The first major surprise at The Game Awards turned out to be from CD Projekt. While it is probably years away from launch The Witcher IV, previously known as Project Polaris, received an official reveal at the show. Catch the Unreal Engine 5-based pre-rendered trailer above. The studio says that it has been rendered using an unannounced NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU.
As many suspected, Ciri from The Witcher 3 will take the protagonist role over from Geralt in this new trilogy.
"We"re kicking off a brand-new Witcher saga, this time with Ciri as the heart of the story," said Sebastian Kalemba, Game Director. "It feels so good to finally be able to say those words — for the longest time we knew that we wanted Ciri to be the protagonist of The Witcher IV; it just felt natural to us and we believe that Ciri deserves it. In this game we want to explore what it means to truly become a witcher by following Ciri on her Path. This trailer is a taste of both that, and just how dark and grounded the world of The Witcher can be."
The dual sword-wielding Ciri can be seen taking out a monster tormenting a highly religious village. She can be seen using multiple magical powers and even taking a swig of a Cat potion to see in the dark at one point.
CD Projekt RED says that the in-engine trailer uses the same tech it"s using the build The Witcher IV, adding that "it aims to provide players with a cinematic look at the kind of experience the game is aspiring to provide."
The studio did not give a release window for when fans can enter the dark fantasy of The Witcher IV at the show though. Even platforms it"s targeting are unknown right now.