For three games, Kovir was a place people talked about but never visited. That changed on June 3, 2025, when CD Projekt Red used the State of Unreal livestream to show a technical demo of The Witcher 4. The footage followed Ciri through a snowy northern landscape of pine forests and mountain peaks, and into the port town of Valdrest, with Lan Exeter, the winter capital of Kovir, visible in the distance.
It is worth being precise about what this means. The demo was a technology showcase built on Unreal Engine 5, not a gameplay reveal. Game director Sebastian Kalemba has said that at least part of the game takes place in Kovir, but CD Projekt Red has not said how big that part is. Still, a studio does not usually build its first public look at a new game around a place that plays no part in it, which is why most fans now expect Kovir and Poviss to be a central region.
What the books say about Kovir
In Sapkowski’s saga, Kovir lies in the far north of the Continent, north of Redania and bordered by the Dragon Mountains. It is famous for one thing above all: wealth. Its mountains hold the mines that make it the biggest exporter of mineral resources in the known world, and that money buys it a rare kind of independence while the southern kingdoms bleed each other dry.
The kingdom has two capitals. Pont Vanis serves as the summer seat, while Lan Exeter is the winter capital. In The Tower of the Swallow, Lan Exeter is described as a city built on the water in the wide estuary of the River Targo, with canals instead of streets and boats instead of carts. Catching a glimpse of that city on the horizon was one of the nicest touches for book readers.
Kovir in The Witcher 3
Players of Wild Hunt have already brushed against Kovir. If Geralt ends up with Triss Merigold, the epilogue sends the two of them north, where Triss becomes an advisor at the court of King Tankred Thyssen. It is only a few lines of narration, but it makes Kovir one of the few places on the map with a direct thread back to Geralt’s story.
What we know about The Witcher 4 so far
Ciri is the lead, now working as a witcher herself. The game is being made in Unreal Engine 5 rather than CD Projekt Red’s own REDengine, and the studio has since given it a 2028 release target. Platforms have not been officially listed, though CD Projekt Red says the technology is being built for PC, PlayStation and Xbox. You can follow everything confirmed so far in our Witcher 4 Hub. Everything beyond that, from the story to how big the playable part of Kovir will be, is still under wraps.
