A New Saga Begins

[SamR0ck]

This is a great news. I know Cyberpunk had its share of issues(I havebt bought it yet, have tons of games to finish). But i m super confident and excited about this announcement. Witcher 3 is my #1 game of all time. Just sad that I might not be able to play as Geralt again. He was the best part of all three Witcher games. Can't imagine game without him

 

[GervantOfLyria]

When you create a custom character, he gets inserted into the world out of nowhere. He never existed before and now he does, and that makes all interactions with that character unfulfilling, unnatural and out of place because it's impossible to fully take into account all variables of your custom character

Exactly. And with it you gets these amazing "yes-no-sarcasm" dialog systems and "kill 50 ghouls" quests to progress the story.

 

[replayNinja]

When you create a custom character, he gets inserted into the world out of nowhere. He never existed before and now he does, and that makes all interactions with that character unfulfilling, unnatural and out of place because it's impossible to fully take into account all variables of your custom character: race, sex, face, hair, (often poorly written) backstory, skill set, etc. Instead of having a well established protagonist with a decent backstory and character we end up having a bland and generic nobody who doesn't stand for anything and represents nothing like it was with cyberpunk, which by the way would be a much better game if it had an established protagonist. Out of all games with character creation only DOS 2 managed to create a decent story, and even then the game feels much better if you choose to play as an established character instead of creating your own. On top of that, in that particular game it worked because the lore of the game isn't focused on any particular individuals but rather on the universe as a whole. In our instance the series is literally called "The Witcher" and it has always been about particular characters and their stories, not as much about the world. Aside from DOS, I can't recall a single game with character creation that has a decent story. They may have other advantages like replayability, but The Witcher games don't need those advantages if it means sacrificing narrative because narrative is the cornerstone of this franchise

By your definition every game that has a dedicated character automatically has an amazing story, they do not.
In fact there are more cases of those being bad than the alternative. Skyrim did just fine with the character you create and developing an emersive world and characters. Cyberpunk 2077 did the same, whatever ppls thoughts on the launch, the story was not one of the problems. I hear Elden Ring is getting a lot of praise as well.
A "well established story" is what the games are for, it is it's own medium for story-telling.... Mass effect, RDR, GTA, Horizon, God of War. These did not have any predetermined lore and they also managed to tell great stories. The notion that a game can't be good unless it developed from some preexisting source has no evidence to support it since most of the great games are original IP.

You say it's impossible to take into account all the variables for a character yet all we've seen is predominantly 1...male and white. Perhaps when the day comes where we don't have the same template being used for these lead characters then maybe we can revisit this conversation because at the moment they all look the same and have for decades. That, to me is bland and limited in terms of story-telling.

 

[DuplexEagle]

I hope this releases on all PC stores simultaneously or it's a no buy from me, UE5 clearly looks like a clean and beautiful engine but if it means Epic Games Store exclusivity I'll wait until it eventually realeases on Steam.

They updated the post with "We are not planning on making the game exclusive to one storefront"
So it definitely won't be exclusive to Epic's store but it doesn't rule out the possibility of it being on both Epic's store and GOG while not being on steam. But honestly if they aren't going to make it exclusive to only Epic's store then I highly doubt they are going to be picky and choosy by not being on steam.

 

[replayNinja]

The Witcher background obviously is bigger at the moment, including not only series of books but 3 huge games, which cannot be easily ignored. Cyberpunk tabletop RPG? How many even knew of its existence?

lol, of course it's not done, i'd say it's only in the middle.

I hate to be the one to break it to you but no one knew the witcher existed before the games. They did not sell well until after the games. Prior to that, if you stopped a random person, they were more likely to have heard of the Twilight novel before the witcher. That's a tragedy in and of itself but it's the reality. The books don't even focus on monster hunting to begin with and that's what made the game work, they took what works and omitted what didn't so there's little point adding the things that they omitted now.

As for Ciri's story, for the game..yes it's done. Ciris is not a witcher, the games are about Geralt not Ciri so they have never followed the novels in it's entirety. She would have no signs or use potions or any of the skills associated with witchers. It would be a very different game. Geralt ended at a good place too, there's no further development needed for the character. This would only serve to satisfy a select few who have trouble letting go and moving forward.

 

[_Kingsman_]

By your definition every game that has a dedicated character automatically has an amazing story, they do not.

