CD Project Red have announced a new instalment in The Witcher series of video games. While this news will excite fans of the acclaimed game series, the announcement isn't anything to ride home about, with no details on plot, characters, or a estimated release date.
The main piece of information we are getting on this announcement, is that the game will be moving from CD Project Red's engine that they have been developing on since The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, REDengine, to Unreal Engine 5. CD Project Red's most recent release, Cyberpunk 2077, is powered by REDengine and they have stated that the engine "is still being used for the development of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 expansion." Along with moving to a new engine, the game studio has said to start a "multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games. It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine", and that their aim and "primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences". If this new move can help fix some of CD Project Red's past mistakes and buggy launches, than it is a welcome change. The Witcher 3, launched to a a whole host of bugs and of course Cyberpunk 2077, launched with multiple issues including bugs, glitches, and a inability to run on certain systems like the PS4 and Xbox One; resulting in numerous patches to essentially fix the game.
Tim Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Epic Games, remarked about the partnership:
“Epic has been building Unreal Engine 5 to enable teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity. We are deeply honored by the opportunity to partner with CD PROJEKT RED to push the limits of interactive storytelling and gameplay together, and this effort will benefit the developer community for years to come.”
All audiences received from this announcement, is a teaser image of a medallion, lying in a snowy backdrop, very similar to the medallion worn by series protagonist Geralt of RIvia. No word from CD Project Red as to whether or not Geralt would be starring in the new instalment of the series. The image hosts the title The Witcher, along with the tag line, "A new saga begins".
While audiences would love to see Geralt return, perhaps it is best if the new instalment took a new and fresh route, introducing a new character from The Witcher universe to play as. The game could be set either years before Geralt's story, or years after. Perhaps the developers will go down the same route as they did with Cyberpunk 2077. Where the player creates their own character and back story, and create their own unique path, much like other RPG's like Skyrim.
The new instalment is most likely in very early stages of development and we are very unlikely to see anything more about it for some time. We can only speculate to what is going to happen with the franchise, and what direction it will go in. Fans are sure to be excited, but also sceptical, as we do not want another launch like Cyberpunk 2077. The Witcher fans will just have to wait, and in the mean time, look forward to the next-gen upgrade of the fantastic The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which will release sometime this year.
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