The Witcher 4 teaser image is a lynx, not a cat, says CD Projekt Red

The new Witcher game was announced with a single teaser image, but it was enough to send fan theories into overdrive. The majority opinion held that the image was showing a snow-covered medallion from the School of the Cat, like the one worn by Geralt’s adopted daughter Ciri. This led to fans thinking Ciri would be the hero of the new game, and while that’s still possible, we now know that the image is in fact not a cat.

Speaking to Eurogamer, CD Projekt Red global communication director Robert Malinowski debunked the medallion theory. “Some mysteries should not be so mysterious,” Malinowski clarified. “I can confirm that the medallion is shaped after a lynx.” Lynxes are not mentioned in the current Witcher games era, but a School of the Lynx is founded later in the timeline after the School of the Wolf is lost. This opens up the possibilities even further, with a game that could even be set in a later era.

We have very little concrete information about The Witcher 4 (as it’s been called colloquially) beyond this lynx confirmation. We know that the game is moving from CDPR’s own engine to Unreal Engine 5, although the shift does not mean the game will be an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC. It explicitly won’t be. Director Jason Slama also pledged to avoid crunch during the game’s development — an important promise after the crunch criticism of Cyberpunk 2077.