By now it’s common knowledge that one of the biggest shifts in CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 4 will be its main character, with players assuming the role of Ciri instead of Geralt, who had been the franchise’s protagonist since its inception in 2007.
Ciri, who is Geralt’s apprentice/adopted daughter in the series, will naturally play differently than players were accustomed to with Geralt, which CPDR senior communications manager Pawel Burza emphasized in a recent episode of the AnsweRED podcast, citing a specific instance from The Witcher 4 trailer where Ciri nails an enemy to the ground before executing a “really cool” somersault to finish off her assailant.
“You don’t see Geralt doing these things,” Burza said. “He’s nimble, but he feels like a block in some sense. She’s like liquid compared to him.”
Geralt and Ciri/CD Projekt Red
Game director Sebastian Kalemba added that Ciri “moves like she was raised by wolves in Kaer Morhen,” stemming “from her personality, her posture and stuff.”
While players were given a hint as to how Ciri would differ from Geralt in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, where they were able to assume the role of Ciri during specific story sequences and key moments in the narrative where her presence was required, The Witcher 4 will accentuate the differences in Ciri’s fighting style to Geralt’s more than ever.
Witcher 4 trailer director Tomek Suwalsk also discussed the importance of atmosphere and tension over action in introducing Ciri to the audience, as well as where he drew influence and cinematographic techniques for the trailer, which included A24 films like The Witch and The Lighthouse.
“What I like about those films is that they allow for a slow burn, which is a very rare thing to have in short-form and in a trailer,” Suwalski said.
Ciri in The Witcher 4 trailer/CD Projekt Red
“I love slow burns. I love when the story has its own individual pacing. And I don’t believe that the audience has to be bombarded in the first five seconds, otherwise, they will just skip it… “They are dark movies, they’re horror movies. And I was like, ‘Wow… I really resonate with those kinds of vibes.’ So I was super excited and happy that it’s dark,” Suwalski said of the trailer’s atmosphere.
“Something we really wanted to capture in the trailer, is how fear and superstition drive people,” Suwalski added. “The books always had this theme where the real monsters are often not the creatures, but the people.”
Do the comments made by The Witcher 4 devs on how Ciri’s fighting style will differ from Geralt’s make you more excited to play the game? Let us know in the comments.
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