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The Witcher 4: Gwent Might Be a Secret Weapon of Storytelling

Published Sep 19, 2024

Shayna Josi is a Features Writer from South Africa. Shayna has always been passionate about stories, and has dedicated her life to learning how to tell them. Aside from writing about her favorite video games on the digital publication The Best War Games, Shayna has taught English in Japan, is a ghostwriter, copywriter, and editor in the publishing industry. Shayna enjoys traveling, and spends most of her time between South Africa, the EU, and Japan. She believes the best of people come out in the stories they tell, and with stories comes the power to connect people across any divide - be it language, geography, culture, or time. To this end, Shayna’s research at university dealt with narrative worlds within video games, and how they use their environments to tell stories. Her hope is that the incredible stories told through video games will be recognized as literary, just as much as traditional storytelling mediums.

Gwent is a well-developed and versatile card game that is likely to appear in The Witcher 4. Its most powerful cards feature prominent characters from throughout The Witcher games, and give a one-line description and an image of that character. Gwent is mostly optional in The Witcher 3, but it could go on to be used as a way to catch players up on the lore and characters of The Witcher in a way that's more integrated than via codex or in-game books.

As Gwent includes an image, description, and a gameplay function for each card, along with various decks that are categorized into the different factions that appear in The Witcher franchise, updating players on the fates of the major characters of The Witcher 3 through Gwent cards would be a possible avenue of storytelling for The Witcher 4. This information shouldn't be gate-locked behind success at Gwent, but communicating interesting additional information through an interactive gameplay mechanic is often far more effective than through other, more passive means.

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Gwent Offers Storytelling Through Visuals and Mechanics

There are many tools in storytelling, and one of the most effective ones is interactive storytelling. This is especially effective in video games, which are both a visual and interactive medium. The Witcher 4 will likely have a player character who isn't Geralt. Even if the new player character in The Witcher 4 is a character who was close to Geralt, such as Ciri, it would still likely have an entirely new cast of characters. Players entirely new to The Witcher series would likely be unfamiliar with the major characters of previous games.

This isn't a new problem in video game storytelling, as games in series often have time skips or changing protagonists between games. There are a number of ways to address this information gap for new characters, often through codex entries or in-game books. The Witcher series, however, has Gwent as a unique and visual way for new players to learn about past beloved characters in The Witcher, and for veteran players to reminisce about their favorites.

How Gwent's Characteristics Could Tie Into Storytelling

Gwent's Unique Characteristics Make It Perfect for Interactive Storytelling

Gwent is perfect for this purpose as it includes a visual component, a description of the character, a gameplay mechanic, and separates the cards into factions. This communicates vital information about characters who may have been important in shaping the political and historical landscape of The Witcher, but don't appear in the new games. More powerful characters, such as members of the Lodge of Sorceresses, Geralt, and Yennefer, could be rare Gwent cards to collect in-game, with powerful mechanics that are connected to their achievements and skills.

As Gwent is both optional and a separate mechanic from the main game, it provides an unobtrusive and interactive way to learn more about the lore and history of The Witcher franchise. This can go beyond characters and can include monsters, factions, locations, and even significant political events. Gwent's interactive nature is especially important, as it gives players agency and plays a role in getting them to engage with the material, as is typical with interactive storytelling.

Another function of Gwent could be to update players on the fates of certain characters from The Witcher 3. Major characters could have more than one version of a card, and possibly even belong to more than one faction, with different cards representing different periods of their lives. For example, Geralt could have a Gwent card that represents his youth while training to be a witcher at Kaer Morhen, the period just after he was named the Butcher of Blaviken, and his time during the events of The Witcher 3.

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Tag Page Cover Art

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 93 /100 Critics Rec: 95%

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Released: May 19, 2015
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
Cross-Platform Play: yes
Cross Save: yes

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Expansions: The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
Franchise: The Witcher
Steam Deck Compatibility: verified
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Genre(s): RPG, Action, Adventure
How Long To Beat: 52 Hours
X|S Optimized: yes
PS Plus Availability: N/A

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