When The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt released in 2015, it won the Game of the Year Award, taking home a record-breaking 11 wins at the Joystick Awards. In fact, it even holds the record for the most awards won for a video game prior to release. As the years passed, The Witcher aged like fine wine. It remains the gold standard for fantasy video games.
The success of The Witcher in the video game medium has also had a major impact on the franchise across pop culture. Yes, we're most notably talking about the Netflix adaptation (which first and foremost adapts the books, but also takes heavy influence from the game, especially stylistically). The Netflix series will return for its fourth season later this year, with Liam Hemsworth stepping into the main role of Geralt of Rivia, replacing Henry Cavill.
As for the much-anticipated fourth game, narrative director Philipp Weber is feeling the pressure. "I'm like, 'Yeah, how are we going to do that?'" he told GamesRadar+ when asked about how the upcoming sequel will weigh up against its predecessor.
On that front, he's able to look at the development of the game differently. "I don't see video games as mathematical," he explained. "I think the way we want to do justice to the legacy of The Witcher 3 is to take the philosophy we had during The Witcher 3 - how to make a game, how to really care about these things, how to tell stories - and keep that philosophy."
“At the same time, there are new questions we want to answer, because this is supposed to feel like a true sequel, not just redoing what we did before,” he continued. “And I think it’s really trying to have that healthy mix of really moving forward and also trying out some new things, but doing justice to what was there, not trying to beat it.”
Despite The Witcher 3 being regarded as one of the greatest achievements in video game history, Weber's favorite remains The Witcher 1, released way back in 2007. "I know many people have problems with that, but I love it," he said.
It's this subjectivity that he hopes gets carried into the next instalment: "Some people will really love The Witcher 4, and hopefully those should be the people that love The Witcher 3, because the philosophy we had - how we make games, how we make quests, what The Witcher means to us - it's the same one."
Here's to hoping The Witcher 4 lives up to expectations. Alongside GTA 6 and Elder Scrolls 6, it's arguably the most anticipated upcoming video game. No release date for The Witcher 4 has been announced yet, but don't expect to see anything before 2027.
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