🐎 Kelpie Witcher 4: Exploring Ciri’s Majestic Black Mare in the Upcoming Game

Chelsea Liz
Jun 5
4 min read

🎮 Meet Kelpie: Ciri’s Horse in The Witcher 4

At the 2025 State of Unreal showcase, CD Projekt Red gave us a first look at The Witcher 4. Fans were eager to see Ciri step into the spotlight. But for horse lovers… our eyes were locked on the real star:

Kelpie.

And no - she’s not just “Roach 2.0.” She’s something entirely new!

🧬 Why Kelpie Is the Most Realistic Game Horse Yet

From a technical standpoint, Kelpie is unlike anything we’ve seen in a fantasy RPG - (Sorry, Roach) or any horse game, period. (Sorry, Red Dead)

CD Projekt Red has completely reimagined what a digital horse can be, combining beautiful equine details with groundbreaking animation technology. Her coat texture alone is chefs kiss.

🔍 Key Features That Set Kelpie Apart:

✅ Real-Time Muscle Simulation: Thanks to Unreal Engine 5’s Chaos Flesh Solver, Kelpie has muscles that stretch and contract under her skin as she moves. It’s subtle. It’s visceral. And yes, it’s beautiful. To be completely honest, it's a glorious work of equine art.
Credit: CD Projekt Red
✅ Multi-Character Motion Matching: Ciri and Kelpie are perfectly synchronized. Mounting no longer requires lining up with invisible prompts - you can leap onto her from any angle or speed, and the animation responds in real time.
✅ Root Motion Support: Her movement is physically grounded, meaning her turns, gaits, and acceleration feel real. No more floating or stiff pivots. The trot and turn was out of this word. My horse in real life, Kosta, stops like this all the time when he feels fancy prancy. Naturally, I had to turn the animation clip into a gif so i could watch it over and over and over again. It makes my horse girl heart so happy.
✅ Machine-Learned Animations: This isn’t canned animation - it’s AI-informed motion. Her walk, trot, and canter reflect correct diagonals, weight distribution, and even slight shifts in balance.
✅ Petting + Interaction Animations: Yes, Ciri pats her. Yes, Kelpie responds. She isn't just a transportation tool. She's your new bestie - and she feels like one.

In short: this horse moves like she's alive.

📖 Lore Deep Dive: Kelpie’s Origins

In The Witcher books, Kelpie is Ciri’s black mare. While some might assume she’s a Friesian, I don’t believe that’s accurate - and therefore she likely wouldn’t move like one either. She also doesn't have the feathering on her feet. Although she shares some visual similarities with Friesians, I once owned a Tennessee Walking Horse that many people also mistook for a Friesian-draft mix. I’ve also owned a PRE Andalusian mare who while grey, her body shape closely resembled Kelpie’s. Though this might be my bias talking as Fresians are not high up on my favorite horse breed list. (and thats my hot take, so don’t hate me; more Friesians for you!). Kelpie is fast, elegant, and fiercely loyal. She’s introduced as a powerful horse once owned by Hotspurn, who died in Ciri’s arms. She’s not magical per se, but her bond with Ciri looks like it a lot of carries emotional weight.

In The Witcher 4, CD Projekt Red takes that bond and leans into it - giving Ciri a bracelet that lets her summon Kelpie at will. It’s a new layer of fantasy that honors the lore while enhancing gameplay immersion.

And if you're wondering how capable she is? In the source material, Kelpie could reportedly jump seven-foot walls! So yeah - she’s not just for slow walks through Novigrad.

🎥 Visuals That Feel Like a Horse

I’ve spent years now analyzing horses in games - from Red Dead to indie horse sims to broken trot cycles in triple-A RPGs. The bar is low. Like, subterranean.

But Kelpie?

She canters with rhythm. She trots without s-curved legs. Her turns are weighty, not choppy and hard. And her presence is cinematic!

Even her coat - a thick, velvety black - has layered texture, light movement, and depth. She’s not shiny plastic. She looks like a real horse! She's gleaming.

🧠 The Emotional Shift: Horses as Characters, Not Bikes

For decades, game horses have been treated like glorified motorcycles. You hop on, press forward, and go. They're stiff, silent, and lifeless. They glitch, they glide across the ground. They've been a mess.

Kelpie is different.

She comes when called. She responds to voice (at least in the trailer). She enters cutscenes. She looks back at Ciri.

She exists in the story.... not just on the map or as a mode of transportation.

This level of care in a companion animal? That's a massive leap forward for horse games and equine representation in the gaming industry as a whole.

(If you want a more in depth about horse games & animations check out the Mane Quest)

🆚 Kelpie vs. Roach: Who Rides Supreme?

Roach is iconic. She’s also buggy, teleport-y, and stiff. We love her, but let’s be honest, she once glitched into a roof mid-cutscene.

Kelpie is the evolution. She’s the first truly next-gen video game horse - animated with biomechanical accuracy, equipped with emotion, and embedded in narrative design.

CD Projekt Red isn’t just improving the ride. They’re redefining the role. Thats not to say she is flawless but...

Watch out, Red Dead. The bar just moved.

🐴 Final Thoughts: A Win for Horse Lovers and Game Devs Alike

Kelpie isn’t just exciting because she looks good. She’s exciting because she feels like a real horse - and finally, game developers are treating horses as characters worthy of complexity, connection, and care. A huge thanks to Alice from The Mane Quest, for championing Horses in games and horse game mechanics.

If The Witcher 4 continues down this path, we may be entering a new era for horse games - one where our companions, horse or not, are crafted with the same soul as the world around them.

And if this is what they're doing with the horse?

I can’t wait to see the rest.