The Witcher 4’s Storyline Will Feature a Key Theme That Made the Series So Popular

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The Witcher 4’s Storyline Will Feature a Key Theme That Made the Series So Popular

Remember that time Geralt stood in Blaviken’s market, forced to choose between two flavors of awful? Or when you stared at your screen, agonizing over whether to help Keira Metz or let her walk into a trap? Those moments weren’t just memorable—they were the beating heart of The Witcher series.

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When both options make you feel like the real monster. | Image Credit: CD Projekt Red

Well, dust off your moral compass, because CD Projekt Red has now dropped a behind-the-scenes look at The Witcher 4′s cinematic trailer, and it’s packed with hints about what’s coming. The video, released just yesterday, peels back the curtain on December’s TGA 2024 reveal and confirms what longtime fans have been hoping for.

While Ciri steps into Geralt’s boots as protagonist, one thing isn’t changing: you’re still going to feel terrible about most of your choices. And honestly, would we want it any other way?

The lesser evil returns in The Witcher 4

The

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that introduced us to Ciri’s new adventure wasn’t just pretty visuals—it was a thoughtfully designed preview of the game’s thematic backbone. In the newly released behind-the-scenes video, CD Projekt Red‘s developers get refreshingly candid about their storytelling philosophy.

Narrative Director Philipp Weber explains their approach to moral complexity:

This trailer is an adaptation of the story that we actually want to tell in the game. We’re not gonna give you a ****** or white situation. We expect you to consider some situations, make some tough choices, and as an example, the situation that may happen after the trailer is over is such a tough choice.

That “situation after the trailer” he mentions? It’s the perfect example of the gray morality that defines this series. We watched Ciri defeat the Bauk monster, only for the villagers to immediately ******* Mioni, the girl they’d been ritually sacrificing as part of their “tradition.” The trailer ends there, but the game apparently won’t.

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What would you do in that moment? Punish the villagers? Walk away? Try to understand their desperation? There’s no clean answer—just the kind of messy, complicated scenario that made The Witcher 3 so compelling.

Another developer, Tomek Suwalski, points directly to the cultural roots of this approach:

It’s also very in our Eastern European mentality, those shades of gray everywhere, and not clear choices, and the famous lesser evil.

That “famous lesser evil” is, of course, a direct nod to Geralt’s iconic quote: “Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling… makes no difference.” Yet the irony was always that despite his protests, Geralt constantly found himself choosing anyway. Now that mantle passes to Ciri, and to us.

How Ciri’s perspective changes everything

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The White Wolf’s daughter, with choices all her own. | Image Credit: CD Projekt Red

While the core theme of moral ambiguity remains, The Witcher 4 isn’t simply recycling old ideas. Ciri brings a fundamentally different perspective to these impossible choices—one that could reshape how players experience the game’s moral dilemmas.

Unlike Geralt, who approached the world with a witcher’s emotional detachment (at least on the surface), Ciri wears her heart on her sleeve. The developers highlighted this crucial difference in their commentary:

The way she kills the monster, the way she reacts to people killing Mioni, it’s different than what Geralt would do. She lives through these emotions she’s connected with herself.

This emotional connection could make those tough choices hit even harder. Where Geralt might have approached a situation with cynicism, Ciri brings raw emotional investment. Imagine facing the same types of impossible decisions, but with a character who doesn’t hide behind a witcher’s practiced stoicism.

It’s worth noting that CD Projekt Red has been refining this formula for years. From The Witcher 3′s Bloody Baron questline to Cyberpunk 2077′s multiple endings, they’ve mastered the art of making players squirm in their seats. But now with Ciri at the helm in The Witcher 4, they’re clearly aiming to push this aspect of their storytelling even further.

What do you think about the return of morally complex choices in The Witcher 4? Are you excited to face impossible decisions as Ciri, or do you miss Geralt’s more detached approach? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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