Witcher 3

[UPDATE – 3/24] – It has apparently been confirmed by CDPR that the medallion is in fact a Lynx.

Good morning friends! We are about to go on a journey of wild speculation. On this journey I am going to talk about a lot of events that happen in the Witcher video game series, namely the third outing. If you have not played this game and are spoiler sensitive, then today’s post might not be for you. If you have played the game or simply don’t care… then join me on this ride. On March 21st, CD Projekt Red released this teaser image on twitter along with a link to a blog post outlining a few bits of information. Firstly this is the official confirmation of what pretty much everyone assumed… that there is another Witcher game in the works. Secondly it announces that effectively after Cyberpunk, all future development will be abandoning their custom REDengine in favor of Unreal Engine 5.

This is probably a good call honestly. Let’s talk about this piece first because it is maybe the least speculative. Based on past experience with studios that insist on building their own engine… the track record is pretty spotty. For example a good number of the problems associated with both Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem came down to them struggling to master the Frostbite engine produced by DICE and originally designed for first person shooters. Similarly the REDengine itself is known for more than a little bit of jank associated with it. Companies roll their own engines largely in an effort to avoid having to pay a license fee on each copy sold of the game. However it is starting to seem like maybe having a highly optimized engine right out of the box is worth the fees associated with it. I personally think this is a great move.

Next up we have the sigil/talisman being shown. It is very clearly from the School of the Wolf or any of the “known” schools that are either from book or game canon. What I thought immediately was that it seemed like it was maybe a Lynx with the way the ears were shaped. While there does not exist a canon “School of the Lynx” there is one in fan fiction. Now I have some personal problems with the way this school is described, so I highly doubt that CD Projekt Red is borrowing a note from “fic” directly. Per the wiki page, this school is said to have been formed by Lambert and Keira Metz. At the end of Witcher 3, the School of the Wolf is in shambles and the remaining Witchers all go their own ways abandoning Kaer Morhen.

Lambert specifically does in deed couple up with Kiera Metz as she talks about some plans for which she would need a Witcher. It is assumed that the two of them go off together, but to the best of my knowledge there is no specific place that they were said to be going. In the “fic” the author sees them going south and forming a new Witcher school. So this is entirely probable because it seems like it is easy enough for any sorceress to recreate the reagents needed for the Witcher process. However why I find this deeply unlikely is that it goes against every fiber of Lambert’s being. In the books, the games, and even the Netflix series he is characterized as being severely scarred by the “Trial of the Grasses” and is vehemently set against the creation of new Witchers. I just cannot see him willfully founding another Witcher school period, regardless of how cool the Lynx sigil is.

The only other thing we have to go on from the teaser image is that there is a lot of snow. In what I consider to be the best ending of the Witcher 3, Geralt and Triss Merigold retire to Kovir. In the plot thread of helping the various magic users escape Novigrad, they boarded a ship bound for Kovir where Triss had secured their safety. Even before this image I assumed that the next game would be set in Kovir given that it is an area of the world we have yet to explore in the games. While Yennifer is the “book canon” lover of Geralt, the games have always favored Triss so I feel like the “official” ending of the third game is going to be way more likely to follow that path.

The other part of the “best” ending for me personally is when Ciri follows in Geralt’s footsteps and officially becomes a Witcher. While she has never undergone the trial, her natural magical aptitude more than makes up for any of the “official” Witcher abilities. So if Geralt ended up in Kovir, I find it highly likely that Ciri would head that way as well. With the effective death of the School of the Wolf, it does make me wonder if together they form their own School that follows a different path allowing men and women both to become Witchers. I think Geralt will have a very minimal role in this new saga because effectively the “child surprise” saga has been wrapped up neatly. I wonder even if they might go so far as to kill of Geralt and use his death as a call to action.

Ultimately I think we are headed down a path that is going to give us a game that starts somewhat similar to Cyberpunk. I feel like we are going to take the role of an enigmatic character that allows us to effectively “design a Witcher”. Representation is super important and giving folks the ability to play someone other than a very specific Male archetype would go a long way to making folks feel more comfortable in the setting. For awhile I thought that maybe the next game would simply give us a choice of playing as Geralt or playing as Ciri, however post Cyberpunk I think this path is going to be more likely. My only hope is that they leave the genitalia choices out of this character creator because they just ended up being super creepy.

One of my big concerns however is that it seems like CD Projekt Red is not learning from their own mistakes. In 2013 we saw the very first teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, and it was December of 2020 before we saw the release of the game. In those seven years a toxic amount of hype was allowed to build for this game, and it would not have mattered what was released… it never would have been able to live up to expectations. I figure the best case scenario is that we are at least three years out from being able to download and play the next Witcher game. That is still a very long time for excitement to build… and I fear we are going to have a repeat of the same doom cycle that followed Cyberpunk 2077. I personally loved the game and had a great experience, but I also played the game on a beefy PC. I think the expectations are even going to be higher for the next Witcher game, and I think it is a bit of a mistake to throw out a teaser image so early when we all know the game is still MANY years away.

That said… it is somewhat fun to speculate and it allows me to write a post like this.