No, The Witcher 3's Ciri won't be appearing in Cyberpunk 2077
Ciri - will it rain Cyberpunk today?
A Witcher 3 Easter Egg that players believe references the world of Cyberpunk 2077 has, several years later, started to become a bit of a headache for the latter’s game director, Adam Badowski. It turns out that a lot of people are hoping to bump into Ciri as they explore the futuristic streets of Night City, but Badowski is putting his foot down.
“I am totally against it,” he told Polygon.
How would that even work, you might be wondering. Well, we already know that The Witcher is part of a multiverse that includes all manner of worlds, from the magical to the mundane, and it’s possible to move between them. That’s how all the other races arrived in Geralt and Ciri’s world, and it’s how Ciri stayed hidden for all these years.
When Ciri is reuninted with her surrogate father, she tells him about the world where Eredin, the leader of the titular Wild Hunt, couldn’t find her. She describes a world where people had “metal in their heads, waged war from a distance, using things similar to megascopes.” She goes on to mention that everyone has personal flying ships.
Here’s a brilliant video by "Tolkfan" that uses Ciri’s dialogue to narrative the Cyberpunk trailer. It’s kind of perfect.
Now, strictly speaking, this could be any vaguely sci-fi world, and there’s nothing in her description that’s unique to Cyberpunk, but it’s an awfully big coincidence. While CD Projekt Red didn’t start pre-production until after The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2012, with a teaser trailer released the following year. It’s not a leap to suggest that this was a nod to their next game. Much to Badowski’s regret.
“We are not Kingdom Hearts,” he said. “We are not joining universes, and I know that there are a lot of fans on the team and they would like to have Ciri in the game. But I am totally against it, still.”
Co-founder and join CEO Marcin Iwiński was less negative. “Maybe you will change your mind,” he said to Badowski. “There is a little hope there.”
I certainly hope Badowski changes his mind, even if it just amounts to another throwaway bit of dialogue or Easter Egg. Who knows? Maybe we’ll win Badowski over and we’ll get some DLC that combines the two worlds, à la The Longest Journey and Dreamfall.