Witcher 4: Where The Story Should Go Next

The Reign Of Ciri

Though Ciri had drastically different fates depending on your choices in the third game, the series still ends with her as arguably the most interesting character in terms of their future; be she prospective Queen or Witcher. On a practical level, since so much of the Witcher 3 is spent endearing you to Ciri, and establishing her, having anyone else as the star of the future games would feel like a bit of a waste, even if executed well.

Similarly, not having Ciri play a centre role would mean developers would be unable to reference a lot of source material, given the books that the games are based on focus around Geralt and Ciri, as a sort of prequel (although the games and books aren't considered canonically linked).

Though it's been made very clear by the author that the gaming side of things is only an adaptation of the world and characters, ignoring six beautifully written books with ample lore for inspiration seems to be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Since we don't actually get to see very much of Ciri in the Witcher 3 - especially if you don't fully count flashbacks, which is roughly ninety percent of our time spent with her - having her as once again an incredibly likeable character relegated to the background pales in comparison to getting to see her do her thing without wondering when we'll end up going back to playing as Geralt again. For a chosen one, we sure didn't seen to choose spending an awful lot of time with her, really.

And Ciri's story is clearly crucial to the future of our beloved fantasy world, so it makes perfect sense to explore this fascinating period through one of its key players. This does raise issues in terms of forcing some endings of the game to be rendered moot - as Cirilla's story would arguably be more interesting if she did take the throne instead of choosing to become a witcher. But, given Geralt tried desperately to stay out of politics as a witcher and still found himself embroiled in political turmoil, it would make sense if his heir is cursed with the same problem. They may not be related by blood, by the pair are definitely joined by the inconvenience their job nets them, if nothing else.

On the technical side, developers have even already created Ciri as a playable character, since you do play as her for sections of the game, and some very exciting boss fights. This wasn't universally loved, of course, but this was only because it felt clunky going from Geralt, who you'd likely spent a hundred hours playing as, and now had to quickly pick up a totally different fighting style. But if we were allowed more time to get used to Cirilla's sweet teleporting moves, it'd no doubt prove tons of fun for even fans who previously hated it - no doubt helped by a touch of elbow grease in revitalising for a new age of consoles.

Finally - and while this might be a little soft - the most important reason Ciri should continue on the story of the Witcher series is because she's very much Geralt's successor. It's clear at the end of the final game that he believes in her, and knows she can absolutely succeed at whatever she wants to put her heart and mind into. At the end of the day, if Geralt believes in her, it's hard for us to not.

Throughout the Witcher 3, we sort of watched Ciri grow up, and to some degree raised her, as our advice and actions influenced the type of person she became. With this ground work already done, seeing her blossom in the span of her own trilogy would honour the original games, while also allowing the franchise to grow in new and wonderful directions.

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What do you think the next Witcher game will be like? Will Ciri take the main role, or someone else entirely? Let us know in the comment section down below!