CD Projekt Red's latest job posting for an Engineering Director on Project Hadar spells it out plainly: the studio wants someone to help craft "the next, immersive game in the Hadar world, creating an emotional, open-world experience that will stay with gamers." After The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2, this marks the Polish developer's first fully original IP in years, built from scratch rather than adapted from books or tabletop roots. The listing sits alongside other Hadar-specific roles for story engineers, NPC behavior programmers, and technical artists, all pointing to a narrative-driven open world on Unreal Engine 5.

The project remains a skeleton effort. CD Projekt Red's latest earnings materials peg the Hadar team at just 24 developers as of late April, down from 26 in February and a modest ramp from 17 the prior year. Prototypes are being built and tested directly in-engine, but priorities clearly sit with the larger Witcher 4 squad of over 500 and Cyberpunk 2's 163. Earlier postings hinted at melee-focused action-RPG combat, suggesting a shift from Cyberpunk's guns toward closer-quarters systems familiar to Witcher fans.

Community chatter on X and Reddit treats the tease as exactly what it is: a vague corporate breadcrumb. Posts note the predictable open-world framing while speculating on timelines years out, likely post-Cyberpunk sequel. One listing even flags the need for writers versed in speculative fiction and world-building, underscoring that whatever Hadar becomes, it will live or die on the strength of its lore and emotional hooks, not marketing hype.

The predictable phrasing lands with all the surprise of a Witcher contract clause. CDPR's history shows they can deliver when the story lands, but the small team and distant horizon mean this emotional open world is still very much a prototype waiting for its own plot twist.