CD Projekt Red is responsible for creating The Witcher game series and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, and both games feature a protagonist that serves as a kind of mercenary in their respective worlds. Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, or monster hunter, in The Witcher series and V is an outlaw mercenary from Cyberpunk 2077, but both are looking to make some money.
Thematically speaking, Geralt of Rivia and V come from two very different worlds. The Cyberpunk 2077 world is exactly what is sounds, high-tech and nearly lawless. The world of The Witcher, on the other hand, fits the description of a fantasy 14th century Europe. While the worlds separating the two franchises may be polar opposites, the main characters certainly aren't.
Establishing Geralt, The Witcher
A good start to the comparison would be to assess Geralt's character. Because The Witcher and its story is well established, there is already a ton of information on the titular character. Geralt solves monster problems for coin by being a highly trained and physically augmented human; he considers it his life's purpose and sees no other alternative in how he should live his life. Geralt's unique talents put him in all sorts of danger with everything from Alghouls to Zeugls just to get paid.
The School of the Wolf is one of seven Witcher schools and it is what gave Geralt his abilities and training. The Witcher games touch upon the process that creates Witchers, but most of it is lost to the game's history. Geralt will sometimes recount the days he spent in Kaer Morhen while he was training, but all Witcher's experience great hardship and suffering when becoming Witchers. If the mutations don't outright kill the trainees, the rigorous trials will.
The mutations seen in The Witcher games are what give Witchers the advantage over their quarry. The mutations give some Witchers a keen intuitive sense backed up by enhanced reflexes to survive combat with monsters. They also provide a resistance to the toxic property of special witcher potions which grant anything from night vision to regeneration. Most notably, the mutations provide Witchers with the ability to cast basic magical spells to aid in diplomacy and combat. The Witchers are basically super soldiers that arguably mirror the mercenaries from Night City in Cyberpunk 2077.
How V and Geralt Compare
Speaking of Cyberpunk 2077, V is the playable character that feels like a modern Witcher. Unlike Geralt of Rivia, V's backstory and character in Cyberpunk 2077 is driven by the character creator and ultimately controlled by the player. The way that V conducts his business as a mercenary is completely determined by the way the player plays, meaning there's no streamlined personality to compare. However, there are quite a few similarities between the two characters.
It's all about the credits in Cyberpunk 2077, and being a mercenary inherently makes acquiring money one of V's primary motivations. It's not hard to draw this distinction between Geralt and V because both of their most defining traits is their occupation. V the merc and Geralt the Witcher are both like bounty hunters where one deals in Night City's shady underworld and the other in monsters. Both V and Geralt don't work for free, and anyone who goes back on a deal with them better be prepared for a fight.
Judging from the extreme modifications that can be seen in any trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, V understands augmentation. Practically every body part or human function can be altered in some way to give the user an advantage. These technological improvements must come at personal cost to the wearer and are essentially modernized Witcher mutations. The cybernetic enhancements work for and sometimes against their user, not unlike the risks involved with Witcher mutations. Super strength, night vision, and the ability to "hack" people are examples of powers available to mercenaries and Witchers.
Looking at trailers for Cyberpunk 2077, it is fair to assume that players who enjoyed The Witcher 3: The Great Hunt from 2015 would be in their element playing Cyberpunk 2077. V will essentially give players the ability to create the Geralt they always wanted to be.
Cyberpunk 2077 launches on November 19 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are also in development.