The Witcher 3: Geralt gets a friend. Well, sort of.

Since The Witcher 3 was announced, I’ve changed careers, moved house, gained two inches on my waist and developed grey hair. I think CD Projekt Red might’ve started talking about Wild Hunt a bit early. Nonetheless, with a new, May 2015 release date set, the studio seems to be moving a bit faster with info drops now the latest big reveal is that Geralt will be joined by a second playable character, called Ciri. Got all your Siri jokes out of the way? “Call Geralt, Ciri!”  “I don’t understand.” Superb, let’s move on.

Ciri is an elf descended from a bloodline that was thought lost, and her coming has been prophecised she was  alluded to in a folk tale in the original  Witcher , which makes her appearance now a nice touch. She is also a key player in the Witcher novels, in which she acts as Geralt’s adopted daughter and is almost the main character (full disclosure: I haven’t read them, but those familiar with the material should get a kick out of this). She’s being hunted by the ghoulish riders of the Wild Hunt, who are ravaging the world one place at a time.

Finding Ciri is a key part of Geralt’s story in The Witcher 3. At some point, she’ll become playable: CD Projekt Red is including her for the benefit of a secondary perspective of The Witcher 3’s large-scale story. The announcement also mentions Ciri having some great mystical power, but doesn’t elaborate on what that’ll be. Summoning an army of undead dressed as potatoes to do her bidding is my guess.

Ciri’s moveset will have its own upgrade systems. She has similar sword-wielding ability to Geralt but with an emphasis on agility, with a blink teleport ability forming part of her combat skills as well. My main concern with  The Witcher 2 ’s story was its weak, grotty fantasy-novel portrayal of its female characters with this one, CD Projekt Red has scope to address that. We should finally get hands-on with  The Witcher 3 early next year.