CDPR Discusses The Witcher 4 Map Size, Quests, And Return Of Fan-Favorite Minigame

Following the surprise announcement of Project Polaris, which was confirmed to be The Witcher 4 at The Game Awards 2024 by developer CD Projekt RED, the game has entered its full production scale as of November 2024. While the development team is busy on the next entry in the mainline Witcher series, they've recently shared plenty of information on what players can anticipate in The Witcher 4.

The developer has spoken to a handful of publications and appeared on podcasts which their VP and The Witcher 4 Game Director Sebastian Kalemba and Executive Producer Małgorzata "Gosia" Mitrega recently visited SkillUp's Friends Per Second podcast to discuss The Witcher 4 and their surprise reveal at The Game Awards. They went into depth on why Ciri felt like a natural fit as the protagonist which Kalemba iterated that "this is the time for her, time for her saga,"Geralt's presence in The Witcher 4 story and discussing some gameplay features and content, including the game's map size and Quests.

It's confirmed that The Witcher 4 picks up years after its third entry, The Wild Hunt, and it features an expanding narrative and unique combat system while retaining some aspects of player agency where some actions they make can determine outcomes for various characters, as evident in the Reveal trailer. On the environment design of the game's World Map, there will be new locations to visit that should further deepen the game's lore and immersion through its storytelling, which the scope of its map was discussed.

When asked about the overall scale of The Witcher 4's map compared to The Witcher 3; The Witcher 4 aims to be a "similar size and shape" to its predecessor, something Kalemba detailed. The map size is more or less on par with The Witcher 3, which lends to the amount of Quests that will be included in The Witcher 4 to be similar once again to The Witcher 3, which both its size relates to how massive the game will be overall to the team's ambition going into its development.

Kalemba and Mitrega also spoke with Easy Allies this week, giving Witcher fans an update or rather a tease on one gameplay feature returning to The Witcher 4. When questioned on the possibility of the Gwent card game reappearing in The Witcher 4, which got a standalone game in 2018, Mitrega stated that not only does the team love Gwent but added that they "don't think anyone will be disappointed," alluding to it possibly returning as Kalemba later mentioned that Gwent is "part of the experience."