Wrong conclusion. "Almost every game with an amazing story has a dedicated character" would be more accurate

In fact there are more cases of those being bad than the alternative. Skyrim did just fine with the character you create and developing an emersive world and characters. Cyberpunk 2077 did the same, whatever ppls thoughts on the launch, the story was not one of the problems. I hear Elden Ring is getting a lot of praise as well. I hear Elden Ring is getting a lot of praise as well.

Skyrim is a textbook example of a poorly written story with primitive dialogue, repetitive quests and bland characters that are copies of each other. It is still immersive, but thanks to other aspects of the game (meditative surrounding, great music, the way NPCs behave and react to your actions, gameplay mechanics that allow you to interact with your surroundings, etc). Cyberpunk is decent in terms of storytelling, but it would be even better if it had an established protagonist. I think nobody would argue that Silverhand is a much more interesting and well-written character than V, and that is because V is just a faceless avatar while Silverhand is a fully fledged character. One could even argue that Silverhand is actually the main protagonist. Try to imagine what the game and especially the story would look like without a character like Silverhand in it. Bland and boring. Elden Ring doesn't even have a story

A "well established story" is what the games are for, it is it's own medium for story-telling.... Mass effect, RDR, GTA, Horizon, God of War. These did not have any predetermined lore and they also managed to tell great stories. The notion that a game can't be good unless it developed from some preexisting source has no evidence to support it since most of the great games are original IP.

Nowhere did I say that a game needs some kind of source material to have a good story, don't know where you got it from

You say it's impossible to take into account all the variables for a character yet all we've seen is predominantly 1...male and white. Perhaps when the day comes where we don't have the same template being used for these lead characters then maybe we can revisit this conversation because at the moment they all look the same and have for decades. That, to me is bland and limited in terms of story-telling.

Again, don't understand where you're coming from and what white males have to do with the topic of discussion. As in, you don't like playing as white males so the solution is custom character creation? Maybe, but it still doesn't refute the point of the argument, which is good narrative almost always comes with pre-established protagonists

 

[serxho92]

Superb choice to go forward with UnrealEngine 5. This means more reliability and faster development.
Now lets hope we get the same quality product as with Witcher 3 and more.

 

[GervantOfLyria]

I hate to be the one to break it to you but no one knew the witcher existed before the games.

Not true. Witcher books were pretty well known in Europe and were translated to 10 european languages before first game, ofc it wasn't LOTR or Harry Potter but defenetily wasn't unknown. And maybe it's a suprise for you but Sapkowski never intended to focus his books on monster hunting.

As for Ciri's story, for the game..yes it's done. Ciris is not a witcher, the games are about Geralt not Ciri so they have never followed the novels in it's entirety.

Well, what can I say here, you must be didn't follow the plot of games and books too closely in it's entirety. There are still few unfinished storylines tied to Ciri and it's clearly seen in the ending of TW3. Yes, the games are about Geralt, but the whole story is about both of them, and maybe even more about Ciri. Sings and potions is not a big deal, she has enough skills and knowledge to be equal to witcher. It's all not so difficult to adjust by the circumstances of the plot. Geralt didn't use crossbow, bombs or oils in the books, his signs never been so powerful as it can be in the games, and it wasn't problem to add it all. Yes, it would be a different game in terms of gameplay mechanics and it would be great as for me.

 

[artakmes]

As Unreal engine developer I am glad to know this

 

[BigWezz69]

Yay to Unreal Engine 5

But boo to Epic Games/Tencent.

If it doesn't come to Steam, I definitely wont buy it. But tbh, unlikely to buy it due to the Epic Games partnership.

 

[Razrback16]

They updated the post with "We are not planning on making the game exclusive to one storefront"
So it definitely won't be exclusive to Epic's store but it doesn't rule out the possibility of it being on both Epic's store and GOG while not being on steam. But honestly if they aren't going to make it exclusive to only Epic's store then I highly doubt they are going to be picky and choosy by not being on steam.

Ya hopefully they just release it everywhere. I've been a fan of their release strategy of just releasing the game at all storefronts. They obviously want people to buy it at GOG which is understandable and I commend them for just making a friendly statement asking folks to buy the game at GOG if they'd like to support the studio but otherwise making the game available everywhere so people can buy it where they want. Plenty of folks will only buy it on Steam, so it'd be silly not to make it available there.

