CD Projekt Red recently released a 15-minute tech demo for its upcoming open-world RPG, The Witcher 4. Thanks to the footage, we got a closer look at the game’s new kingdom, Kovir. We received a vertical slice of gameplay during the recent tech demo that showcased a section of the region and a small port town where protagonist Ciri travels to. Here’s everything we know about Kovir so far based on information found in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Players might’ve heard the name Kovir from a certain in-game book you can obtain in The Witcher 3. The lore book titled “Kovir and Poviss” can be found sitting on shelves around The Witcher 3’s world. The text goes into a bit of detail about Kovir and its landscape including some in-depth writings about its history and reputation, giving us a good impression into what we can expect from The Witcher 4.
The text from the book reads:
Kovir and Poviss are, without a doubt, the richest realms in the North. Few today remember that this was not always the case, yet their poverty was once literally on everyone’s lips, in the form of now-antiquated common sayings. As recently as the days of Heribert the Quarrelsome, one spoke of a particularly impoverished person as being “poorer than a mouse from Poviss,” called bone broth “Koviri delight,” and referred to beggars as “praxedes,” after the bay along the shores of which these kingdoms lie.
Similarly, few remember that a mere handful of generations ago, Kovir and Poviss were still part of Redania. King Radovid I, known as Radovid the Great, handed dominion over them to his hated brother, Troyden, with one stipulation – that he never leave his newly-acquired demesne and not interfere in matters of state.
Handing over this rocky scrap of far-northern ground (where, the saying went, the year had two seasons – August and winter) was naturally meant as a cruel joke, a slap in the face for the over-ambitious Troyden.
Yet time soon proved that Radovid the Great had made a grave error. Before long, it was discovered that Kovir’s bare rocks hid priceless treasure in the form of enormous deposits of precious metals and rock salt. This discovery, in turn, led to tremendous growth in productive industry. Mills, forges, and workshops sprouted up like mushrooms after a hearty rain.
Radovid III decided to correct his famous forebear’s mistake and take back the northern frontiers of his kingdom. He was convinced the combined armies of Redania and its then-ally Kaedwen would quickly bring this ever more audacious vassal in line. History took a different turn, however, and Kovir won a resounding, crushing victory. Radovid III was forced to sign the First Treaty of Lan Exeter, granting Kovir independence while binding it to eternal neutrality – a promise Troyden’s successors have kept with great diligence.
Until recently, Kovir was ruled by Esterad Thyssen, a king as wise as he was greedy. Yet his untimely demise did not stop his lands from continuing to develop and blossom. Koviri metallurgists proudly compete with the best Mahakam can offer, and many believe the University of Lan Exeter long ago surpassed the famous Oxenfurt Academy as the leading seat of higher learning in the North. And so it has come to pass that, over the course of a few generations, the inhabitants of Kovir and Poviss have turned from paupers into princes, from beggars into bankers.
If Kovir sounds familiar to you but you didn’t read the book, that’s because it’s mentioned again during one ending in The Witcher 3. If you decide to romance Triss Merigold instead of Yennefer as Geralt, the game’s post-credits narration tells you that Geralt and Triss travel to Kovir where Triss becomes a court advisor to King Tankred Thyssen (the son of Esterad Thyssen). This doesn’t necessarily mean that this ending is “canon” so we’ll have to wait for The Witcher 4 to find out.
Turning our attention to the books source material, Kovir is described as a mineral-rich region that accounts for 80% of the world’s gold. It’s situated north of Redania on the Gulf of Praxeda. Other minerals farmed in the region include chromium, copper, platinum, salt, glass, iron ore, lead, zinc, nickel, silver, tin, titanium and tungsten. Unlike most regions, Kovir has two capitals: Lan Exeter during winter and Port Vanis during summer. It’s likely that we’ll visit these locations and more in the final game.
The Witcher 4 is currently in development. You can watch the full presentation below:
