The Witcher 4’s reveal trailer at The Game Awards in December was a lengthy one, but it had nothing to show in terms of gameplay, instead being billed as an in-engine concept that’s meant to be representative of what the final game will look like. Even so, developer CD Projekt RED has teased plenty of gameplay-related tidbits since the official announcement.
Speaking in an interview with content creator Parris Lilly, for instance, game director Sebastian Kalemba spoke about CDPR’s ambitions in terms of what it wants to achieve with The Witcher 4’s NPCs in particular. As per Kalemba, the goal is to ensure that every NPC in the game looks like they’re living their own, distinct life, with the aim being to heighten the player’s immersion as much as possible.
“We have this rule to make every single [The Witcher 4] NPC looking like they’re living, with their own story,” Kalemba said (transcription via GamesRadar).
“We’re definitely pushing the quality of NPC – the way they look, their behavior, their facial performance – as much as possible because we want to make an even more immersive experience than we used to,” the director added. “We are trying to push the bar here.”
Since The Witcher 4’s announcement, CDPR has also officially confirmed that though Ciri stars as the new protagonist (with a new actor playing her), Geralt of Rivia will still be returning, with Doug Cockle reprising his role. How extensive his role will be remains to be seen.
The Witcher 4’s open world will be about the same size as that of its predecessor, while fan-favourite card collecting and battling minigame Gwent also looks likely to return.