While the visuals of The Witcher IV were undoubtedly the cinematic trailer's most impressive thing (although pre-rendered on NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090), long-time fans of the series may have also noticed that new protagonist Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, known colloquially as Ciri, was voiced by a new actress.
CD Projekt RED later confirmed the fact to The Gamer, revealing that Ciara Berkeley had replaced The Witcher 3's Jo Wyatt.
Ciara Berkeley was cast as Ciri for The Witcher IV Cinematic Reveal Trailer. Ciara is a talented actress who impressed us with her enthusiasm and vocal acting skills, and in this trailer, we believe she truly brought Ciri to life in a way that is both faithful to the character and exciting for fans of the series.
This statement did not provide certainty regarding the character's portrayal in the actual game. However, The Gamer subsequently received confirmation that Ciara will also voice Ciri in The Witcher IV. Berkeley is a young actress with a very short career. So far, she's credited for taking on small roles in the TV miniseries Normal People and The Deceived, both released in 2020. This may turn out to be her breakout role, although it may be at least a couple of years before we actually get to experience her work - after all, The Witcher IV entered full production not long ago.
Speaking of the character Ciri, CD Projekt RED has recently discussed why she was the obvious choice for the new saga's main character. The studio said Ciri deserved her own journey, and as she's just starting in her new role as a Witcher, this also means players will have much greater agency in defining her choices as a character compared to Geralt in the previous games.
The developers also said they wanted to increase the gameplay variety available to players in comparison to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, taking a cue from Cyberpunk 2077 in that area. It might mean Ciri could sneak up on her enemies, unlike Geralt, though this is just speculation on our part for now.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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