During the 2024 Game Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, CD Projekt Red revealed a first look at The Witcher IV — the first game in the new Witcher saga. The nearly six-minute trailer offers a first look at Ciri, as the protagonist she takes on a Witcher contract in a remote village terrorized for generations by a monster demanding ritual sacrifice. The Witcher IV has been developed using customized Unreal Engine 5 technology. The cinematic trailer released at The Game Awards is pre-rendered in a custom build of Unreal Engine 5 on an unannounced NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU. CD Projekt Red aims to make The Witcher IV the most immersive and ambitious open-world Witcher game to date.

The nearly six-minute trailer introduces Ciri, the adopted daughter of Geralt of Rivia. Framed as a short, self-contained Witcher story, the trailer showcases Ciri’s abilities and tools, including a chain and advanced magic powers.

At the heart of the trailer is Ciri’s perspective as an outsider to the village. As the villagers say goodbye to one of their own — a young girl they are preparing for a traditional ritual sacrifice — Ciri chooses to intervene. Aiming to slay the beast and save the girl at the same time, Ciri finds herself at odds with the prejudices and superstitions of the people she tries to protect, leading her to confront a painful Witcher lesson – that monsters come in all forms.

Powered by the same tech that The Witcher IV is built on and using assets and models from the game itself, the trailer provides players with a cinematic look at the kind of experience the game aspires to provide. The trailer was created through a close collaboration between CD Projekt Red and Platige Image, who are no strangers to The Witcher universe, having been responsible for intro cinematics for previous installments of the video game series.

The Witcher IV is a single-player, open-world RPG from CD Projekt Red. At the start of a new saga, players take on the role of Ciri and embark on a journey through a brutal dark fantasy world.