Ten years after its unique launch, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt returns immediately with a remaster, and a model new growth, Songs of the Previous, will comply with subsequent yr.
Out there immediately for consoles and PC, The Witcher 3 Remastered options enhanced visuals and fight, and a revamped talent tree. In the meantime, Songs of the Previous will discover the brand new area of Letten in a ‘fully-fledged’ growth CDPR is evaluating to fan-favorite Blood and Wine, by way of scope.
Developed by Idiot’s Concept in collaboration with CD Projekt Purple, the growth grew from an concept first explored throughout work on The Witcher 3’s 2022 next-gen replace, senior builders advised VGC. The mission additionally brings collectively a number of builders who labored on the unique recreation, giving the staff an opportunity to return to the world and characters they helped create.
We spoke with Idiot’s Concept’s inventive imaginative and prescient director Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz and CD Projekt Purple’s Paweł Sasko about revisiting the beloved RPG, bringing new life to its gameplay and visuals, and extra.
Firstly, might you inform us a bit about your roles on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Songs of the Previous?
Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz: My function is inventive imaginative and prescient director for the mission, and at Idiot’s Concept I’m a chief designer.
Paweł Sasko: I’m primarily on Cyberpunk 2 and The Witcher 4: these are my major issues, however I truly consulted particularly on the remaster half with The Witcher staff. I dealt with that half, and naturally I’m nicely within the loop on what the staff is doing for Songs of the Previous.
What got here first, the thought for the growth or the thought for the remaster?
Sasko: I do know, truly, as a result of that was in 2022. We have been engaged on the replace for the next-gen model of The Witcher 3. On the time, that was the staff of [writers] Philipp Weber and Ola Motyka, engaged on a quest we added in 2022. We known as it ‘the Netflix Quest’ on the time, and also you most likely keep in mind we refreshed the important thing visible and so forth.
At the moment, the staff was occupied with what they may truly construct; this was an early seed, and the growth now could be constructed on that seed. So it was Philip and Ola, working with Karolina at Idiot’s Concept… she was principally very deeply concerned within the creation of the thought.
So that is what got here first, and we type of let it simmer for some time whereas engaged on the 2022 replace, so we might doubtlessly do one thing like that sooner or later. As we are saying, typically you simply want the proper timing. We have been searching for the proper accomplice, and naturally, Idiot’s Concept is made up of lots of people that we all know. I’ve recognized Karolina for at the very least 15 years.
Kuzia-Rokosz: We labored on The Witcher 3 collectively, and in addition many individuals from our present studio labored on this one as nicely. We all know one another. We’re on the management degree proper now, so we are attempting to information everybody and keep on with the reality.
So lots of unique Witcher 3 builders have labored on this growth?
Sasko: From either side of Idiot’s Concept and CDPR, yeah. That’s the case as a result of we’ve got some builders on the remaster who’re from CDPR and a few builders from Idiot’s Concept who have been on the unique staff.
However simply to complete the earlier query, we had this concept for fairly a while, after which we have been searching for a accomplice, truly, as a result of our board, our enterprise members, had an concept that we wished to try this growth, however I’ve so many concepts, and most of them I can’t do. You really want the proper accomplice on the proper time, and we discovered the proper accomplice.
The Idiot’s Concept staff has been rising for a few years. They shipped a number of tasks. The final one was The Thaumaturge, and that was fairly favorably reviewed. So we thought that they have been nearly an ideal staff to work with, and when the celebs aligned, we leaned into that older concept, and that is the place the entire work began.
“The core concept was offered to us by CDPR. It was an amazing alternative to inform one thing new about already established characters and to indicate them from a distinct angle.”
Once you determined to make a brand new growth for this 10-year-old recreation, have been you tempted to make it an epilogue for Geralt, since The Witcher 4 is transferring away from the character?
Kuzia-Rokosz: The core concept was offered to us by CDPR. It was an amazing alternative to inform one thing new about already established characters and to indicate them from a distinct angle. What I imply is, that is nonetheless a fully-fledged growth and a richer story at the start, however then we’ve got Geralt’s finest pal with us, who additionally faces some necessary stuff in his life, proper?
