Cyberpunk 2077 fans think they’ve found a hidden reference to The Witcher’s Ciri

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As noted on Nintendo Smash, the endgame quest All Along the Watchtower (check out our Cyberpunk 2077 guide for how to get to it) begins with V waking up on top of Badlands Dam and seeing a bird perching on the open window. of the car.

This bird looks and sounds like a barn swallow – in the witcher’s world, “ Swallow ” is the Elvish-English translation of “ Zireael ”, hence Ciri’s name derives (and is the name of the silver sword given to him by Geralt in The Witcher 3).

It may seem like a coincidence, but Cyberpunk 2077 makes it very clear that there are no birds in or around Night City. A fragment (the name of the game for text logs) titled “Avian Extermination Act” makes it clear why:

“Faced with increasingly frequent and deadly epidemics of zoonotic diseases, city council has decided that the most effective method of reducing the risk of infection among residents is through the extermination of all avian life within a radius of 18 miles from town.

This makes the appearance of a live bird in the game especially noteworthy, and the one that’s so close to Ciri looks like a deliberate choice for some fans. There’s no sign yet from CD Projekt Red as to whether that’s actually the case – it’s really a fan theory at this point.

As for why players are specifically looking for Ciri in Night City, it comes down to a set of lines she talks about in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Ciri describes a world she hid in to escape the titular hunt, saying, “People over there had metal in their heads, waged war from a distance, using things similar to megascopes. And there were no horses, everyone had their own flying ship instead. “

Many have taken this to mean that she arrived in Night City. Cyberpunk 2077 director Adam Badowski previously said he was against the idea of ​​crossing worlds, as many on the team hoped to include Ciri in the game – it may well be that this reference is the compromise.

Even though it’s a total coincidence, Ciri makes another appearance in the game – albeit in the form of the cover star of a retro gaming magazine found in the Cyberpunk prologue for Corpo players.

Many have questioned whether Ciri would be the leader of the Witcher game due to the start of development after Cyberpunk’s release. However, it may take some time to find out, as Cyberpunk itself clearly has a long way to go.

Following the poor condition of the game on consoles at launch, CD Projekt has committed to a number of updates to fix the game by February, after which it will receive free DLC and paid expansions and eventually , a multiplayer mode. Considering you can’t even buy the game digitally on PlayStation right now, it will likely be a long way until we even have a chance to see Ciri in person again.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s News Editor. Follow him on Twitter. Any advice to give us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].