CD Projekt RED's beloved fantasy action RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may be an 11-year-old game now, but that's not stopping the studio from breathing new life into the 2015 title with a brand new Songs of the Past expansion that was announced this week. It's the game's third one, and will presumably lead into the story of its upcoming sequel The Witcher 4.

Very little was said about Songs of the Past when it was revealed, though its developers confirmed that it "will take you to the Path with Geralt of Rivia once more" and is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 in 2027. Notably, it's also being co-developed with Fool's Theory, the studio that made The Thaumaturge, contributed to Baldur's Gate 3, and is helping with The Witcher Remake.

On Thursday, however, CD Projekt RED did talk a bit more about Songs of the Past during its latest earnings report, with CEO Michał Nowakowski and CFO Piotr Nielubowicz discussing the developer's ambitions with the project and its overall scope.

"When it comes to the scope, I'd say it's actually a little bit closer to Blood and Wine [The Witcher 3's second major expansion]," Nowakowski said. "But this is super subjective, it really depends on your — how you're gonna play, what's your playthrough. But 'we're definitely making a proper big expansion,' is the message I would send out there."

Nowakowski was very adamant that Songs of the Past is not a DLC, as CD Projekt RED doesn't use that term interchangeably with expansions as many other developers do. "For us at CDPR, DLCs are small pieces of content we release for free–like the additional outfits for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Expansions, on the other hand, are major pieces of content providing lots of hours of gameplay, including new story, characters, etc," explained social media manager Marcin Łukaszewski recently.

Idris Elba famously made this distinction while talking about Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty: "Just to be clear, it’s not DLC. It’s an expansion. You know why? Because we do expansions. Big. Massive. Monster. We don’t do DLCs. And when we do, we give them away for free."

That lines up entirely with what I'd expect from something "closer to Blood and Wine," as the 2016 expansion for The Witcher 3 was so large and impressive that it beat entirely separate games and won Best RPG at The Game Awards that year. It was even grander than the game's first expansion, Hearts of Stone, that was tighter and more about story than open-world freedom in comparison.

Ultimately, CD Projekt RED is signaling that that kind of experience is what players should expect — a huge new experience rich with fresh content, to the point where it could potentially be thought of as a standalone game even though it's technically an add-on for The Witcher 3. That's incredibly exciting, and has just about everyone — me included — hyped to see more of it at Gamescom this August, and to jump back in Geralt's boots next year.

Are you looking forward to playing Songs of the Past when it comes to The Witcher 3 next year? Share how you're feeling about it below.

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Players eager to return to the Path will need to wait before modding Geralt of Rivia's adventures on console, with developer CD Projekt RED sharing on Thursday via Bluesky that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's cross-platform mod support is delayed.

"We originally planned to introduce cross-platform mod support for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S later this year, but the rollout is now shifting to 2026," the team says.

"We apologize for the delay and will share more details closer to the release. Thank you for your patience!"

The update is set to add mod.io support across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, letting players sign into their account and manage different mods regardless of which platform they choose to play on. The Nintendo Switch version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is being left out of the modding fun.

This is the same system used by some other games to download mods across consoles, including with Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3.

CD Projekt RED previously noted that, naturally, not all mods on PC will be available to use on consoles because of technical constraints and community guideline restrictions. To have the best chance of getting a mod approved, modders are being encouraged to use the official REDKit toolset.

There's no release date for when players can expect the mod support update to arrive in 2026, but hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later.

More to come for The Witcher

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt turned 10 earlier this year, and I've previously written about what a special role-playing game it still is. It's crossed 60 million copies sold, which is an impressive feat even with years of sales across different platforms.

CD Projekt RED celebrated by announcing new Witcher 3-themed Xbox controllers. Initially a limited edition design, these are now available through the Xbox Design Lab, so if you missed out before, you can grab one with some custom tweaks.

Looking ahead, CD Projekt RED's next mainline game is The Witcher 4, which stars Ciri as the protagonist. Not much is currently known (and the game is a ways out), but the developers have shown an Unreal Engine 5 technical demo that shows off many of the features the team is utilizing.

Ciri has become a Witcher, undergoing the Trial of the Grasses. A major plot point in the Witcher series is that new Witchers can't easily be created due to a lack of knowledge in administering the procedures, so it'll be interesting to see just how this came about.

