The Witcher 4 Will Aim to Break the Mould with Immersive NPCs

The Game Awards can be a polarising event. Some love to see the game announcements that are made. While others feel that nothing should take away from the accolades game developers have worked so hard for. The Witcher 4 was one of those exciting announcements made at TGA. 

The Witcher 4 trailer opened dramatically with a snapshot of a dark village in a rural forest setting. The opening of a sacrificial ceremony and a young woman walking to her doom. This depiction of a small village is likely indicative of the approach CD Projekt Red will take towards NPCs in their new project.

As reported by Games Radar. Sebastian Kalemba from CD Projekt Red said the team has set a new goal for themselves. Critics previously described The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 as having generic-feeling NPCs. The team have heard this criticism and has undertaken to create NPCs with greater substance and presence. 

Make no mistake this is no small undertaking and one can’t help but wonder if this may not set the team back in the development process. A likely solution is for the team to incorporate some form of generative AI. It’s not a popular idea in some circles where as others may be excited to hear about a new technology being incorporated into gaming. CD Projekt Red hasn’t explicitly mentioned AI but the temptation is surely there. Especially given how gruelling development was with previous projects from CDR like Cyberpunk 2077. 

“We’re definitely pushing the quality of NPC – the way they look, their behavior, their facial performance – as much as possible,” Sebastian Kalemba

While CD Projekt Red mentioned that they intend to focus on facial movements, behaviours and individual experiences. Mimicking the unique little idiosyncrasies that are part of an individual. That is not a small undertaking and it will be interesting to see how they undertake this challenge they’ve set for themselves. 

To find out more about The Witcher 4, click here. If you’d like to hear more about The Witcher 4 from Sebastian Kalemba and Gosia Mitręga you can do so in the YouTube video below.