Witcher 4 will have to do without the Witcher. But at least a little bit of Geralt of Rivia will remain and be preserved.
The next Witcher installment will have to do without Geralt. That, at least, has been known for quite some time. But that doesn’t mean that we have to do without the famous witcher completely, because at least his voice will probably appear in one form or another.
The Witcher TV series also continues:
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What was said? The voice actor of the English original, Doug Cockle, revealed in an interview that Geralt will in some way be part of the new Witcher 4 (via yahoo.com):
The Witcher 4 has been announced. I can’t say anything about that. Geralt will be a part of the game. We don’t know how much that will be yet and the focus of the game will not be on Geralt, it’s not about him this time.
In fact, Cockle seems excited to be able to play Geralt again. He also lent his voice to the Witcher in the anime adaptation. He himself has no idea how Geralt’s story will continue or how he will be used in the new game:
I’m excited to find out. I want to know! I haven’t seen a script yet – I wouldn’t be allowed to tell anyone if I had. So I could be lying right now, but I’m not… am I?
Why doesn’t Geralt play? Most players of The Witcher III will have already realized that Geralt is no longer in the game. Even though there were many different endings, most of them made it clear that Geralt’s story had simply been told to this extent. It would also be difficult to process the numerous different endings in a new part in such a way that each story is continued “logically”.
However, if Geralt only appears as a voice, for example as a “moral voice in the head” or in flashback scenes, then that would fit much better. Something similar has been done in many other games, such as The Last of Us 2 with Joel.
It seems more likely that the story will now focus more on Ciri. The young woman was already the indirect focus of the plot in Witcher 3, because Geralt tried for a long time to find his foster daughter again – and depending on how you finished the game, he was sometimes more or less successful. After all, over 300 developers are working on the new Witcher – so it will be a big game.