It's also yet to be seen if Ciri still retains her impressive powers from before. As the Child of Destiny, Ciri commanded incredible magic capable of incredible destruction.

We've also learned that The Witcher 4 is at least partially set in Kovir, one of the Northern Kingdoms not yet seen in the Witcher video games before. We also know that Ciri has her own horse named Kelpie, who will aid her in the same way Roach served Geralt.

Finally, we don't yet know how The Witcher 4 will incorporate player choices from The Witcher 3, which can end in different ways that see characters like Ciri in very different places.

I'm looking forward to getting answers to all of these questions at some point in the future.

CD Projekt RED is also partnering with developer Fool's Theory for a remake of the original Witcher game using Unreal Engine 5, though again, there's no release date at this time.

The Witcher 4 is coming to Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation platforms.

Video game design has come a long, long way since the industry started to take off in the 1970s, but few genres have grown as much as RPGs have. The simplistic, rudimentary design philosophies of yesteryear eventually gave way to far more depth and complexity, resulting in roleplaying experiences with larger, denser worlds, richer stories, and a wider variety of encounter solutions to support player creativity and freedom.

Despite this, a few irksome and tired trends still remain — one of which is the prevalence of fetch quests. These simple missions task the player with retrieving one or more items and then delivering them to the quest giver or another NPC, and in most cases, they're incredibly dull busywork jobs with little-to-no story or roleplaying relevance.

It's relieving to hear, then, that developer CD PROJEKT RED is adhering to a no fetch quest policy with its highly anticipated RPG sequel The Witcher 4.

Narrative director Philipp Weber said as much in an interview with GamesRadar+. "A quest has to be something interesting. I have to feel, as a player, that if I played that quest, my time was well spent and not just spent," he explained. "I was busy doing stuff, and didn't think about work or taxes. I experienced a story, or something else that was worth it. That basic rule is still there 100%."

That "rule" has actually been a core part of CD PROJEKT RED's RPG quest design for a long time now, with the studio following the policy with 2015's award-winning The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and applying it to 2020's Cyberpunk 2077 as well. I have my issues with both games — I found The Witcher 3's combat to be quite shallow, and Cyberpunk's open world was far less engaging to explore than what the developer's marketed it as — but the studio's approach to quests has always been a big bright spot.

Indeed, both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 were praised near-unanimously for their lack of fetch quests, and in the rare event you ran into one, they were always attached to an interesting side character or an intriguing scenario. Beyond those, quests were even more thoroughly engaging and creative, with deceptively simple premises that often gave way to genuinely surprising twists, complex situations, and thought-provoking choices.

Quests like these are the ones your brain tends to chew on long after you complete them, and their abundance in CD PROJEKT RED's games is what drives fans to replay them long after their release. Writing them undoubtedly takes an immense amount of effort — Weber said designers wrote "10 times as many ideas as those that landed in the game" while brainstorming — but in the end, it pays off, and they help the developer's titles rise above much of the competition.

I do think "radiant" fetch-style quests have their place at times; they're a good mindless activity to do when you just want to exist in a game's world and kill some time without doing anything too complex. RPGs should never be reliant on them, though, and I'm glad CD PROJEKT RED (along with other studios like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 dev Warhorse Studios) is either implementing them in extremely limited quantities or simply not at all.

The Witcher 4 doesn't have a set release date or launch window, though we know it's a long way off and isn't coming out before the end of 2026. Notably, a recent Unreal Engine 5 tech presentation of the game confirmed it will feature the Northern Kingdom of Kovir. The highly anticipated RPG is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5.

Sadly, we're in for a long wait before we can step into Ciri's boots, but you can always play The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 to make it less painful. The Complete Edition of the former is just $13.19 at CDKeys, while the Ultimate Edition of the latter is $35.69 at CDKeys; those are both fantastic discounts, with each getting you the full game and all DLC.

CD Projekt RED's next big role-playing game is still a ways off, but the company shared a glimpse of what's in store with a technical presentation of The Witcher 4 on Tuesday.

Shared as part of the State of Unreal showcase, this tech demonstration showed how CD Projekt RED is using Unreal Engine 5 to build the next chapter of Ciri's story.

CD Projekt RED is using motion-matching for animations when Ciri mounts her horse named Kelpie. Meanwhile, the team is also taking advantage of Unreal Engine 5's Nanite Foliage feature, rendering lush forests and dense grass.

