So i actually read the article and what they're saying makes complete sense with context.
"I think for me, and I think for all of us [at CDPR], it's also just really exciting to see all the opportunities that Ciri brings us, both with her character, and also by just virtue of who she is, what we can do with her in terms of the gameplay as well," Weber said. "So I think the best answer for us, for those people that really are worried right now, is basically to show them, when we are ready, that we really do this well and with care."
Did CD Projekt consider introducing a custom Witcher 4 protagonist, Eurogamer asked, as in
Cyberpunk 2077? "I think, honestly, this character-driven storytelling has been always in the DNA of our Witcher games," said Weber. "First with Geralt, and then, of course, we started setting up Ciri as a second protagonist in The Witcher 3, and now we want to continue with her as well."
Weber added that what makes Ciri an intriguing choice of protag is partly that she
isn't quite a witcher. She might not be a fully customisable character, but she has room to grow where grizzly Ger had already nailed down his Eastwoodian outsider persona by the time he became a video game leading man.
"One of the things that makes Ciri into an interesting new protagonist for us is, of course, also that she is at the beginning of her journey as a witcher," said Weber. "So as an example, Geralt was very, very experienced already. He went through so many things. And, you know, he created his own code, his value of neutrality, he created through so many experiences. And Ciri still has to make many of those experiences. She has to go through so many of these things.
"So in a way, even though Ciri is, of course, a defined character, with her, players will have the opportunity to still define her quite a bit more, specifically define the path that she will take on her way to becoming a witcher, and basically also what kind of person that will make her."
Naturally, Ciri also promises to bring a fresh perspective to the broadly misogynistic, alternately sensitive and pervy universe of The Witcher, a video game series that once let you collect porno cards for female characters, and still loves to make a spectacle of its nubile sorceresses.
"I mean, I would say the world of The Witcher is a really dark one that's really inspired by, of course, dark fantasy folklore," Weber commented, when asked about the game's portrayal of gender politics and sexism. "But also medieval to early Renaissance history, and that is a world that was tough - tough for many different groups, women among them. As an example, in The Witcher, we also deal a lot with racism when it comes to non-humans, and this is something that we want to keep up with The Witcher 4. I think it's something that has always been really important.
"We make games for adults, and it also means that we tackle some difficult topics," he suggested. "We tackle them in interesting ways. We tackle them without giving easy answers, but often opening difficult questions that players have to answer. And I think some of those questions might be going in this direction as well, because, yeah, Ciri is a woman, and as a witcher in this world, this is an unusual state. So I don't think it's going to be this story everywhere, but since this is a part of this world, and we want to tackle so many of those different themes, it's definitely also going to appear there as well."
