Time is catching up with Geralt Of Rivia. After two conquests, hundreds of accolades and over 5 million accumulated sales, he is tired of the turmoil in his homeland. He's tired of aimlessly hunting monsters, had enough of political spitting matches and is sick of the prejudice that follows him at every turn. That's why, for his final outing, Geralt is taking an opportunity to reclaim his past and make himself a future worth having. With his memory finally restored, Geralt sets out across The North in search of his long-lost love — the raven-haired priestess Yennefer — as an ancient evil spreads back across the land. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is set to be the next generation's first RPG for all leading platforms in 2014. A release on PC and PlayStation 4 has already been confirmed, though we expect it to find another platform once Microsoft shows its hand. We spoke with lead quest designer Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz and head of marketing Michal Platkow-Gilewski about the anticipated release.
The First Next-Gen RPG?
CD Projekt Red has only offered IP us a little hint of what to expect with The Witcher 3. The screenshots made available show the game through the studio's old renderer, so expect it to only look better as more of the next gen is unveiled. The Witcher is switching gears, taking its narrative-driven gameplay and exploding it into a huge open world. "For the first time, we are doing an open-world game," says Tomaszkiewicz. "It's a big challenge, of course, but it's really exciting for me because for the first time we can really feel how huge and rich the world of The Witcher is."
Filling Open World
While The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings was wildly ambitious, it struggled to escape its own linearity. With the sequel the studio needs to find a way to fill a map 30 times the size of its predecessors. "Of course, we need to think about how to fill this open world," says Platkow-Gilewski, adding, "If [players] enjoy monster hunting or enjoy doing over 50 hours of side-quests, they can do this. But with every step, they will know they are in the world where the main plot exists. The main plot its not one line of quests... it's something that is happening in the world, everywhere around The Witcher"
Who Said That Size Doesn't Matter?
Offering a world 20 per cent larger than that of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrirn, we've been told to expect a seamless experience without the distraction of loading times and arbitrary narrative crossroads such as chapter breakpoints. The world is so huge that CD Projekt RED estimates it will take 40 minutes to travel from one side to the other on horseback. Players shouldn't worry about getting lost; Platkow-Gilewski assures us they have it all in hand: "Our game is story focused, so although we will have a lot of side quests and random encounters, we will remind you with communities and dialogues which plot lines will be important."
The Hunt Is On
The Witcher 3 is introducing dynamic monster hunting for the first time in the series. This will let players step into the shoes of Geralt as book author Andrzej Sapkowski intended. "I'm really excited as a developer by the monster hunting system. This is something we always tried to achieve in our games; the feeling that you actually are a Witcher," says Platkow-Gilewski, with Tomaszkiewicz adding: "You look for monsters through small villages or [through] people... By hunting we don't mean you go outside and kill all the monsters, collect some loot and then come back' — it's more connected with the • lore of the given place."