As a result, the team claims that this technical demonstration of The Witcher 4 runs at 60 FPS with ray tracing on a standard PlayStation 5 console. You can find the demo in the livestream below, starting around the 28:38 mark.

This technical demonstration also confirms that The Witcher 4 will include Kovir, one of the Northern Kingdoms that hasn't been seen in the games until now.

While it's important to note that this demonstration isn't gameplay, it's still promising seeing how CD Projekt RED is working with this new technology. Prior Witcher games were developed using CD Projekt RED's in-house REDengine technology, an engine that was also used for Cyberpunk 2077.

The Witcher 4 does not currently have a release date or even a release window, meaning players shouldn't expect it to launch anytime soon.

CD Projekt RED also recently confirmed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has passed 60 million copies sold, a stunning achievement that comes as the game reaches its 10th anniversary.

The team is planning one last patch for the game later this year that will bring cross-platform mods for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 players.

The Witcher 4 is coming to Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation platforms.

As Polish game developer and publisher CD Projekt RED continues to celebrate the 10 years of Geralt slaying monsters while searching for Ciri, there's one more big surprise on the way.

CD Projekt RED shared on Friday that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting one last update that brings cross-platform mod support for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.

While mods have been allowed and supported for The Witcher 3 on PC for years through sites like Nexus — CD Projekt RED also provided users an official REDKit to help build mods using the game's development tool — console players have been left out of any custom quests or zany creations that modders have put together.

The Witcher 3 will use mod.io for a mod manager. This is the same modding platform used for many other games across consoles and PC, including Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3.

This will be completely free, though it will require users to make a mod.io account and link it to their CD Projekt RED account. The developers note that because of technical limitations and community guideline requirements, not every mod will be approved for use on Xbox and PlayStation, though mods crafted with REDKit stand the "best chance" of making it through.

While there's no exact release date at this time, CD Projekt RED says this final update bringing cross-platform mods is slated to arrive at some point later in 2025.

Elsewhere in the world of The Witcher, CD Projekt RED shared that The Witcher 3 has passed 60 million copies sold, a stunning achievement for the fantasy role-playing game.

I also recently wrote about the 10th anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and how it's still one of my favorite games of all time.

There are some new limited edition Xbox controllers themed after the 10th anniversary of the game that you can grab right now, though stock is limited.

CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt crossed 60 million copies sold since it launched back in 2015.

CD Projekt shared the news on Wednesday as part of an investor update detailing its business operations, revealing a new sales milestone for the team's arguable magnum opus. That number is up 10 million from the last milestone, which was shared back in 2023.

As part of the same investor update, CD Projekt also revealed that Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion has crossed 10 million copies sold, while the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is now in the pre-production stage of development.

Right now, the bulk of the development teams at CD Projekt RED are working on The Witcher 4, a game that entered full production late in 2024.

The Witcher 4 stars Ciri as the protagonist and is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, but otherwise, there's a lot we still don't know. The Witcher 4 (previously codenamed "Polaris") is meant to be the start of a new trilogy of games.

According to CD Projekt's staff breakdown, the team working on The Witcher 4 now numbers 422 staff, up slightly from 407 in 2024.

Outside of The Witcher 4, CD Projekt RED is also overseeing a remake of the first Witcher game. This remake is being developed by Fool's Theory, a studio that was founded by former CD Projekt RED staff. A team at CD Projekt RED's Boston office is also working on a spinoff title for The Witcher franchise.

I recently wrote about The Witcher 3's 10th anniversary, and how it's still one of the best games of all time.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC (via GOG, the Epic Games Store, and Steam), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

The sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 is now in pre-production at CD Projekt RED.

That news comes via CD Projekt's latest investor update on Wednesday, confirming that the project has entered a new stage of development. According to the official breakdown, the team working on Cyberpunk 2077's sequel now numbers 96 team members, up significantly from the 56 employees working on the title in 2024.

Codenamed "Orion," development of the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 is being led by a team at CD Projekt RED's Boston studio. This team also includes many of the leads that previously worked on the critically-acclaimed Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion.

In the same investor update, CD Projekt confirmed that Phantom Liberty has crossed 10 million copies sold, up an additional 2 million from the previous milestone shared in November 2024. This number includes individual copies sold as well as copies bundled in Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition.

