The Witcher 4 fans concerned over Ciri protagonist being ‘Geralt 2.0’

Ciri has been confirmed as the main protagonist of The Witcher 4. But although the adoptive daughter of Geralt has always been a fan-favorite character, fans have voiced some concerns as she’s about to take center stage.

Up until this point, The Witcher video game series has largely focused on Geralt and his adventures hunting monsters and getting tangled up in political plots. But that’s all set to change in The Witcher 4 which follows Ciri, the surrogate daughter of Geralt who was the main driving force of The Witcher 3.

She’s a popular character among fans of the books, games, and Netflix series, so pivoting the sequel to focus on her is a slam dunk for many. However, after the Game Awards 2024 trailer offered us the first in-depth look, not everyone is sold on the idea.

Shortly after the trailer debuted, fans took to Reddit to voice their concerns. One of the first issues mentioned was that Ciri has been mutated into a fully-fledged Witcher this time around, after only being trained in combat and monster hunting in previous games.

The Witcher 4 fans fear that Ciri will be Geralt 2.0

In an interview with IGN, CD Projekt Red confirmed that Ciri has undergone the Trail of the Grasses, a painful process that gives Witchers their superhuman abilities. But fans feel this is at odds with the lore and character-building in the series so far.

“Realistically there’s no way Geralt would let Ciri go through the Trial of the Grasses,” said one player. “That’s not even to bring up the fact that as far as I remember, nobody alive even knew how to cook up the mutations anymore?”

Another worry has been that transforming Ciri into a Witcher might remove a lot of the characteristics that made her unique, resulting in a character that plays too similarly to Geralt.

“I don’t like the idea of Ciri just fighting like a regular Witcher, with potions and signs and whatnot,” said another player. “They should expand more on her using her innate power combined with her swordsmanship like she does in W3, otherwise she’s just a Geralt redux.”

Ciri’s new voice has Witcher fans worried

When watching the trailer, one of the first things long-time fans will notice is that Jo Wyatt is no longer the voice of Ciri. She also looks much different compared to the previous, with a completely new face model.

While this makes narrative sense given that the version of the character we’ll meet in The Witcher 4 is much older than she was in the previous game, some fans haven’t taken the news well.

“Only complaint is the new voice actress for Ciri, wish they kept the original one in,” said a Reddit user.

“This is not Ciri, why did they change her face,” said another on X.

It’s worth noting, however, that fans had similar issues with Geralt’s face when the first trailer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt dropped. But once the full game launched, the character looked much different from his initial appearance, so this look is far from final.

The Witcher 4 fans claim Ciri’s story didn’t need to continue

Another major talking point within the community since the trailer was shown off was whether or not Ciri, and Geralt, who also shows up at the end, needed their story to continue. For many players, The Witcher 3 was the ideal way to end their journey, leaving them hoping that The Witcher 4 would focus on different characters.

“Damn I was hoping we’d leave it where it was perfect as is and allow everyone to have their ending,” posted one player.

“I do not know where you could possibly go with Ciri’s story, considering she saved the entire world and fully fulfilled her destiny in Witcher 3,” said a second comment.

It’s not all bad

Of course, despite these complaints, there has also been plenty of positivity about Ciri taking the starring role in The Witcher 4. While we got a handful of sections from Ciri’s perspective in the previous game, many fans are eager to spend hundreds of hours seeing the world from her point of view.

“I’m so glad that Ciri becoming a Witcher is the Canon ending,” a player posted on X. “Please don’t fumble this, CDPR.”

“The Witcher 4 is a Ciri game. We won,” said another.

We’ll have to wait until The Witcher 4 finally arrives to know if any of these concerns will hold true, but the game is still likely years away. While you wait, here’s everything else we know about The Witcher 4 so far.