CD Projekt Red Announces The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
News | February 5, 2013 2:29 pm
By Moo Lissa
When we last saw Geralt of Rivia, he had
In January, CD Projekt Red released an update about their modding toolkit REDkit. Included, and seemingly unrelated, was this picture--
CDPR's explanation: "Oh, and if you are wondering what’s that in that picture above – well, we’ll leave it for your imagination to answer.
" was obviously enough to titillate the fanboys and get game bloggers excited. (Only people who frequently visited the Witcher website were informed that it's not a screen shot, it's actually a picture of a real item to be given to the beta tester who creates the best mod with REDkit. I admit, I'm shocked that's an actual photo, haha)
Earlier this month, CDPR released information on their new engine, REDengine 3. A beautiful screen shot using their engine was quickly assumed to be a shot from The Witcher 3, and was posted as such all over the internet.
Yesterday, the day before CDPR themselves planned to make a major announcement regarding a game, Game Informer's March issue was leaked and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt was revealed to be the cover game. Here's the cover:
Anyone else loving that Kotaku watermarked a photo that they pulled from Game Informer? No? Must just be me. But the real question is who is the mystery woman traveling with him? Triss? Yenn? Ciri? CDPR is keeping that under wraps for now.
Here is more artwork from GI:
Hopefully with the new engine, the third (and final) Witcher can maintain the same stunning art quality throughout the entire game, not just the super polished opening sequence...
According to Game Informer, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt stretches from stormy islands to war-torn forests and a sprawling dark fantasy metropolis without a loading screen anywhere to be found." No loading screens? That's hard to believe. But now, CD Projekt Red have themselves announced the Witcher 3- and unlike the previous 2 installments, this game will be an open world game that is 30 times bigger than the world of The Witcher 2. In fact, they claim it will be even bigger than Skyrim (around 30% bigger!) and should take the better part of an hour to travel across the world on horseback (which most likely you will have to do many times, given the lack of a fast travel system in The Witcher 2). The game will also not be divided between chapters or acts, so they're aiming in a much more Western RPG direction with it.
Also different will be the story line. While witchcraft, politics and intrigue drove The Witcher 2 as Geralt was forced to be an errand boy for the powers that be, now that Geralt has his memory back (and a masterful silvery beard?!?!), he's working for himself. Political issues will still be a part of the story, as the (otherworldly) unrest is definitely a threat to the entire world, but you will no longer be playing as a pawn in a larger game. Geralt is out for himself first. And fans of Geralt who have been underwhelmed by the Elder Scrolls games can relax- while the game will be open world, CDPR plans to be the first game company to successfully combine a massive, immersive, dark story with the freedom to travel through the world as you wish. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they can pull it off.
Witcher work is never done, however, and Geralt will definitely have his share of monster battles (especially if he's going to take on the wild hunt) which will now be preceded by detective work, some of which was touched upon in the 2nd game. Mercifully, QTEs are gone completely, and the fluid, intuitive combat should be improved.
The release date for the final chapter in Geralt's journey will be sometime in 2014 for "PC and all high end platforms." In the meantime, if you haven't played TW1 or 2, they are 50% off on steam and GoG, and the enhanced edition has been permanently discounted to $29.99 for the Xbox 360.
(Thanks to Snapple Cap for also submitting an article on the topic)
Spoiler: Click here to toggle spoiler
We gamers are an impatient bunch, and in the time since then (nearly a year), there has been no official word on the third installment in the series, just hints and teasers. Luckily the teasing has been pretty specific. recovered his memory of the Wild Hunt and set off to Nilfgaard to track down Yennifer of Vengerberg with Triss.
In January, CD Projekt Red released an update about their modding toolkit REDkit. Included, and seemingly unrelated, was this picture--
CDPR's explanation: "Oh, and if you are wondering what’s that in that picture above – well, we’ll leave it for your imagination to answer.
" was obviously enough to titillate the fanboys and get game bloggers excited. (Only people who frequently visited the Witcher website were informed that it's not a screen shot, it's actually a picture of a real item to be given to the beta tester who creates the best mod with REDkit. I admit, I'm shocked that's an actual photo, haha)Earlier this month, CDPR released information on their new engine, REDengine 3. A beautiful screen shot using their engine was quickly assumed to be a shot from The Witcher 3, and was posted as such all over the internet.
Yesterday, the day before CDPR themselves planned to make a major announcement regarding a game, Game Informer's March issue was leaked and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt was revealed to be the cover game. Here's the cover:
Anyone else loving that Kotaku watermarked a photo that they pulled from Game Informer? No? Must just be me. But the real question is who is the mystery woman traveling with him? Triss? Yenn? Ciri? CDPR is keeping that under wraps for now.
Here is more artwork from GI:
Hopefully with the new engine, the third (and final) Witcher can maintain the same stunning art quality throughout the entire game, not just the super polished opening sequence...
According to Game Informer, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt stretches from stormy islands to war-torn forests and a sprawling dark fantasy metropolis without a loading screen anywhere to be found." No loading screens? That's hard to believe. But now, CD Projekt Red have themselves announced the Witcher 3- and unlike the previous 2 installments, this game will be an open world game that is 30 times bigger than the world of The Witcher 2. In fact, they claim it will be even bigger than Skyrim (around 30% bigger!) and should take the better part of an hour to travel across the world on horseback (which most likely you will have to do many times, given the lack of a fast travel system in The Witcher 2). The game will also not be divided between chapters or acts, so they're aiming in a much more Western RPG direction with it.
Also different will be the story line. While witchcraft, politics and intrigue drove The Witcher 2 as Geralt was forced to be an errand boy for the powers that be, now that Geralt has his memory back (and a masterful silvery beard?!?!), he's working for himself. Political issues will still be a part of the story, as the (otherworldly) unrest is definitely a threat to the entire world, but you will no longer be playing as a pawn in a larger game. Geralt is out for himself first. And fans of Geralt who have been underwhelmed by the Elder Scrolls games can relax- while the game will be open world, CDPR plans to be the first game company to successfully combine a massive, immersive, dark story with the freedom to travel through the world as you wish. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they can pull it off.
Witcher work is never done, however, and Geralt will definitely have his share of monster battles (especially if he's going to take on the wild hunt) which will now be preceded by detective work, some of which was touched upon in the 2nd game. Mercifully, QTEs are gone completely, and the fluid, intuitive combat should be improved.
The release date for the final chapter in Geralt's journey will be sometime in 2014 for "PC and all high end platforms." In the meantime, if you haven't played TW1 or 2, they are 50% off on steam and GoG, and the enhanced edition has been permanently discounted to $29.99 for the Xbox 360.
(Thanks to Snapple Cap for also submitting an article on the topic)
(Source: http://thewitcher.com/community/entry/329)
Keywords: None