Across the gaming industry, "pre-production" is usually used to refer to an extensive stage of game development that has to take place before full production. While things may vary from studio to studio, pre-production involves figuring out the game's exact scope and laying the groundwork with a smaller team before additional staff are brought in.

Looking ahead, the main bulk of CD Projekt RED's developers are currently working on The Witcher 4, which entered full production back in November 2024. CD Projekt also confirmed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has crossed 60 million copies sold.

Elsewhere, another team at CD Projekt RED's Boston office (formerly known as The Molasses Flood) is working on a Witcher spinoff codenamed Sirius. CD Projekt RED is also working with an external studio called Fool's Theory to develop a remake of the first Witcher game using Unreal Engine 5.

Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty are currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is slated to arrive on June 5, 2025, while the game is also being ported to Mac.

If you need another Xbox controller, you're in luck. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the design team at Xbox partnered with CD Projekt RED to craft two new limited edition controllers themed after the iconic Wolf medallion worn by Geralt of Rivia.

These two controllers are available now at the Microsoft Store, with a Standard Edition and Elite Series 2 offering for $80 and $170, respectively. You can take a closer look at both designs in the video below:

There's not exactly a shortage of Xbox controller designs, with the teams continually offering new options and limited themes for players to grab.

A few weeks ago, the team revealed DOOM: The Dark Ages-themed controllers in celebration of the then-upcoming first-person shooter from id Software and Bethesda Softworks. The Standard Edition DOOM controller isn't easy to find in stock anymore, though at the time I'm writing this, it is available at Amazon.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt turns 10, and it's still an incredible achievement

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is officially 10 years old, a noteworthy achievement for a fantastic game. Continuing the celebratory efforts, CD Projekt RED has launched a new dynamic theme for Xbox Series X|S console users, letting players deck out their home screen with the 10th anniversary art seen above.

I recently wrote about the 10th anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and how it's still one of my favorite games of all time, discussing the massive leap in game design it represented for the CD Projekt RED as a studio, as well as my personal attachment to the series.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what CD Projekt RED crafts with its planned sequel, The Witcher 4, though that game isn't particularly close to launching.

Exactly 10 years ago on May 19, 2025, developer CD Projekt RED took a huge leap, launching The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt after years of work.

File this under "water gets things wet," but it turned out to be a popular game, receiving critical praise and commercial success — so much so that as of 2023, it's sold over 50 million copies.

As The Witcher 3 celebrates its 10th anniversary, I'm indulging in a trip down memory lane. Over a decade ago, I was in a pretty rough headspace and I was having a hard time finding my place in everything.

Still, I loved the Witcher series, enjoying the books and the second game, and I was scarfing down every last bit of information I could find on the then-upcoming third entry in Geralt's journey.

While it was CD Projekt RED's third mainline game, it was a gargantuan leap from what had been accomplished in 2011's more modestly-scoped The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The Witcher 3 promised a huge open world, more involved monster contracts, as well as the debut of major characters from the books like Ciri and Yennefer.

When I eventually got my hands on the full thing, I fell in love. It was everything I wanted it to be, with a world filled with secrets and mystery, an open breeze at the player's back.

It was a game that delivered tough choices, with side quests and monster hunts that often felt just as involved and complex as the main story. I was enraptured with the narrative of the Bloody Baron and his shame, chasing after the titular Wild Hunt, and of course, Ciri reuniting with Geralt after so many years.

That continued in the Hearts of Stone expansion, which tells a dark, Brothers Grimm-esque tale, a solemn warning that sometimes you'll get what you asked for. Finally, the developers brought it in for a landing with 2016's Blood and Wine expansion, a 30+ hour story of vampires and fables that could've been a standalone game by itself.

Games seeking to induce raw emotions can often be hit or miss, but there's more than a few moments in The Witcher 3 that can still kick off the waterworks. It's inextricably tied to one of the hardest parts of my life, and in being so, it has more than stood the test of time.

If you haven't played it yet, this is the perfect time to correct that mistake.

Of course, The Witcher 3 isn't the only big game that CD Projekt RED is well-known for. Constant support means that Cyberpunk 2077 has come a long way since its rough 2020 launch, and I thoroughly enjoyed 2023's Phantom Liberty expansion, which introduced spy thriller elements and a tense mystery.

