The Witcher 4 / Polaris Confirmed — CDPR Drops First Real Details

After three years of soft references in earnings calls, CDPR finally confirmed the next mainline Witcher entry — codenamed Polaris — with concrete details.

The headline confirmations: Polaris is in full production, runs on Unreal Engine 5 (a clean break from REDengine), and targets a 2027 launch window. CDPR also confirmed Ciri as the protagonist — ending years of fan speculation — with a new School of the Lynx playstyle that emphasises speed and traversal over Geralt’s heavier swordplay.

On scope, the studio has put roughly 480 developers on the project full-time, more than were on Phantom Liberty at peak. The setting confirmation is the Skellige region as the central hub, with three additional regions including a ‘previously unseen’ northern territory that has not appeared in any Witcher game or book.

Tech side: full ray-traced GI by default on PC, DLSS 4 and FSR 5 at launch, and the first-ever native Linux build for Steam Deck shipping day-and-date with Windows. The latter is a Sapkowski-quote-worthy turnaround for CDPR, who fought a brutal Cyberpunk Linux compatibility battle for years.