There seems to be a noticeable gap in the release schedule for AAA fantasy RPGs. Apart from the confusingly namedLords of the Fallensequel, many of these upcoming games seem pretty far off.The Witcher 4,The Elder Scrolls 6,Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, andAvowedall seem to be hovering somewhere on the horizon, but it’s impossible to say when they will arrive. None of them have clear release windows, and the first two don’t even have official titles yet.
CD Projekt Red officially announcedThe Witcher 4last year, though information on the project remains relatively sparse. However, given its recent announcement, the game’s probably far off. One might also assume it won’t arrive until the other big AAA action RPGs are out the door. However, that’s not as much of a sure thing as it might appear, andThe Witcher 4has a good chance of beatingAvowedandTES6to the punch.
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The Witcher 4, The Elder Scrolls 6, and Avowed
Officially announced in 2018,The Elder Scrolls 6’s early announcementmakes it a poster child for games revealed too early. Bethesda had no plans to release it until well after the still-upcomingStarfield, and Tod Howard confirmed thatThe Elder Scrolls 6was still in pre-production as of June 2022. This was at least somewhat frustrating forTESfans, who’ve waited over a decade for a new mainlineElders ScrollsRPG.
Some hoped Obsidian’sAvowedmight hold them over untilTES 6. Announced in 2020,Avowedis a first-person action RPG spinoff of thePillars of Eternityseries. However,Obsidian’s been relatively quiet since that announcement. That doesn’t necessarily point to any problem behind the scenes, and the title could be right around the corner as far as anyone knows. Still, the lack of information is frustrating.
The game most people are calling theWitcher 4is codenamed Project Polaris and is one of twoWitchergames in development.CDPR is using Unreal Engine 5for its upcoming games, rather than the proprietary REDengine 4 the studio used inCyberpunk 2077. It will be the start of a new trilogy set inThe Witcher’s world, though CD Projekt hasn’t revealed anything else about it.
The Witcher 4 Could Beat Other AAA Games to the Punch
WhileThe Elder Scrolls 6andAvowedmay still release first, there’s still plenty of opportunity forThe Witcher 4to swoop in and steal the spotlight. Although none of these games have release dates yet, fans aren’t totally in the dark either. Last October, IGN contributor Ryan Dinsdale reported thatThe Witcher 4’s release datewas at least three years away based on the contents of a CD Projekt investor call. This may be an overly optimistic estimate, but it points toThe Witcher 4launching in late 2025 at the absolute earliest.
As for the other two games, the GeForce leak from 2021 suggestedTES 6might launch next year. However, the news that it was still in pre-production in 2022 makes that seem very unlikely. Meanwhile, industry insider Tyler McVicker suggestedThe Elder Scrolls 6won’t launch until 2026 or later, and a 2027 release date wouldn’t be unlikely, either. That would be four years afterStarfield’s release, the same amount of time as betweenSkyrimandFallout 4.
Obsidian’s game is trickier, given the lack of information about the project.Avowedmight come out in 2024, according to a report from January. However, its absence from Xbox and Bethesda’s last Developer Direct showcase raises questions about how far away the game is.Avowedmight still come out in 2024, but 2025 or 2026 aren’t unrealistic.
This meansThe Witcher 4may have a chance to release before the other two games. Of course, it would be tight, and even a minor setback at CDPR could set the studio way behind. However, based on what the public knows about all three games, it’s not impossible either.
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