We all the time wished to say extra in regards to the people who find themselves necessary to Geralt. So, it isn’t like we wished to strongly conclude one thing, extra that we nonetheless consider that there’s nonetheless extra to say about Geralt.
Sasko: What I like about this, and Karolina alluded to it, is that The Witcher 3’s earlier expansions have been about Ciri and Geralt, and it was about their relationship and their story. However as Karolina talked about, there’s extra to Geralt and to the connection. And there’s his pal, there’s Dandelion, and the connection between them and the friendship that they’ve. Within the base recreation and former expansions, we didn’t actually have a lot house to discover that.
It’s attention-grabbing as a result of Karolina did one of many quests for Dandelion [in The Witcher 3] and I did the opposite one, as a result of we have been each quest designers.
Kuzia-Rokosz: We have been sitting subsequent to one another!
Sasko: That major story focuses so much on Geralt and his relationship with Ciri, however we wished to inform the story about his pals. Dandelion within the books, but in addition within the video games, has a sure function. Geralt has this impenetrable shell in a approach; he’s this very stoic type of character who retains to himself and barely reacts in any emotional approach.
Dandelion could be very typically the one who truly pierces that shell. He’s the one who’s getting out of Geralt the issues that he wouldn’t say. He’s typically the voice of motive. Generally he’s additionally a comic book aid. However what’s necessary for us is to indicate the depth on this character and the friendship between them. And that was a bit little bit of a component that we by no means actually had house to indicate in The Witcher 3 and within the expansions.
He was fairly often in The Witcher 3, much more like a comic book character, and he was bringing that fact to Geralt, however to not the extent that Karolina talked about after we wished to really convey the friendship between them to the entrance. So actually that’s the objective, the narrative objective of the existence of this growth.
Kuzia-Rokosz: On high of that, it’s necessary to say that that is nonetheless the identical Dandelion. However we’re occurring an journey with him, after we can be seeing one other facet of him, perhaps, or a component that was not but seen, not but explored in tales, a component that basically makes him human.
The place does the growth story match within the timeline? Can gamers bounce into it no matter whether or not they end the principle recreation? How does it work?
Kuzia-Rokosz: From a sensible facet, individuals will be capable to begin Songs of the Previous instantly after ending the principle story. So, you do not need to complete the expansions. Nevertheless, in the case of the timeline, these expansions have been earlier than, so we proceed with the story that Geralt actually wished to retire, however then he can not as a result of his finest pal asks him for this one final favor to accompany him.
After which we, in fact, proceed the story relying on whether or not the participant has completed the second growth or not. We supply that within the story, in dialogue, penalties, and so forth. However you do not need to complete earlier expansions to start out Songs of the Previous.
“From a sensible facet, individuals will be capable to begin Songs of the Previous instantly after ending the principle story. So, you do not need to complete the expansions.”
The brand new remaster has graphic enhancements, overhauled fight, and so forth. How did you go about deciding what bits you wished to enhance and what you wished to go away behind? As a result of clearly a few of these updates essentially change the sport.
Sasko: So truly I used to be fairly concerned in that course of, and along with a number of the outdated members of The Witcher staff, we seemed into how The Witcher 3 performs out, the widespread complaints from our gamers, and which areas hadn’t aged that nicely.
The story remains to be related, you may play it, and it’s lovely, and the characters are enjoyable, however if you have a look at the gameplay facet, it was apparent that this was nearly the weakest facet. And if you have a look at the opinions of the journalists and the gamers, everybody’s form of saying the identical factor, which is that gameplay is the weakest a part of The Witcher 3.
Subsequently, it was apparent that we wished to deal with that difficulty. And that’s truly damaged down into a number of various things. There’s the moveset of Geralt, so issues equivalent to animations, finishers, and exploration motion.
