The Witcher 3 is the definitive swords and sorcery game for many people. So many fans of CD Projekt Red’s game were elated when the Polish studio revealed at the Gamescom show in Cologne this summer that the game would be getting a remastered edition this year.
This means gamers will be able to play an enhanced version of the classic RPG when the remaster arrives on September 29, as the studio announced in a press release. The original game already looked fantastic, but this remaster will boast improved visuals, as seen in the trailer below, surely making it a feast for the eyes…
Polish studio CD Projekt Red is also improving the game’s combat for this release – a good thing, taking into account that this was slightly clunky and not that great in the original game. The “enhanced monster behaviors” added in the remaster should also make combat more interesting in the upcoming remastered edition. There’s also the fact that movement and traversal have been enhanced too, getting around the game’s world was a bit sluggish back in 2015 (the game’s release year), so this will be a welcome tweak to CD Projekt’s RPG too…
Also the fact that the remaster will be free for current owners of the game is icing on the cake, but there’s more… You see, CD Projekt is also giving the game’s expansions (Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine) to all owners of the game for free. That is, to all those who don’t own them already of course, which surely is a nice touch too…
A majority of gamers who own The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt probably already own one or both expansions, and it’s not likely CD Projekt is making much from these nowadays. Plus, they will be included with the remaster for those who don’t own the game anyway, but this is still a nice gesture nonetheless.
The game, though, is getting a paid expansion next year: Songs of the Past. This is being made by another studio (Fool’s Theory) in collaboration with CD Projekt Red. Fool’s Theory is behind The Thaumaturge, a pretty good RPG set during the time of the Russian Empire, which surely gave me The Witcher vibes, so I’m definitely looking forward to the release of Songs of the Past, which is likely arriving next year.
The thing is, Fool’s Theory was also supposedly working on The Witcher 1 remake. This remake of the first Witcher game from 2007 was announced back in 2022, but it seems that work has essentially stalled on the eagerly anticipated remake, as CD Projekt Red recently told GameSpot.
“Fool’s Theory team is focused mainly on the development of Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, while a relatively small part of their team is supporting the development of The Witcher 4”, said the company. “The Witcher Remake will be built on the foundation laid by The Witcher 4, we need to have the necessary assets, tools, and pipelines ready for efficient development”, added the Polish studio.
A remake of the first Witcher game (pictured) was announced back in 2022.
There’s also the fact that the people at CD Projekt Red are dumping their game engine (the Red engine) which was used to develop the likes of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and moving to Epic’s Unreal Engine 5, with Fool’s Theory The Witcher 1 remake getting caught in the middle of this transition…
This does not bode well for those who were looking forward to playing the remake in the near future, then. Taking into account Fool’s Theory and CD Projekt Red are primarily focused on the Songs of the Past expansion, and that this is not likely to arrive until sometime in 2027, work on The Witcher 1 remake will be limited…
Meanwhile, The Witcher 4 won’t arrive until at least 2028 assuming no delays, and once Fool’s Theory (in collaboration with CD Projekt Red, of course) resumes work on the remake at full speed, this may not see the light of day until 2029 or maybe even 2030… So it seems CD Projekt fell into the trap of announcing a game too early, much like Bethesda did with The Elder Scrolls VI.
But still, this is surely a game to look forward to. Both The Witcher and RPG fans have this month’s remaster of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, plus the upcoming Songs of the Past expansion next year (which CD Projekt should soon reveal more of) to keep them busy until more games in the storied series, including the eagerly anticipated The Witcher 4, see the light of day.