Summary
- The Witcher's Project Sirius must balance multiplayer gameplay with lore consistency.
- Introducing dragons as end-game enemies could work, but requires careful timeline management.
- Time travel or unexplored locations could allow for dragon integration without disrupting the established lore.
The Witcher: Project Sirius is CDPR’s upcoming installment in the Witcher universe but unlike the previous installments, the studio’s focus this time is on multiplayer gameplay. While there are several ideas on how that could turn out, it’s clear as day that the game needs to stay consistent with the lore. At the same time, Project Sirius has to bring fresh elements to the table so it can bring back both Witcher alums and capture newer audiences.
As a fantasy RPG, The Witcher follows typical tropes of the fantasy genre, including dragons, elves, and many other mythical creatures. While being near extinct in the lore, a handful of dragons have been introduced both in the games and books. Project Sirius, being multiplayer-focused, would benefit in multiple aspects if dragons were to be integrated into its gameplay. However, in order for dragons’ inclusion to be seamless, it's important to be cautious of the lore’s timeline intricacies.
Dragon Appearances Need To Stay Consistent With the Lore
In the Witcher lore, dragons are so scarce that they’ve become a legend. Since dragons were known to be highly intelligent creatures that loved to hoard treasures, they were hunted to near extinction. This background makes these creatures the perfect choice for an end-game enemy in Project Sirius' gameplay. However, the near-extinct status of dragons contradicts the game’s potential massive multiplayer RPG setting. To combat this, the game could be set in a time before the slaughter of the dragons. This would allow players to encounter these mystical beasts more frequently while also staying true to the lore.
However, an issue could come up with this approach. The lore does not clearly state when the dragons were slaughtered. Thus, placing Project Sirius in a past setting could mean dialing the clock back hundreds of years and that could result in the absence of many Witcher characters that the fans have come to know and love. While that's not a dealbreaker in itself, it's important for the multiplayer installment to seamlessly integrate the new characters into the established lore so they can resonate well with the players, just as the existing ones do.
Project Sirius Doesn’t Have To Stay in the Past
However, the game can actually avoid replacing beloved characters at the cost of using a past setting. Project Sirius could take inspiration from the likes of the Dragon Ball: Xenoverse franchise, another online multiplayer RPG. Instead of keeping the game anchored to the past, it could introduce a time-travel aspect. This way, the door is open for CDPR to include already-established characters in the game and integrate dragons into the monster catalog.
Time travel isn’t new to Witcher, as Cirilla, a significant character throughout the books and games, is capable of it. So, this approach would help the game maintain continuity while expanding the possibilities of the gameplay.
The Timeline May Not Be an Issue After All
The community has a strong attachment to the established lore of Witcher and c hanges to the lore are often met with skepticism by fans. This was evident when the Witcher Netflix series received backlash for introducing drastic changes to the story. But Project Sirius could still take a lore-accurate route, which would honor the source material and retain the trust of the fans.
Instead of altering the timeline, CDPR could introduce unexplored locations in the lore, where the remaining dragons of the Witcher world reside. This approach aligns with the monster-hunting nature of a witcher, which will likely be the player’s character. Dragons in the lore are categorized by their habitats and represented by the colors red, black, green, rock, white, and golden. Each of these represents a unique biome for the player to explore. Additionally, each category has many subtypes that the lore hasn’t fully expanded upon yet. All of this would also give CDPR a lot of freedom to develop a new interesting monster storyline for Project Sirius.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Released
- May 19, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- 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
