Let’s tackle this breakdown of The Witcher 4 news with a dose of realism first. Unfortunately, we might be waiting a bit longer before we can sink into the couch and journey through the next chapter of The Witcher. Until now, all we’ve really had to tide us over is the teaser revealed at The Game Awards 2024.
But here’s the silver lining: we’re already seeing some progress. This past Wednesday, CD Projekt Red shared an incredibly detailed behind-the-scenes video shedding light on how they crafted that striking six-minute cinematic from December 2024. Interestingly, this is the second deep dive they’ve shared, and it even surpasses the trailer’s length. A day after its initial release, they provided an eight-minute breakdown with insights from game director Sebastian Kalemba.
Now, let me tell you, this making-of documentary is a treasure trove of creative insights. It’s filled with concept art and fascinating interviews, where experts discuss how they made virtual camera movements mimic handheld shots or those done with cranes and dollies. The writers delve into the narrative connections between Ciri and the village maiden she aims to rescue, the ties to the maiden’s father, and the bond between Ciri and Geralt from the earlier Witcher saga. They even explore themes drawn from Andrzej Sapkowski’s stories and broader Central and Eastern European folklore. For real film-making buffs, there’s footage from test shoots that look straight out of a Midsommar outtake, aimed at mastering camera lens behaviors. Karol Stadnik, a digital cinematographer from CD Projekt Red, explained how this filming was key to replicating camera distortions, lens flares, and bokeh effects in Unreal Engine 5.
Personally, the standout moment for me in this ten-and-a-half-minute video is the segment where they detail Ciri’s showdown with the Bauk. This creature has a goblin’s head, a snake’s neck, jaguar’s arms, scorpion pincers, and dinosaur-like legs—a real amalgamation of monstrous traits.
Maciej Kwiatkowski, better known as Alpha 7 in the motion capture community, described their process: “We created a physical replica of Bauk’s shoulders and our team of four operators brought it to life for the fight scene. On the screen, we could see the Bauk moving in real time.”
While I thoroughly enjoy my current job, I can’t help but imagine the fun of spending a day puppeteering giant rods and embodying part of a mythical creature. Just don’t make me wear one of those motion capture suits!
