The Witcher 4 got a surprise reveal at The Game Awards, and this one is all about Ciri

One of the biggest surprises at The Game Awards tonight was the first-ever public reveal of The Witcher 4, the next addition to CD Projekt's epic fantasy RPG series—and yes, it's now officially called The Witcher 4.

The new game was revealed with a big cinematic that sees a village maiden sent off to sacrifice. But someone has other ideas: Ciri is on the scene, swords in hand, and ready to clean house.

“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 4; it just felt natural to us and we believe that Ciri deserves it," game director Sebastian Kalemba said. "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.”

Ciri looks older to my eye in the new cinematic, suggesting a considerable time lapse between the end of The Witcher 3 and this new game. For the eternally faithful, that leaves an opportunity for a Geralt appearance, but it seems clear he's going to be a supporting character at best this time around. (That's definitely his voice at the end, though.)

This is definitely Witcher, though, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. There's no word on when that'll happen at this point, but I wouldn't expect anything soon: CD Projekt joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said that after the studio's experience with the oft-delayed Cyberpunk 2077, a "mass attack" marketing campaign—release date announcement, preorders, that sort of thing—won't happen until developers are 100% sure it's ready to go.