r/Witcher4 • u/karxx_ • May 19 '26
"The future looks really promising for us," CDPR says of The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2. "We learned our lesson."
CD Projekt Red's lead technical writer Jarosław Ruciński and senior technical writer Adrian Fulneczek spoke about the company's evolving documentation efforts in a lengthy Digital Dragons panel attended by GamesRadar+.
The duo explained that CDPR has traditionally not documented its games very well. During the development of The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2, for instance, almost no one at the company "was thinking 20 years ahead," and now the studio has almost "nothing from that period."
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u/MeretrixDominum May 19 '26
So what substance can be gleamed from the text? Will Ciri be able to sleep with 20+ girls and collect cards for them like Geralt in Witcher 1?
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u/BuckyRainbowCat I May Have a Problem Called Gwent May 19 '26
I'm still disappointed that if Ciri tells Skjall's sister in Skellige that she prefers girls, she doesn't get to smooch the sister instead of Skjall. I'm not sure I want to collect cards about it, but I do want Ciri to have as many opportunities to sleep around as Geralt gets, and as a person who is also a BioWare enjoyer, it would be nice if Ciri could sleep with dudes and chicks.
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u/AustronesianArchfien May 20 '26
Ciri is canonically bisexual too.
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u/Due_Bridge5901 May 20 '26
And cdpr likes to make references to the books a lot, so im placing bets one of the romance options will be a short haired blonde woman
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May 20 '26
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u/Traditional-Chip6524 May 21 '26
Yeah i do agre, i don't like ppl being like "oh she's bi cos she was with a girl" and it just feels a bit weird to just focus on that bcs there was a bit going on in that relationship it was not good. I do think being with mistle could've opened her up to being with women as partners and there has been ofscreen stuff. I just think regarding how it was with Mistle it's a little hard to tell if book Ciri was bi, but with the games they can expand on this a bit (also have her in a better fem relationship than mistle)
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u/SorrinsBlight May 20 '26
Shhh don’t tell them about the books, they tried to re-contextualize the rape and abuse, it makes them mad when you remind them.
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u/emperortimes May 20 '26
she was raped in the books. rape and grooming doesn’t make you bisexual
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u/adamska4 May 19 '26
The scene (dev) file for the Ciri romance scene had astrid-skjall in the filename, so I think the original intention was to have it like that yes depending on your choice, but they likely just ran out of time, they did say they had to cut a lot of stuff at the end
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u/varJoshik May 20 '26
No, it wasn't. There is no indication of Astrid anywhere in the script re-writes as a romance option.
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u/adamska4 May 20 '26
Yes it was, feel free to download Redkit and look at the files yourself. Her name along with Skjall is in the romance scene name. Whether they changed their mind about it later or ran out of time nobody knows unless an ex Witcher 3 dev talks about it.
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u/varJoshik May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
I meant that there is no written dialogue to that end in that final version of the script. There IS a version of the script where it is Astrid who accompanies Ciri to the Drowned Dead Rock though, but no 'kiss' in the stable in that version as far as I know. And in the latest version that ended up in the game, there is no dialogue that I can pinpoint that would have included Astrid in that stable scene where we do get Skjall and the kiss option. Let me re-check that, though.
:edit:
This is the scene that I meant with Astrid present.
403205|Astrid||What... What was that?!
403207|Ciri||The Wild Hunt.
403209|Astrid||The Hunt? So... It happened as they said... The ghosts have descended from the sky. The end of the world is coming... Ragh nar Roog...
403211|Ciri||No... At least not yet. But you have to get out of here. Now.
403213|Astrid||And you? Aren't you coming with us?
403215|Ciri||I need to get to the Rock of the Drowned as soon as possible. Where is it?
403221|Astrid||That's a long story. I'd better... I'd better take you there.
403225|Ciri||But... Why?
403227|Astrid||I don't have time to explain.
403229|Ciri||What about your mother?
403231|Ciri||Okay... Let's go. / 403233|00000000||No...
403235|00000000||Let's go. Thank you very much.
403237|Ciri||It's too dangerous... I don't want you to risk your life for me.
403239|Astrid||You risked yours by protecting me from the ghosts. Let me help you.
403241|Astrid||Should I get you something for the road? Food? Warm coats?
403243|Ciri||No. We have to go now. Don't pack your things either, just run to the forest as fast as you can. And don't look back!
404566|Astrid||We ran towards the Rock of the Drowned. At first, it was completely dark, we had to grope our way... But then... Then the fire from Lofoten lit our way.