 

[replayNinja]

Not true. Witcher books were pretty well known in Europe and were translated to 10 european languages before first game, ofc it wasn't LOTR or Harry Potter but defenetily wasn't unknown. And maybe it's a suprise for you but Sapkowski never intended to focus his books on monster hunting.

Well, what can I say here, you must be didn't follow the plot of games and books too closely in it's entirety. There are still few unfinished storylines tied to Ciri and it's clearly seen in the ending of TW3. Yes, the games are about Geralt, but the whole story is about both of them, and maybe even more about Ciri. Sings and potions is not a big deal, she has enough skills and knowledge to be equal to witcher. It's all not so difficult to adjust by the circumstances of the plot. Geralt didn't use crossbow, bombs or oils in the books, his signs never been so powerful as it can be in the games, and it wasn't problem to add it all. Yes, it would be a different game in terms of gameplay mechanics and it would be great as for me.

I didn't use LOTR or HP, I said Twilight specifically because it's a relatively niche audience but still outsold the witcher. The point is the witcher was not well known worldwide at the time, so your argument that they must rely solely on the novels to tell a cohesive story is flawed. The foundation is there and they can use that to tell whatever new story they believe is necessary at this point in the world of the witcher.

 

[LordCorvin1]

We’re happy to announce that the next installment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise.

This is an exciting moment as we’re moving from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5, beginning a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games. It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant. We'll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences.

At this point, no further details regarding the game — such as a development time frame or release date — are available.

REDengine, the technology which powers Cyberpunk 2077, is still being used for the development of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 expansion.

*Update*: We are not planning on making the game exclusive to one storefront.

What's wrong with REDEngine? It worked fine for past 3 games, Witcher 2, Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk.
Did all of the talent leave that could use the engine? The engine was greatly done, your issue was allocating too little time after the original Cyberpunk team left after Blood and Wine release.
Your In-House engine was greatly designed. If you're set on abandoning it, consider releasing it open source, or sourcing it out to other developers as you guys considered back in 2014.

 

[MrMida]

Kind of disappointing to hear you're dropping your own engine. Sure, it had hickups with CP'77, but you can't tell me the REDEngine has become unsalvagable.

 

[Triss.Hasengold]

Amazing. I am excited! But also at the same time I also know that it will take five years untill we will get the first real gameplay videos and trailers.

 

[GervantOfLyria]

I didn't use LOTR or HP, I said Twilight specifically because it's a relatively niche audience but still outsold the witcher. The point is the witcher was not well known worldwide at the time, so your argument that they must rely solely on the novels to tell a cohesive story is flawed. The foundation is there and they can use that to tell whatever new story they believe is necessary at this point in the world of the witcher.

Sure they can, they can use anything, even can make date sim or survival The only question is how much good could it be, how interesting could be brand new characters and story. Сonsidering previous experience playing for another V as the witcher isn't the best idea imo. Last time they relied on books more than ever they made TW3.

 

[DonLuzolvaz]

We’re happy to announce that the next installment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise.

This is an exciting moment as we’re moving from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5, beginning a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games. It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant. We'll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences

Amazing I'm very happy right now. But a part of me is a little sad since moving to UE5 means that there won't be another REDkit.
UE5 has a great streaming system that will help you guys a lot. So excited to see how it looks.

 

[minicrom]

What's wrong with REDEngine? It worked fine for past 3 games, Witcher 2, Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk.
Did all of the talent leave that could use the engine? The engine was greatly done, your issue was allocating too little time after the original Cyberpunk team left after Blood and Wine release.
Your In-House engine was greatly designed. If you're set on abandoning it, consider releasing it open source, or sourcing it out to other developers as you guys considered back in 2014.

From my understanding when you have a homemade engine you take a lot of time to update it while also developping the game. It's very hard. My guess is they also want to lose less time on taking care of the engine and make the work lighter for devs. If they want to reduce crunch it's the good way to go. I am a bit sad though because game with homemade engine feel a bit more unique but I perfectly understand the decision if it is about that.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

I just re-read the announcment and realized I missed the key detail. CDPR are actually going to work on the development of Unreal Engine 5 itself. That's interesting.

 

[Javadgeralt]

I'm very excited . But I really can't play the Witcher without Geralt and Triss.