There’s additionally a revamped talent tree, and right here we used lots of the expertise from the Cyberpunk 2.0 model as a result of I used to be deeply concerned within the redesign of that. So we did a bit of that, the identical type of course of and thought course of, occupied with what sort of builds could be truly passable to make use of, and would truly work not solely within the base recreation and expansions, but in addition in Songs of the Previous.
One other half can also be dealing with Roach. We added quite a few new behaviors and extra to this facet. Then, in fact, the half that everybody sees is the visuals,
We realized so much on Cyberpunk 2077, working with NVIDIA, with Intel, with AMD on the upscalers. Issues that we launched for the primary time, which have been principally premiered in Cyberpunk at the moment, we at the moment are bringing to Remaster as a result of we all know the way it works. We did it for Purple Engine 4. Now we’re bringing it to Purple Engine 3, which is the engine that The Witcher 3 is utilizing, so the visible half, and yeah, there are quite a few updates.
From the clouds to the climate to precise reflections and the entire ray tracing and path tracing, this can be a fairly massive replace. After all, there are a number of extra trivial issues, equivalent to texture updates. There’s additionally this shot within the trailer of a hen that was like three triangles earlier than. Proper now, it’s extra like 20 polygons! I laughed after I noticed that.
Have been there any technical challenges revisiting Purple Engine, within the sense that the studio has since moved on to Unreal?
Sasko: The entire updates and so forth are carried out by the staff that is aware of it intimately, actually. It’s form of the identical crew engaged on it because it used to. So no, probably not, to be sincere. We do have a core CDPR staff, after which we’ve got Geeksoft, the staff of modders we began working with in 2021 after they began engaged on the modding instruments for Cyberpunk.
This staff relies in Budapest, Hungary, and so they’re fairly massive at this level. Wonderful crew, truly. They’re just about form of like us, which means the mindset and so forth. They labored with us on Phantom Liberty and a pair of.0 as nicely, so that they know Purple Engine 4 fairly nicely, and lots of them truly are chargeable for the work on this remaster.
So there wasn’t actually a second after we needed to adapt a staff that didn’t understand it. Then with the Idiot’s Concept staff, a few of them are new, however once more, they’ve lots of builders who’re seasoned and know Purple Engine 3, like Karolina, as an illustration, who carried out all her quests utilizing that engine.
“Issues that we launched for the primary time, that have been principally premiered in Cyberpunk at the moment, we at the moment are bringing to Remaster”
Kuzia-Rokosz: I opened it and located lots of my implementations and was like, ‘yeah, I keep in mind this one!’
You talked about Cyberpunk 2.0, which resulted in fairly a radically completely different expertise for gamers. How completely different will The Witcher 3 Remastered playthroughs be in comparison with the unique recreation?
Sasko: I might say it’s fairly essentially completely different. Now, is the comparability to Cyberpunk 2.0 justified? I feel it’s justified. However is it that impactful? That’s a bit more durable for me to guage.
That being stated, there is a vital level concerning the talent tree particularly and the way it was revamped. In comparison with Cyberpunk, there was already a construction within the recreation set. Cyberpunk was designed to have quite a lot of play types from the start. So the inspiration was completely different than in The Witcher.
In The Witcher, you’re taking part in as Geralt, who’s a hard and fast character who has a mode of preventing, so the revamp of the talent tree remains to be throughout the boundaries of this. So, I might say the comparability is justified, however I don’t suppose it’s as impactful, and this truly comes from the design of the basics.
In Cyberpunk 2.0, you could have play types, assorted builds, and assorted characters, however Geralt’s all the time Geralt. Now you may make a extremely completely different Geralt, and that was the identical thought course of: how we are able to construct with extra energetic skills than passive skills. That was the problem with the earlier system.
Really, after we have been engaged on the 2022 replace, we already talked about how it will be good to replace this in some unspecified time in the future as a result of it was a bit rusty, however we didn’t actually have sufficient time or a staff to do it. Now we truly might, you recognize, be like, okay, let’s convey it up, actually, to trendy requirements as a lot as we are able to, throughout the boundaries of what that construction actually permits us.
