The Witcher series has never held back regarding romance options, but they’re usually short-lived and offer more of a break from the action than anything else. In 2015’s The Witcher 3, players were typically fed into an Option A vs. Option B model for their romantic choices, with a few sub-selection flings thrown in for good measure.
It has been promised that in The Witcher 4, CDPR will eliminate ‘romance for the sake of making a romance’.
True Love
CD Projekt Red revealed The Witcher 4 during The Game Awards earlier this month. The team dropped a stunning six-minute trailer revealing Ciri as the game’s protagonist, not Geralt of Rivia. Those familiar with the story will recognise why this was always the only option for The Witcher games.
In The Witcher 3, the player can romance a few characters, with the most major choice laying in their ultimate decision between Yennefer and Triss. Even Ciri, who is a supporting character in The Wild Hunt, has a brief brush with romance.
The concept of incorporating a bit of romance into The Witcher 4 as a box tick isn’t going to be the case.
In a recent interview, CDPR’s Sebastian Kalemba, the game’s director, explained how they’re leaning more into the concept of forming relationships in The Witcher 4.
It’s a part of the way we make games. It is a part of human nature. It’s a very normal thing. Without that I think we wouldn’t be able to tell the very full story.
We want to pay a lot of attention to it and make it super compelling and very meaningful. So it’s not just to make a romance for the sake of making a romance. That’s not the CDPR way.
In CDPR’s most recent game, Cyberpunk 2077, forming a relationship with the options available is something that happens over many hours of play and several missions. It’s woven into the game’s choice patterns, and even small details, such as how characters speak in messages once in love with the protagonist, weigh into it.
We recently learned that The Witcher 4 will have ‘around the same-sized map’ as The Witcher 3.
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