My Witcher 4 Wishlist

With the reveal at the Game Awards of the Witcher 4, it got me thinking about what I would really like to see in this new series. The developers have done the rounds recently giving more information about certain aspects, but I haven’t been able to watch or listen to them all so it’s possible they have already confirmed some things that I want will be in the game. Nonetheless, here is my quick list of 5 things I am hoping the Witcher 4 has or does. A witchlist of sorts…

1. New Cast of Characters

Geralt’s entourage of Triss Merigold, Yennefer, Dandelion, Zoltan, Vesemir, and others was well established and fleshed out. With CDPR confirming that Geralt will be around in this game, I hope the developer’s do not lean too hard on the previous games’ cast. I am sure we will encounter most of that entourage, but hopefully outside of Geralt, they remain cameos and perhaps side quest appearances without taking too much space in the game itself. 

Ciri deserves her own journey with her own friends and companions that shape her world. I think Geralt is the one exception to that since he was so critical to the person she is now, but I would see him taking up more of a Vesemir role. When you take the step to give a character their own journey, I think to do that justice, it also means that they should discover people to surround themselves with them are personal to them rather than relying on nostalgia to appease fans but shortchange the independence of the protagonist.

2. Differentiate Ciri the Witcher from Geralt the Witcher

Geralt’s early days as a Witcher are confined to the books. Even in those, we don’t spend too much time in the time period where he was still learning the trade. Most instances of seeing his young self is in spurts and moments, but for the most part time spent with Geralt is at his peak as a witcher. Starting a new series of games with Ciri who has just become a Witcher allows the audience to really go through the paces of learning what it takes to get to Geralt’s level. To me, this is the main attraction of changing the main character of the series. Learning to make oils and potions, starting her own knowledge base of monsters, and so on will add a new experience when playing that was not as present in previous games.

On top of that, Ciri is the first person to become a witcher by choice and the first confirmed case of a woman to be a witcher. I will remind you that Witchers of the past were all kidnapped as young boys and made to go through the trials of the grass, which killed most of them, to then be forced into the trade of being the monster hunters that they become. Ciri as a protagonist provides this new aspect where she is the first woman to be a witcher and she chose to become one of her own volition. This adds new layers to not only her as a character for the purposes of the story, but it will also change the types of interactions she will have with other people who will be encountering her for the first time. 

The fact that Ciri is the lady of space and time should also add another layer to her abilities in combat where she can use proper magic rather than the rudimentary forms in terms of signs that witchers usually use. Her experience as a witcher should be a major differentiating factor between her and Geralt.

Clearly, the developers are on the same wavelength with my wish here as they’ve chosen to create a new witcher school for Ciri – the school of the lynx. I hope there’s more to this house as well for us to discover or perhaps even build as Ciri as the game goes along.

3. New Regions

In line with the previous points, a new journey with a new character would not be complete with new opportunities for exploration in lands not yet covered in Geralt’s journey. Much of his journey has focused on the areas between Redania and Cintra in the games. Some other games such as Thronebreaker have covered a bit more of the eastern side of the Continent with its settings of Lyria, Rivia, and Aedirn, but due to the different format of that game, I won’t be counting it as part of the general Witcher continuity. 

This new game follows the Witcher 3 where many of the political ongoings were wrapped up for the most part and the ending where Ciri became empress has clearly been discarded from canon. This would allow the game to set this game in areas yet to be covered in the mainline series, whether that means going North towards the Dragon Mountains or East towards Blue Mountains or even to warmer locales like to the South in Nilfgaard close to the Korath Desert. That latter option does not seem to be on the table given the setting of the trailer but I’d be happy as long as we mostly get to discover completely new places. 

However, if we could drop by Toussaint for a visit with Geralt, I would not be against that. 

4. Bring Back Big Expansions

The Witcher 3 is one of the last games that released large-scale expansion content in Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Now that doesn’t mean no other game has done that since. Elden Ring released a massive expansion in Shadow of the Erdtree while CDPR’s own Cyberpunk 2077 had excellent additional content in its Phantom Liberty expansion. However, these cases are few and far between. Cyberpunk 2077 itself was meant to have another large expansion but due to its launch issues, resources had to be put towards fixing the game rather than developing additional content. 

I would love for the Witcher 4 to return to what was done in the Witcher 3 and release two big expansions post-game to continue to flesh out the world, introduce new elements and give players the chance to return to the game after the initial story. I know it may seem odd to ask for expansion content from a game, but CDPR has a track record of excellent additional content and that they have it planned out ahead of time. In fact, the launch trailer for the Witcher 3 (https://youtu.be/1-l29HlKkXU) features content that would only be seen a year later in the second expansion of the game, Blood and Wine. In fact, I would love for CDPR to do something similar with the launch of the Witcher 4 as well. It hits the perfect balance between hype for the game while also realizing at the end of it that you never actually saw the content in the trailer, which then makes you anticipate what more they have in store. 

5. Gwent

I mean come on. I want Gwent back in the same form as in the Witcher 3. It’s perfect and does not need to be modified to make it more like the other versions that have been seen in Thronebreaker or in its standalone game. New cards are welcome, but my precious Gwent must return and remain my beloved Gwent that it is. Nothing deeper than this: I just want Gwen again, thank you.

That’s my complete witchlist! I think these are all reasonable things to expect from the new game but even if this is not what we get, I have full faith in CDPR to deliver an excellent game and experience. I’d love to hear what you’d like to see as well!