You’ve described the scope of Songs of the Previous as near Blood and Wine. How do you outline that? In sheer measurement, variety of hours…?
Kuzia-Rokosz: A number of elements. Like, I might say the scale of our new world is nearer to Blood and Wine than to what the primary growth launched. Then by way of the variety of quests, actions, and hours of playtime.
Did you’re taking lots of affect from Blood and Wine total? It’s clearly an enormous fan favourite, particularly the quests.
Kuzia-Rokosz: We took classes from different expansions in addition to find out how to construct these experiences. It is a fully-fledged Witcher growth. So, an open world, a nonlinear strategy to quests, with issues to resolve and selections to make, after which penalties to these. There’s a brand new setting full of new characters and enemies, new monsters, in addition to some outdated ones. There are new weapons, new armor, the chain… I’m actually excited!
Sasko: Witcher 3 is just like the bread-and-butter Witcher story. Mainly, all of the issues that you’d see within the Witcher story are there. Hearts of Stone is an extension of that. With Blood and Wine, you may see that we experimented with lots of issues as a result of it’s an growth.
So if you look stylistically on the narrative, you may see that it has variations. As builders, we are able to use this core, increase a bit, and be a bit extra ridiculous. Now, if you have a look at Songs of the Previous, you may see that strategy a bit bit too. It’s not in a approach that’s funnier or extra ridiculous, however stylistically, if you play the demo, you may really feel it a bit bit.
“It is a fully-fledged Witcher growth. So, an open world, a nonlinear strategy to quests, with issues to resolve and selections to make, after which penalties to these.”
There are sufficient new issues that you simply really feel it brings one thing to the desk that you simply didn’t expertise but as a participant, stylistically. It additionally ties with the artwork, with the music; it’s so much dreamier. So, and that’s form of like our strategy with any growth, actually, like we wish to make it possible for it truly justifies its objective and function, why it’s even being made.
What’s modified at CD Projekt that made revisiting The Witcher 3 really feel like a distinct expertise, if something?
Kuzia-Rokosz: It nonetheless feels the identical, I might say. The identical expertise is there, the identical individuals who assist us. It looks like nothing ever adjustments in a approach. It feels prefer it was yesterday that we shaped Idiot’s Concept, however then we’re cooperating once more.
Sasko: On my facet, we’re, as an organization, proper now within the technique of scaling by means of a number of tasks. At the moment, we have been simply making The Witcher 3 and Gwent as a facet mission, however actually it was all the time only one huge recreation that every one of us have been centered on. After which Cyberpunk, and Phantom Liberty.
And from that time on, we began splitting. There was The Witcher 4 staff, the Cyberpunk 2 staff… as an organization, we modified and grew so much, and I might say we professionalized much more.
Karolina began on The Witcher 2, and there are some individuals who began on The Witcher 1, and again then it was simply actually a storage firm in Poland that had very huge ambitions. So you recognize, it modified fairly a bit.
Proper now we’ve got many alternative tasks. Additionally, I really feel we perceive what we’re doing far deeper than earlier than. Much more; earlier than, it was extra like a gut-feeling form of factor. Proper now, we perceive from a distinct degree. That being stated, as Karolina talked about, it’s form of the identical individuals working once more. There’s contemporary expertise, which I feel is essential, actually, to convey it in. But it surely’s nonetheless the identical crew.
Kuzia-Rokosz: And from the sensible facet, since I do know this engine from the underside since I used to be the developer again then, what’s modified is that instruments are there for us. Again on The Witcher 3, we have been nonetheless growing or inventing them. We nonetheless modify them to some extent to make our lives simpler, however the base is there.
Sasko: That’s an amazing level. Really, like yeah, each Horse of Standby and Wine, we’re nonetheless including stuff to the engine and growing it, and so forth. Much less and fewer and fewer basic grant, you recognize. However that’s a very good level. These days, we simply work on the precise toolset that exists.