Even so, this game is still CD Projekt RED's undisputed crown jewel, a triumph of storytelling and game design. Updates have made it shine even more on modern hardware, adding ray tracing support on the latest consoles and PC, but it's always been the same special game.

More personally, The Witcher 3 is still one of my favorite games of all time.

It's that beautiful foundation that I hope CD Projekt RED keeps in mind in developing The Witcher 4. Ciri is taking the lead, and I'm happy to see her as the protagonist.

There's so much potential in seeing things through her eyes, pulling from what worked extremely well in The Witcher 3 while introducing new mysteries and horrors hidden through the world.

I'm sure this next adventure is still a ways off (2027 seems possible, at least), but if it can reach the same heights as The Witcher 3, then I'll be ecstatic.

Until then, I'll see everyone on the Path.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC (via GOG, the Epic Games Store, and Steam), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

Ciri is the main protagonist of CD Projekt RED's next big open world, single-player role-playing game.

That's something made abundantly clear by the reveal trailer for The Witcher 4, which was one of many highlights during the Game Awards 2024 livestream. It's something I got dead wrong, as I really wasn't expecting her to be our next playable character in the new Witcher trilogy. I don't often get something quite so heavily wrong, but I'm seriously happy to have been off about what to expect here.

My reasoning beforehand revolved around the fact that Ciri is ridiculously powerful, and since CD Projekt RED had emphasized wanting to start a new saga, having a fully customized player character (perhaps starting a new Witcher school?) would've made sense for something of a clean slate. With that path clearly not taken, I'm all for continuing to explore the Continent as Ciri. She has always been the secondary protagonist of the saga as a whole, and her taking on the mantle of a new Witcher feels right, allowing her to continue in Geralt's footsteps while still trodding her own path.

I'm curious to see how CD Projekt RED has gone about making her feel balanced, but we can already infer a few things from the reveal trailer, where Ciri moves and strikes like a traditional Witcher, eschewing the dimensional hopping she wielded in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that allowed her to move between worlds with ease.

During her fight with a massive Bauk, she utilizes the Quen sign like we've seen Geralt do a thousand times. However, she does still tap into a magical Source, something a normal Witcher can't do, which makes this a direct confirmation that she still has some magical talent. That's an interesting point of separation, and I wonder how it'll play out in the actual game design.

Speaking with IGN, game director Sebastian Kalemba confirms that Ciri has undergone the Trial of the Grasses, which is interesting on multiple levels. This would make Ciri the first woman to ever survive the process in-universe, possibly due to her Elder blood lineage, but it also means that there's someone still alive to administer the procedure.

After all, a major plot point in the books and games is that following a major pogrom against the Wolf School, no one left has the knowledge of how to create more Witchers, even though the mutagens required are still around. So, did going through the trial change Ciri's powers? And who even gave her the trial in the first place? I'm excited to find out the answers to all these questions.

Most of all though, I'm excited by the potential that role-playing as Ciri will provide. CD Projekt RED notes that while there are some similarities, she's not Geralt, she's not as jaded as he is and as a result is far less willing to remain neutral in the face of two evils. The possibilities for what that could mean in forging Ciri's legend have my mind racing.

I know it's still early days, but I'm excited to learn more about Ciri in The Witcher 4 in the months and likely years ahead. What other kinds of new monsters are in store? How will the combat and exploration systems evolve? What kind of magic does Ciri still have access to? What kinds of hard choices are we going to have to make? Will Ciri have her own roster of sorceresses to chase after? I mean, like father, like daughter, right?

The Witcher 4 is currently in development using Unreal Engine 5. The game does not a have a release date.

We’ve got a new look at our next adventure on the Continent.

During the Game Awards 2024, CD Projekt RED made an appearance to show off the next Witcher game. Set some time after the events of 2015’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, this new game is titled The Witcher 4 (stylized as The Witcher IV) and it features Ciri, Geralt's adopted daughter and the primary protagonist of the overall saga.

In the teaser video, which is notably rendered in Unreal Engine 5 on an unspecified GPU, we see Ciri intervene as a young woman is sacrificed to a monster. Ciri is a Witcher herself now, but of course things don't go as expected.

"The beginning of a new saga, and a follow-up to one of the most acclaimed RPGs of all time, Ciri takes center stage as the protagonist, embarking on her own journey to become a professional monster slayer," the trailer description reads.

