According to CDPR, players can expect the next major Witcher 3 update to arrive sometime in the second quarter of 2022. This will include the next-gen upgrades for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, as well as the new DLC free of charge for all who have purchased the base game on any platform. Graphical improvements and loading times will also be addressed, as these appear to be a primary focus of the update. Assuming there are no further delays regarding the Witcher 3's new-gen upgrades, which unfortunately is always a possibility, this leaves the potential release window between April and June.
The increase in popularity of The Witcher Netflix series appears to be providing even more longevity to The Witcher 3, a title that has remained relatively popular ever since it launched nearly seven years ago. With many new players just now jumping in for the first time, it will be great to see CDPR incorporate material from the show that presumably brought some new eyes to the game. With next-gen updates on the horizon for both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, 2022 is shaping up to be a big year for CD Projekt Red.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in May 2015, with a Nintendo Switch version released in October 2019, and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions titled The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition which was released in December 2022. The game received critical acclaim, with praise for its gameplay, narrative, world design, combat, and visuals, although it received minor criticism due to technical issues. It holds more than 200 game of the year awards and has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. Two expansions were also released to critical acclaim: Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. A Game of the Year edition was released in August 2016, with the base game, expansions and all downloadable content included. The game shipped over 40 million copies, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time.
The game has responsive, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamic environments. The day-night cycle influences some monsters; a werewolf becomes powerful during the night of a full moon.[12] Players can learn about their enemies and prepare for combat by reading the in-game bestiary.[13] When they kill an enemy, they can loot its corpse for valuables.[13] Geralt's witcher sense enables players to find objects of interest, including items that can be collected or scavenged.[14] Items are stored in the inventory, which can be expanded by purchasing upgrades.[13] Players can sell items to vendors[15] or use them to craft potions and bombs.[16][17] They can visit blacksmiths to craft new weapons and armorers to craft new armour with what they have gathered.[18] The price of an item and the cost of crafting it depend on a region's local economy.[3] Players earn experience points by completing quests.[3] When a player earns enough experience, Geralt's level increases and the player receives ability points.[19] These points may be used on four skill trees: combat, signs, alchemy and general. Combat upgrades enhance Geralt's attacks and unlock new fighting techniques; signs upgrades enable him to use magic more efficiently, and alchemy upgrades improve crafting abilities. General upgrades have a variety of functions, from raising Geralt's vitality to increasing crossbow damage.[10]
The main character is the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia (Doug Cockle),[38] a monster hunter trained since childhood in combat, tracking, alchemy and magic, and made stronger, faster and resistant to toxins by mutagens. He is aided by his lover, the powerful sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Denise Gough),[38] his former love interest Triss Merigold (Jaimi Barbakoff),[38] the bard Dandelion (John Schwab), the dwarf warrior Zoltan Chivay (Alexander Morton),[39][33] and Geralt's Witcher mentor Vesemir (William Roberts).[39][35] Geralt is spurred into action by the reappearance of his and Yennefer's adopted daughter, Ciri (Jo Wyatt).[39] Ciri is a Source, born with innate (and potentially vast) magical abilities; after the apparent death of her parents, she was trained as a witcher while Yennefer taught her magic.[33] Ciri disappeared years before to escape the Wild Hunt, a group of spectral warriors led by the King of the Wild Hunt: the elf Eredin, from a parallel dimension.[35]
Geralt sails to Skellige and reunites with Yennefer, who is investigating a magical explosion near where Ciri was last seen. They discover that Ciri visited the island of Lofoten, but when the Wild Hunt attacked again, fled in a boat with an unidentified elf. When the boat returned to shore, its only occupant was Uma, a deformed creature Geralt previously saw living with the Bloody Baron. Deducing that Uma was the victim of the curse Ciri tried to lift in Novigrad, Geralt collects Uma in Velen and takes him to the nearly abandoned witcher school at Kaer Morhen. Working with Yennefer and his fellow witchers, Geralt breaks the curse and restores Uma's true identity: Avallac'h, Ciri's teacher and the elf seen with her on her travels. Avallac'h tells Geralt that he placed Ciri in an enchanted sleep on the Isle of Mists to keep her temporarily safe from the Wild Hunt.
The player's choices can lead to several different endings. If Ciri survives after defeating the White Frost and Geralt took her to meet her father, she will become the Empress of Nilfgaard. If Ciri survives but did not meet the emperor, Geralt helps her fake her death, and she becomes a witcher. If Ciri is killed in her confrontation with the White Frost, the story ends with Geralt retrieving her medallion from the last remaining Crone. The player's choices also determine whether Geralt ends up in a romantic relationship with Yennefer, Triss, or neither, and how much of the North is ultimately conquered by Nilfgaard.
Months before its release date, the game's economy, crafting, and inventory systems were incomplete and apparently unable to meet the deadline. Senior gameplay designer Matthew Steinke thought of a remedy and drew up a system context diagram. To allocate prices, Steinke wrote a formula based on rate of damage, defence, or healing. Polynomial least squares were used to determine its efficacy, and it was found to eliminate bugs from the system and reduce loading times.[60] Each character was given a unique personality to contrast the fetch-quest system typically used in video games. It was decided early that the writing would be witty, with metaphors and implied meanings. The dialogue was limited to 15 lines, with occasional exceptions, to retain content originality. Player options were written as morally ambiguous, reflecting real life and Andrzej Sapkowski's original Witcher series. Alcoholism, abuse and sexuality, depicted as normal parts of the medieval world, were incorporated into the story for authenticity.[40][53][49] Areas of the open world were based on Poland, Amsterdam, and Scandinavia.[49] Objects were modelled by hand.[53]
The developer studied Witcher forums and websites such as Reddit to predict what players generally desired from downloadable content (DLC). A collection of 16 free DLC was released, as announced before release by the developers. They included cosmetic and additional gameplay content and the New Game Plus mode.[51][78] CD Projekt Red announced two expansion packs: Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Hearts of Stone was released on 13 October 2015,[79] and Blood and Wine on 31 May 2016.[80] Hearts of Stone follows Geralt as he contacts a mysterious entity known as the Man of Glass and an immortal man, Olgierd von Everec. The expansion was critically acclaimed. The second expansion pack, Blood and Wine, follows Geralt as he travels to Toussaint (a Nilfgaardian duchy untouched by war) to track down a mysterious beast which is terrorizing the region. It was also critically acclaimed, winning the Best RPG category at The Game Awards 2016.[81] A Game of the Year edition, with the base game, both expansions and all DLC, was released on 30 August 2016.[82]
In December of 2022, the publisher re-released the game for the PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. The re-released game became available as a free upgrade for existing owners on PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, but also could be purchased separately. The re-release has been lauded for numerous visual enhancements made to the game.[83][84]
In 2021, video game news site Kotaku had reported that the re-release would include content from mods produced by fans; "HalkHogan", creator of a mod that improves the game's textures, announced that the developer had entered talks to include content from "The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project" in the release. CD Projekt Red confirmed to Kotaku that they had entered talks with mod creators, prompting discussion about why the company, which earned $300mil in 2020, sought out community assistance.[85]
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