Summary
- Home bases in RPGs offer customization, mechanics, and character moments. The Witcher 4 should have a base game home base, not DLC.
- Kaer Morhen isn't a suitable home base like Corvo Bianco. A central location is essential for character progression and immersion.
- A home in The Witcher 4 could offer storage, upgrades, and even interactive features. Fast travel would make a home base accessible.
DLC has become a staple of video games, including single-player games. While microtransactions are still very unpopular, substantial DLCs that include value have a better reputation and have come to be expected with AAA releases. The Witcher 3's expansion pack, Blood and Wine, included a home base for Geralt that can be given functional and aesthetic upgrades. While this was only included as DLC, The Witcher 4 should have a home base included as a part of the base game.
Home bases are a great feature of any RPG because of their customization, mechanics, and having a place to gather for important character moments. Locking a home behind DLC doesn't need to happen since Cyberpunk 2077's apartments appeared in the base game. Blood and Wine's Corvo Bianco is a great foundation for a strong home base in The Witcher 4.
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How Features of a Home in The Witcher 4 Could be Implemented
Witchers roam the Continent as a part of their life on the Path, only returning to their Witcher School home base in the winter. However, Kaer Morhen isn't a replacement for an estate like Corvo Bianco, as seen in Blood and Wine. Corvo Bianco can be renovated and personalized, and it has a central location that's perfect for Geralt to return to in-between quests across the region. Kaer Mohren, as a fortress that's isolated in the mountains, requires several weeks' travel along perilous roads to get to and isn't in a position to be upgraded or maintained.
The Possible Utilities of a Home Base
While Corvo Bianco served its purpose in Blood and Wine, The Witcher 4 could bring in a home base without needing to include it in DLC. A proper home for the player character is essential for mechanics such as storage and upgrades, but a home can also go further to be interactive and include aesthetic and functional upgrades. This can include armor, weapon, and collectible displays, decorations, and perhaps improving alchemy or weapons. Unlocking a home early in-game could mean that this feature could grow with the player character, with improvements reflecting the player's progress through the campaign.
What a Home Base Could Look Like in The Witcher 4
Even if The Witcher 4 involves travel across the Continent, or other vast distances, any kind of fast travel system would facilitate the use of a home for the protagonist. Since The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 included apartments as a part of the base game, while other RPGs such as Dragon Age: Inquisition include home bases that are all included with the base game, rather than as paid add-ons.
Improving on Corvo Bianco for The Witcher 4
A home base in The Witcher 4 could be based on Corvo Bianco, with some additional improvements that could be added on as the game's campaign progresses, such as a weapon's smith. Bonuses that Corvo Bianco offers when fully upgraded, such as bonus XP when killing monsters thanks to the upgraded Library, are another way to utilize a home base in ways that reward renovation. Characters from Geralt's story can visit Corvo Bianco and even remain at the estate permanently, but because Blood and Wine is a DLC, this stay is only for a short time. If the home base is there for the entirety of the campaign, allies could come and go, or perhaps even remain permanently.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Released
- May 19, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
You are Geralt of Rivia, mercenary monster slayer. Before you stands a war-torn, monster-infested continent you can explore at will. Your current contract? Tracking down Ciri — the Child of Prophecy, a living weapon that can alter the shape of the world.
PLAY AS A HIGHLY TRAINED MONSTER SLAYER FOR HIRE
Trained from early childhood and mutated to gain superhuman skills, strength, and reflexes, witchers are a counterbalance to the monster-infested world in which they live.
Gruesomely destroy foes as a professional monster hunter armed with a range of upgradeable weapons, mutating potions, and combat magic. Hunt down a wide variety of exotic monsters, from savage beasts prowling mountain passes to cunning supernatural predators lurking in the shadowy back alleys of densely populated cities. Invest your rewards to upgrade your weaponry and buy custom armor, or spend them on horse races, card games, fist fighting, and other pleasures life brings.
EXPLORE A MORALLY AMBIGUOUS FANTASY OPEN WORLD
Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth, and complexity. Traverse a fantastical open world: explore forgotten ruins, caves, and shipwrecks, trade with merchants and dwarven smiths in cities, and hunt across the open plains, mountains, and seas. Deal with treasonous generals, devious witches, and corrupt royalty to provide dark and dangerous services. Make choices that go beyond good & evil, and face their far-reaching consequences.
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Publisher(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Engine
- REDengine 3
- Expansions
- The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
- Franchise
- The Witcher
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- How Long To Beat
- 52 Hours
- Metascore
- 94
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