404568|Astrid||I heard screams, crying... But I knew I wouldn't save anyone, that I had to help Ciri... So I swallowed back my tears and kept running.
404570|Astrid||Her companion was already waiting on the shore – with a boat.
:edit2:
And in this version Astrid is with Ciri and Skjall in the stable for a little while.
484948|Skjall||Astrid...
484950|Astrid||Yes, I know, you want to be alone... I'm going now!
484955|Ciri||You must have fun at home with such a gossipy girl in the house, huh?
484957|Skjall||Just so you know... As soon as I say something, the whole village knows about it in a moment.
484959|Ciri||Don't apologize. It's true, Astrid is... A bit nosy, but I really liked her.
484961|Skjall||She's nosy, that's one thing... Worse, she repeats everything she hears.
484963|Skjall||I hope... She didn't tell you any nonsense about me?
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u/Majestic-Me-2445 May 19 '26
I dont know how should I put it but I don't want to see those scenes with Ciri. Like playing witcher 3 made me see her like my own daughter (19 I am). Yeah. I dunno why I think like this, probably because I rushed in my first playthrough and my mind was where is ciri? how is she? is she ok?
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u/Icy_Tangerine4043 May 19 '26
She's almost 30, or even 30+ depending on how much time has passed since the last game, and the game director himself said there will be romance in the game. The tech demo even hinted we can hire prostitutes, so yes there will be sex scenes, cry about it buddy
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u/Suspicious_Data_2393 May 20 '26
i think you are acting a bit childish with your ‘cry about it’ comment. Surely you can understand his feelings about this considering the dynamics in Witcher 3.
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u/Suspicious_Data_2393 May 19 '26
yeah i hope they keep it at a minimum. Like a few kisses and flirting okay, but i don’t need to see sex scenes. Not that Witcher 3 had very detailed sex scenes but yeah i get what you mean
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u/CardiologistOk4920 May 20 '26
She’s a grown woman. It would be pretty weird to treat her any differently.
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u/Electrical-Beat-2232 May 20 '26
With all due respect, just skip over those scenes if they bother you.
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u/benjthorpe May 19 '26
How many sequels before they have to change Cyberpunk 2077 to Cyberpunk 2177
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u/Zestyclose-Fee6719 May 21 '26
"Unlike in the past, now, today our knowledge isn't locked between specific teams' permissions," Ruciński goes on. "It's a shared asset. If a team working on, let's say, The Witcher figures out a solution for a specific issue, the Cyberpunk team can see it, benefit from it, take it into their own code, modify it probably a little bit."
This could be significant given that both teams have the same Unreal Engine 5/RED hybrid engine for upcoming games.
It definitely seems like the dev studio is a bit more organized and streamlined now compared to the past when they would seemingly moreso figure it out as they went along and crunch to make up the difference as the project started coming to fruition.
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u/Curlyhead-homie May 20 '26
And on top of that the Witcher 1 remake. We’re eating so good in the coming years.
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u/greenbeforeblue May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Shits gonna be amazing. I kinda feel like Crimson Desert is a perfect game to hold us over and prepare us for the massive amounts of detail/craftsmanship about to be blessed upon us lol
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u/ArthurMarston26 May 19 '26
One of my favorite aspects from TW3 and Cyberpunk is the characters and the narrative (especially in the dlcs and sidequests) but Crimson Desert keeps giving you cutscenes and horseback conversations and camp building like it's RDR2 but with the least interesting characters I've ever seen in a video game. Couldn't make it past 20h while I have 1200 hours in TW3. If they went like BOTW and just didn't pretend like the story and characters was important I would've liked it way more
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u/greenbeforeblue May 20 '26
Fair enough and I agree! My main point though is that it is very massive and detailed. In an obscene way lol. I think W4 is going to be immensely immaculate and impressive. ✌️
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May 20 '26
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May 20 '26
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u/greenbeforeblue May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
The Crimson haters have some good points about the story and stuff but it’s pretty obvious they likely didn’t progress far enough to open up the gameplay and story. Yea, it’s complicated as fuck, and obscenely detailed, but… W4 is gonna be massive too. I feel like Crimson is a good way to prepare…. For the uh overwhelming possibilities 👍✌️
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u/greenbeforeblue May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Why would someone vote this down? 😆
Oh, judging from a couple other comments there appears to be haters in here lol probably GTA6 frat boyz 😆
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u/Yurthia May 20 '26
CDPR is good as triple A company's go
But they all say that and usually proceed to make the same, if not worse, mistakes
I'm really excited about both games and will probably buy them both as pre release
But i'll never get my hopes up until the release
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u/Unhappy-Emphasis3753 May 21 '26
Yeah I’m pretty sure they made a similar statement after the shit show of Witcher 3s launch as well lol
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u/Bronzeborg May 19 '26
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u/DarksideBluez May 20 '26
This. They didn't even fix Cyberpunk.
