The Witcher 4 director Sebastian Kalemba has more to share after his announcement that The Witcher 4 has now "entered the full-scale production phase" and our first real look at the new RPG during The Game Awards 2024 - including a deeper dive into how Ciri will differ as protagonist and how CD Projekt Red landed on her over Geralt.
Speaking in a recent interview with IGN, Kalemba begins by describing how having Ciri as the protagonist this time around offers players more freedom - she is younger than Geralt, after all, which opens opportunities of defining and shaping her to fans in ways not possible with her adoptive father previously. It also allows CD Projekt Red to explore Ciri more than before, and to develop her with an added layer of depth.
"She's actually about to become the Witcher," says Kalemba. "She's about to actually form her own codex, but on her own terms. The way she actually deals with the monsters, the way she deals with quests, the adventures, it's her own unique way. And also I think that she gives more room to be able to tell different stories here and there." Having Ciri act as the protagonist gives more power to the player - and to the younger Witcher, too.
"Of course, we want to give the opportunity for the player to explore more nuance because this is what we do," continues the lead. "But she deserves that." The director knows having Ciri step in as protagonist won't go over well with everyone in the community, but it was a choice CD Projekt Red made with clear intention and a good bit of thought. "There was an intention behind this choice," admits Kalemba.
"It was far from roulette. It wasn't random. I remember we had discussions nine years ago, we were talking about, 'Who's next?' The very, very instant answer was, 'Ciri.'" As for why, the dev says there are "many reasons" behind the decision. "We've already mentioned a few," he states. "But she really deserves a stage and we want players to really experience her story because she has so much to tell, so much to prove."
Kalemba concludes by reaffirming how much Ciri has to tell, and how strongly CD Projekt Red feels that having her take on what was previously Geralt's role was the correct choice: "The amount of challenges that are in front of her give us so much amazing energy and fuel to create an epic saga that we had no choice but to go with it. We all felt that this is the way. I believe this is the super right choice."
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