Unveiling the Enigmas of The Witcher 4: New Regions and Terrifying Creatures Await

The Witcher 4 will take place in the series’ unnamed Continent, where the grass flows over everything like champagne on a tablecloth, just like always. However, this time, players will experience new territories and terrifying creatures, including one that is described as quite the rascal.

A “sly, sly, sly rascal,” to be precise, according to game director Sebastian Kalemba in a recent discussion with Gamertag Radio co-host Parris Lilly. This creature is known as Bauk, and you will find it hidden in one of the “extraordinary,” “entirely new regions” that Kalemba refers to when speaking with Lilly.

The monster is inspired by Serbian folklore, which tells of a dark being dwelling in shadows and seeking to devour you. In The Witcher 4, as shown in the cinematic trailer for the game, Bauk appears as a grotesque amalgamation of bones and fur, attacking protagonist Ciri in the fog-laden woods with its unnatural chicken-like limbs.

“Fate cannot be altered,” it proclaims in a strangled voice, its skin stretched taut over its beak, threatening to pop Ciri’s eye out.

Indeed, Kalemba mentions to Lilly that this iteration of Bauk “plays with your deepest fears,” expressing his admiration for that aspect of the monster encounter.

“When you look at The Witcher, the way we’ve approached the concept of ‘monster,’ we have tackled it from a completely different angle since The Witcher 1,” Kalemba explains. Initially in the series, players faced “ordinary monsters, followed by humans acting in monstrous ways. Now, here, you confront your inner demons that you must battle first before you can finally confront [Bauk] and defeat it.”

CD Projekt Red has declared that its “ambition is high, crazily high” with The Witcher 4, as developers aim to “implement all the lessons learned” from Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3.