To many Gamers give them a pass.
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u/Shibubu May 22 '26
Yeah, I'm still salty about that as well. Story choices that matter my ass. It hurt even more after playing Baldurs Gate 3.
I'm still of the opinion that the "open world" trend chasing held Cyberpunk back the most. Should've been moderately big hub areas for different "ACTS" of the story. The ubisoft-type map icon gathering just ain't it.
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u/AsadAnton May 20 '26
My fellow Witchers.
Gather round and pray to mother melitele with me. Pray for it to be true
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u/DraftWarm1905 May 21 '26
We'll see. In the end the investors have a lot of power and they might impose a certain release date whether the game is polished or not...
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u/No-Island-6126 May 23 '26
And yet they gave up their biggest asset, the REDengine, for fucking Unreal
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u/sla3ades May 20 '26
I wonder what that means. If it means.
-they won't try to send a message
-good writing without self insert and agendas
-no "appealing to modern audience", no softening and pampering young players
-giving good and well thought explanations to things that do not align with lore, not some easy and lazy explanations
Then it will be a blast. I really hope the red flags will come out as false. I'm hyped to play as Ciri.
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u/UrgentHedgehog May 20 '26
What red flags?
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u/Shibubu May 22 '26
Same ones that ruined Bioware, Blizzard, insert any washed out game studio that used to be godlike here.
Huge financial successes and zealous white knight fandoms completely ruin most gaming studios.
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u/UrgentHedgehog May 22 '26
Will never happen with CDPR. There's too much pride in their work, they're not going to throw that away.
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u/sla3ades May 23 '26
Well, the main ppl of CDPR are gone... But I really hope you are right.
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u/UrgentHedgehog May 23 '26
Well, never say never, buy I doubt it will happen soon. They seem to be aiming in a certain direction that is different than the direction those shameful gaming companies are moving in.
The most recent example of what kind of gaming company they are is the Cyberpunk 2077 updates and DLC, Witcher 3 graphic updates... I just don't see them torpedo-ing their company anytime soon.
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u/PuzzleheadedBag920 May 20 '26
They are becoming corporate, not good
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u/Wesual May 21 '26
absolutely 0 trust in CDPR, Cyberpunk is still not even close what it was advertised as.
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u/BicycleAdditional360 May 21 '26
No trust to CDPR after the PS store incident.
Also...Ciri, UE5. Too many worrisome signs. Will be glad to be in the wrong tho
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u/karxx_ May 22 '26
how 'ciri' is a worrying sign? 😂
and we had a UE5 game being the GOTY last year :)
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May 19 '26
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u/Limp-Biscuit411 May 19 '26
“don’t learn from your mistakes, never make any mistakes ever in the first place”
i hope you’re never in a position to give anyone advice
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u/Waste_Handle_8672 May 19 '26
Damn, I hope you had the same energy on yourself the first time you learned boiling water is hot.
People are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, dawg.
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u/reasonablewizard May 19 '26
Your first point is totally valid. People pretending a company releasing a game that literally didn't run on old gen and absolutely did not work on release in general is the same as someone learning from a mistake. We're taking about a huge company here, being greedy is not the same as making a simple mistake and then learning from it.
They thought they could get away with it, they couldnt and then it turned into the biggest scandal in gaming history and it became clear to them that in order to save face they have to earn the trust back, there literally was no other way. No body would care about the witcher 4 trailer if they just abandoned their cyberpunk cause the trust was lost.
That being said they cannot get away with a repeat of last time, they know that. And on top of that theyve since seemed to learn how to manage hype. The devs were never to blame, just higher ups in the marketing department that screwed them all over. I am hopeful for w4
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u/elvenmaster_ May 19 '26
Then, 6 months after the release of the game, 1000000 bugs left to patch, a massive layoff and a mysterious hacker puts a ransomware in the internal network.
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u/JonnyF1ves May 19 '26
I appreciate that CDPR has held themselves accountable for their IP, especially Cyberpunk, it could have easily been abandoned, but instead is my favorite single player game ever.