CD Projekt RED has expressed on multiple occasions that it intends to ensure The Witcher 4 is at least as big of a game as The Witcher 3 was, if not even more so, but in the aftermath of the action RPG’s official announcement, the developer has also spoken about wanting to improve on the seminal 2015 titles in other ways.
More specifically, speaking in a recent interview with VGC, narrative director Phillipp Weber talk about how CD Projekt RED is prioritizing crafting a “deeper and more immersive” open world rather than one that is bigger than The Witcher 3’s map.
“The open world doesn’t necessarily need to be bigger and bigger and bigger, but the open world can be deeper and more immersive, more systematic,” he said. “I think that’s something that’s really exciting to look at.”
Executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga added that though The Witcher 4 will of course be a sizable experience, the focus for the studio is more on ambition and immersion.
“I would say making a feature for the game is not about making the best feature ever, its about making the best feature in the time you have,” she said. “It’s more about the ambition of having really complex and immersive things going on and not necessarily the actual size. Of course, it’s a single-player, open-world action RPG; it’s going to be big.”
Weber concluded by saying that ensuring the game delivers consistently “meaningful and interesting” content without feeling repetitive will be how it ensures that it doesn’t feel “too big”.
“We always say that whatever we do we want to have it be meaningful and it means it can be only so much that is actually meaningful and interesting,” he said. “Once we would have to start repeating stuff I think that’s when it’s too big.”
For more details on The Witcher 4, head on over here.