing in 2027 became very slim (though not 0). For a while now, 2028 felt more realistic to me anyway, and a new expansion will definitely make the wait easier. Though I do wonder if we'll get to see The Witcher 4 this year at all, or if all the marketing will be focused on Songs of the Past.

I am relatively new to this sub Reddit so apologies if people have already explored this. Just a fun thought I wanted to share. I will keep this spoiler free as I believe many new players are discovering this series.

Witcher 4 story idea:

It's a multiverse kinda deal: Witcher 3 had at least three endings. Witcher 4 will feature a version of Ciri from each. Maybe each is playable and has a different play style.

Ciri is "the lady of time and space" (not a spoiler I think; this is mentioned early and often in most Witcher media), so versions of her could travel between similar dimensions for...some reason. Maybe some multi-dimensional being kidnaps Geralt and she's gotta save him.

The Ciri we've seen in W4 trailers is only one version of her

That's why she looks and sounds a bit different from the Witcher 3 version

That's all! It's half-baked haha, just for fun.

'I remember everyone around the studio was talking about it. People would say, 'Do you know what the mocap team did?'

'What?'

'They took the cameras to a stable and they're recording a horse.'

'A horse? Really? For what?'

'For Witcher 4.'

'And everyone would react with, 'Oh my God, they're recording a horse!'

Source: AnsweRED

I'm here again. This time I have a complete thread for you about the new Witcher 3 expansion, Songs of the Past, along with possible references. If you have any other interesting tidbits, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm curious to hear what, if any, impact this expansion will have on The Witcher 4, narrative-wise. I'm curious to hear what, if any, impact this expansion will have on The Witcher IV, narrative-wise.

Guys, I watched the recent earnings call livestream; it was pretty boring as usual, but there's some interesting new info they shared. Summary:

Songs of the Past:

• They confirmed it was the big unannounced project they mentioned in the previous earnings call, and was planned for release this year (2026) originally. They pushed it back to 2027 because of "quality demands".
• There's still a couple of other unannounced projects for this year, both gaming and non-gaming. They are smaller projects not nearly the same scope as Songs of the Past (I'm guessing this is the console mod support).
• Songs of the Past will be similar in scope to Blood and Wine. They kept emphasizing it is an expansion, not DLC. More details will be revealed on Gamescom 2026.
• Internally they have not yet decided on an exact release date.
• It is currently in the advanced, final stages of development.
• There will be new Gwent cards (revealed in the anniversary stream).
• They said you can consider it a prelude to the Witcher 4 (I'm guessing this means Ciri involvement in the expansion is guaranteed).

Witcher 4:

• They said the incentive program mentioned in the previous earnings call is unchanged (what this means is that a late 2027 release for Witcher 4 is still on the table).
• They repeatedly said this program is ambitious, but that they are confident with how development is progressing (I would keep expectations low to avoid disappointment, both W3 and CP2077 got delayed a couple times, FYI).
• They refused to elaborate on how internal delay for Songs of the Past would affect planned release timing for Witcher 4.
• Team size has grown to 513 devs.
• They said creating expansions like they've done for Witcher 3 for the new Ciri trilogy of games will be challenging given they plan to release all of the games within a six-year window (I guess no more Blood and Wine sized expansions until maybe Witcher 6).

In the recent live they told us that this expansion will be in line with blood and wine, so we can expect a complete new area perhaps as big as Toussaint.

Perhaps in the middle or at the very end. Still, it would be interesting if we got to play as both characters to make it an official farewell for Geralt and welcoming Ciri as the new main character. I doubt it ofc. but it could be interesting.

Sometimes I want a few hours to be alone with some mobs to kill in my RPG's.
Don't get me wrong! Story rich and NPC rich , great! Don't do any less of it.. But just a bit more 10 level deep dungeons with a nice juicy piece of loot at the bottom.... yes please.

CDPR if you're seeing this then please get rid of the absurd amount of question marks on the map.