f asked from any developer in CD Projekt RED (The Witcher and The Witcher 2 Development Studio) about The Witcher 3 they will immediately reply “It’s too soon to tell”, asking the same question from the publishers will also yield similar results – however the responses would be much colder and formal. It should be noted that the same things were said before the internal video for the Witcher 2 was released back in 2009 – which was exclusive to investors of the project.
The main reason why everyone will get the same “TBA” response is mainly because of Namco Bandai – one of the Biggest publishers of The Witcher franchise. CD Projekt RED is a game studio and does not dwell in the marketing aspect of the game, that is mainly left for the publishers to decide how they want to approach it. If the “official” news about The Witcher 3 where to be released without building enough hype before hand or at least making enough progress to show for then that would (theoretically) hurt the game sales figures in the long run.
But in truth they are right to withhold information, because anything said – including the information in this post – is subject to change. However some of the information we provided are known facts. Other than the release date which is currently set at a pure estimate and might change based on how well the development proceeds.
As mentioned in the previous post (published far before the enhanced edition’s release) the game will be set in Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms borders. Our small insider info was able to get us a little few details about the game itself. There will be three plot lines (same as the Witcher 2):
The first plot will involve the main events of the story which would revolve around the invasion of the Northern Kingdoms by the Nilfgaard, and it would also involve meeting the emperor himself (which was only mentioned in the two previous games).
The second sub-plot would be the big reveal of Geralt’s contract with the Wild hunt and the Elves of the other world which would lead to climactic discovery. However to avoid any spoilers we will not reveal it in this post.
The third sub-plot and perhaps the most anticipated, is the search and rescue of Yennefer (The closest person Geralt has to a wife). It is an equivalent of The Witcher 2′s quest titled “Where is Triss Merigold”, however the twist is that Yennefer (due to memory loss) would not want to be rescued.
Currently the game is in its early stages of development. Concept arts are being made, plot is being planned, analyzed and written. Doug Cockle (the voice actor for the first two games) has also declared interest and would like to continue working on the third game as the voice of Geralt (English Dub).
It is yet too early to decide on a release date, but if everything goes according to the base plan a release would be expected around early 2014 (it may stretch to 2015 due to unforeseeable events).
However there are a few known facts, the game will be much bigger in size, and it will give player more freedom to roam around. Although the game has some free roaming elements, it will not be completely free since the player will still be transcending trough different chapters of the game, and would not be able to go back and the reason for that is logical. The Witcher is a game based on time, once a period ends you are not able to go back there because the passing of time affects the plot. For example, if in “The Witcher 2″ Geralt where to travel back from chapter 2 location (Vergan) to Chapter 1 location (Flotsome) then by the time he gets there the war would have proceeded and have had ended without geralts intervention. Hence why The Witcher will never be completely free unless the protagonist is changed.