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

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

This bird looks and sounds like a barn swallow – in the witcher’s world, “ Swallow ” is the Elvish-English translation of “ Zireael ”, from which 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 the increasingly frequent and deadly epidemics of zoonotic diseases, the 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 a bird 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 to 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. Adam Badowski, director of Cyberpunk 2077, has previously said he was against the idea of ​​crossing worlds, although many on the team are hoping to include Ciri in the game – it may well be that this benchmark is the compromise.

Although it’s a total coincidence, Ciri makes another appearance in the game – albeit in the form of the Cover star on a retro games magazine found in the Cyberpunk Prologue for Corpo players.

Many wondered if Ciri would be the leader Witcher game set to begin development after Cyberpunk release. However, it may take some time to find out, as Cyberpunk itself clearly has a long way to go.

After the bad state of the game on consoles at launch, The CD project has committed to a number of updates to fix the game by February, after which it will be receive free DLC and paid expansions and eventually, a multiplayer mode. Considering you can’t even buy the game digitally on PlayStation at the moment, it will probably be a long way to go until we have a chance to review the CD version projected on Ciri in person.

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 newstips@ign.com.