“We're kicking off a brand-new Witcher saga, this time with Ciri as the heart of the story!” said Sebastian Kalemba, game director. “It feels so good to finally be able to say those words — for the longest time we knew that we wanted Ciri to be the protagonist of The Witcher IV; it just felt natural to us and we believe that Ciri deserves it. In this game we want to explore what it means to truly become a witcher by following Ciri on her Path. This trailer is a taste of both that, and just how dark and grounded the world of The Witcher can be.”

The Witcher remains CD Projekt’s bread and butter

While much of CD Projekt RED’s attention has naturally been focused on Cyberpunk 2077 over the past four years, with numerous updates and the excellent Phantom Liberty expansion, the world of monsters and silver swords remains incredibly important for the company, and is the main feature in the storied developer’s upcoming plans.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt crossed 50 million copies sold back in May 2023, while total sales for the trilogy of games crossed 75 million copies sold. Back in 2022, CD Projekt RED confirmed that a new Witcher game, codenamed Polaris, was being built in Unreal Engine 5. This new title is also meant to kickstart a new trilogy of Witcher games, with the development team working to reuse the technology that's established in this first entry in order to speed development along in the next two games.

I'm a massive Witcher fan, so I'm all for this, even if the official name "The Witcher 4" comes as something of a surprise. I will admit I really wasn't expecting Ciri to be the protagonist because of her power level. Hey, if the developers are able to balance the Lady of Worlds, I'll happily jump on board.

There's no platforms, but it seems reasonable to expect The Witcher 4 will eventually be launching on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.

Outside of The Witcher 4 (and by extension, a new trilogy) we're also getting a remake of the original Witcher. This game is also being developed in Unreal Engine 5, but with development primarily being led by an external team at Fool's Theory, a studio founded by CD Projekt RED veterans.

What you need to know

• Cyberpunk 2077 has crossed 30 million copies sold.
• The game first launched in December 2020 to divisive opinions over a number of bugs, glitches, and other issues, with CD Projekt RED updating the game over the following months and years.
• Cyberpunk 2077's expansion, Phantom Liberty, launched in September 2023 and has sold over 8 million copies so far.
• CD Projekt RED is now in full production on the next Witcher game.

We've got some big updates on two massive gaming franchises.

Polish publisher CD Projekt shared on Tuesday that Cyberpunk 2077 has crossed 30 million copies sold, while its expansion Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty has crossed eight million copies sold. This is up an additional five million copies for the base game from the last milestone given back in October 2023, while Phantom Liberty has nearly sold an additional four million copies since November 2023.

Alongside this sales update, CD Projekt confirmed that the development team on Polaris (the codename for the next Witcher game) have moved into full development.

"I’m proud to confirm that several weeks ago the Polaris team wrapped up preproduction and moved on to full-scale production – the most intensive phase of development. We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication," says Michał Nowakowski, joint CEO of CD Projekt.

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Analysis: With an impressive turnaround complete, CD Projekt is prepped for the future

Cyberpunk 2077 has had a long road to its current success. The game's development was troubled, with a launch pushed before the title was ready, especially on last-generation consoles.

Years of patches and updates later — as well as reinvigorated popularity thanks to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, an animated series and one of the best video game adaptations ever — it's considered one of the best games available. That only became more true with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, an expansion that tells a spy thriller story as V gets drawn into a dark web of mystery.

With Cyberpunk's turnaround solidified, it'll be interesting to see how things go with the next Witcher game. Little is currently known, although we know this game is meant to kick off a new trilogy. Additionally, it seems abundantly clear it won't be starring Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf and main protagonist of the first three games.

Further out, CD Projekt RED is working on a number of other projects, both in-house and with partner studios. A team in the company's Boston office is working on a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, led by members of the team that helmed Phantom Liberty. Meanwhile, Fool's Theory (a studio that was amusingly founded by former CD Projekt RED developers) is working with CD Projekt RED on a remake of the original Witcher.

