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The Witcher IV: Official Cinematic Reveal Trailer at The Game Awards 2024

Ciri takes center stage in The Witcher IV’s pre-rendered reveal cinematic, a village monster-contract story that introduces the new saga without showing confirmed gameplay.
Length2 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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The Witcher IV reveal trailer is a nearly six-minute, pre-rendered cinematic introducing Ciri as the protagonist of a new Witcher saga. It follows her to a remote village where a monster demands human sacrifice. The sequence uses technology and assets from the game, but CD PROJEKT RED did not present it as real-time gameplay footage.

What happens in the reveal trailer?

In CD PROJEKT RED’s synopsis, Ciri takes a monster contract in an isolated village living under a creature’s demand for ritual sacrifice. When villagers select a young woman for the rite, Ciri intervenes, even though the people she is trying to protect distrust her. The studio frames the cinematic as a self-contained Witcher story about prejudice, superstition, and the boundary between human and supernatural monsters.

An Xbox Wire interview published December 18, 2024, identifies the village as Stromford, the young woman as Mioni, and the monster as Bauk. Narrative Director Philipp Weber and Game Director Sebastian Kalemba discuss those details in the interview; it also attributes to Weber the statement that the scene takes place a few years after The Witcher 3. These specifics come from that interview rather than the studio’s shorter announcement.

What does the trailer confirm about The Witcher IV?

CD PROJEKT RED describes The Witcher IV as a single-player, open-world RPG and names Ciri as its protagonist. The studio calls it the beginning of a new saga and a successor to The Witcher 3. In the announcement, Kalemba said, “We’re kicking off a brand-new Witcher saga, this time with Ciri as the heart of the story!” Ciri is Geralt’s adopted daughter.

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The announcement describes the cinematic as pre-rendered in a custom Unreal Engine 5 build, running on an unannounced NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU and using technology, assets, and models from the game. That establishes a connection to the game’s production technology and materials; it does not establish that the shots are playable, captured in real time, or representative of final in-game performance.

How should the cinematic be understood?

Treat it as a story-focused introduction to the setting and Ciri, not as a gameplay trailer. The studio’s language emphasizes a dark, grounded world; Kalemba described the trailer as “a taste of both that, and just how dark and grounded the world of The Witcher can be.” The studio also presents Ciri as an outsider who chooses to act for people who may not welcome her.

Rank #2
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition - Xbox Series X
  • Trained from early childhood and mutated to gain superhuman skills, strength, and reflexes, witchers are a counterbalance to the monster-infested world in which they live.
  • Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth, and complexity.
  • Take on the most important contract of your life: to track down the child of prophecy, the key to saving or destroying this world.

For additional character context, Xbox Wire’s interview quotes Kalemba describing Ciri as “super passionate, super determined and very engaged in this story.” These are the developers’ descriptions of the character and story, not guarantees about specific gameplay systems or player choices.

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Is the later Unreal Engine 5 demo the same thing?

No. CD PROJEKT RED’s June 3, 2025 presentation was described as an early-development Unreal Engine 5 technology demo, and the studio explicitly said it was not gameplay of The Witcher IV itself. It is a separate technical showcase from the December 2024 cinematic. Neither presentation, on its own, demonstrates the released game’s final visuals or performance.

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Quick Recap

Bestseller No. 1
Bestseller No. 3
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition - Xbox One
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition - Xbox One
If you buy this game, you will receive a free next-gen update on December 14th!; Play as a highly trained monster slayer for hire.
$24.99
Rank #3
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition - Xbox One
  • If you buy this game, you will receive a free next-gen update on December 14th!
  • Play as a highly trained monster slayer for hire.
  • Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth and complexity.
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year edition brings together the base game and all the additional content released to date.

Sources

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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