The Witcher 4
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The Witcher is fascinating in how it treats its eponymous monster hunters. They’re vilified by ordinary folk, an unwanted necessity better kept out of sight. Years of being looked down on have twisted them into bitter mercenaries with little love for those they help, but there’s not much opportunity to mould this reputation in the games.
It’s baked into the story, rather than a dynamic karma system a la Fallout and Fable. People revile your very presence the moment you wander into town, just as in the novels, with choices (outside of haggling for payment) being more fluid and story-driven than influencing an arbitrary reputation meter. But some fans want the sequel to take things further, and allow Ciri to foster an individual reputation depending on her—or rather, your—actions.
It wouldn’t be a real Witcher game if it didn’t start with extremely negative karma then.
«Do you think they’ll introduce some karma/honour system […] in Witcher 4?» asked u/Inclinedbenchpress, amassing over 2,000 upvotes at the time of writing. «I hope so,» u/Eddy_Who44 replied. «The [looting] in Witcher 3 is just wild. It really kills the immersion. And it’s such a hard habit to break. After decades of spam-clicking through loot, I’m basically programmed to grab everything I can. But the story is so damn good, I keep stopping to ask myself: Would Geralt actually do this?»
Others, like u/Shimon_Levy, suggested that there should be a «Low/High honor mechanic» like in Red Dead Redemption 2, while u/Accomplished-Let1273 argued that The Witcher 4 should take inspiration from Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and have location-specific reputations, preventing Ciri from pilfering through people’s belongings without repercussion. It’s an idea that many have backed up, putting forward that guards should aggro if they catch you in the act. u/LeoFireGod even suggested that there should be a stealth element.
Ciri literally kills people with stealth in Strygga Castle in the books. It fits her perfectly—u/EnesBaratheon.
But a lot of fans simply aren’t convinced, and argue that it would go against CD Projekt Red’s storytelling.
"You're A Witcher. Always Get Paid"
As u/prodigalpariah argued, «The Witcher has always been about moral complexity and shades of grey», and that a morality system which spells out which actions are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ would fly in the face of that. «Sometimes there is no good option and you’re forced to choose between the lesser of two evils,» added u/Green_Amnesia. «Even then, you don’t know if you made the ‘right’ decision. Maybe there could be some kind of karma system, but I honestly love how the story is told in shades of grey».
An honor/karma system goes against everything The Witcher stands for—u/FattyMc.
For others, it’s less about the narrative weight that might be stripped back because of a karma system, and more because of the fuss that reputation causes. «The crime systems in games always seem like a good idea on paper (more immersive), but they end up being a giant headache in reality,» said u/Ramius99.
Going by the thread alone, it looks like the majority of players aren’t interested in such a system, but there’ll undoubtedly be plenty of morally ambiguous choices to tug at our heartstrings, and plenty of peasants to extort as we slay bog-standard drowners.