What you need to know

• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a colossal DLC for FromSoftware's award-winning 2022 action RPG Elden Ring, and is slated to drop later this week on June 21, 2024.
• On Tuesday morning, the expansion's review embargo came and went, ushering in reviews from over 100 outlets. Many, including yours truly, gave the DLC a perfect score.
• Shadow of the Erdtree has scored so highly that according to Metacritic data, it's now the best-reviewed game expansion ever made.
• With an overall Metascore of 95, it's topped The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, which previously held this position with a score of 92.
• UPDATE (June 22, 2024): Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt RED has responded with congratulations, and FromSoftware has responded back with similar kind words.

The review embargo for Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC lifted early on Tuesday morning, prompting reviewers from over 100 outlets (including us — don't miss my review) to publish their thoughts on everything they'd experienced while playing through the highly anticipated expansion for the Game of the Year-winning 2022 action RPG. After a magical 36-hour run, my take is that it's Elden Ring refined to near-perfection, and the best DLC I've ever played — and evidently, based on the waves of perfect 10/10 scores it's gotten from everyone else, I'm not the only one who feels that way.

In fact, according to data from Metacritic — a site that aggregates review scores for movies, TV, and games — Shadow of the Erdtree's overall 95 Metascore makes it the highest-rated DLC of all time (it's also the highest-rated game release of 2024). Previously, this position was held by the beloved Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its 92 score, but Elden Ring has now surpassed it.

UPDATE (June 22, 2024): After this article was published, The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt RED responded to this changing of the guard with a classy congratulations, alongside this incredible Geralt x Elden Ring cross-over fan art. Elden Ring developer FromSoftware then replied in kind, saying: "It is truly an honour to be placed alongside Blood and Wine, one of the all time greats. We are humbled by your kind words. Thank you."

Original article continues: Blood and Wine was a terrific DLC that added over 20 hours of rich gameplay content and an amazingly written story set in a large, entirely new map, which makes Shadow of the Erdtree's achievement here all the more impressive. After playing through it over the course of this past week, though, I think it's wholly deserving of all the universal acclaim.

The scale of the Elden Ring DLC is almost unfathomable. Its new map, the Land of Shadow, is roughly comparable to Limgrave and Liurnia of the Lakes from the base game put together size-wise, but is considerably denser and more interconnected, with a truly wild number of vertical layers to traverse. It also has fewer formulaic side dungeons like simple mines or catacombs, and instead features more bespoke and original secrets to discover as you organically explore on horseback.

Scattered all throughout this diverse, expertly crafted world are hundreds of new weapons, armors, spells, talismans, and other treasures, along with a wide variety of new enemies (along with some spiced up returning ones) and bosses to challenge. Specifically, there are 10 major "Remembrance" bosses (I was able to find and defeat eight for my review, including the final boss) and upwards of 30 minor ones; every main boss bout was an unforgettable spectacle with some of FromSoftware's toughest and most exhilarating fight designs yet, and all the minibosses were greatly enjoyable, too.

Shadow of the Erdtree is also something of a step up narratively, as while I've always enjoyed FromSoftware's subtle, environmental storytelling-heavy approach, it was a real treat to get a more character-driven narrative with over seven different NPC questlines feeding back into both each other and the overarching plot to find Queen Marika's Empyrean son, Miquella. No spoilers here, but some truly excellent dialogue, twists, and revelations await those heading into the Land of Shadow in a few days.

My full review of the DLC goes into far more detail, but the above overview should give you an idea of why I think Shadow of the Erdtree deserves all the commendations and praise it's getting. In some ways, it's even better than Elden Ring itself, and a must-play for any Soulsborne fan. It drops later this week on June 21 (June 20, if you're in the US and play on PC), so avoid spoilers at all costs until then.

Elden Ring is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of all time, and I strongly recommend picking it up and beginning a playthrough now if you haven't done one already. That way, you'll have some time to experience what 2022's Game of the Year has to offer before the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC launches on June 21. Notably, the expansion is available to preorder on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC now, and there's even a Collector's Edition with several awesome collectibles included.

What you need to know

• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is an expansion that launched back in September 2023. 
• As part of the company's Q3 2023 results, CD Projekt shared that Phantom Liberty reached 4.3 million copies sold. 
• Developer CD Projekt RED is now allocating the majority of its developers to work on the next Witcher game, which is meant to kick off a trilogy. 
• Across internal development teams and external partners, CD Projekt RED is also working on a remake of the first Witcher game and a stylized Witcher spinoff.

The resurgence of Cyberpunk 2077 continues. 

CD Projekt shared its Q3 2023 financial results on Tuesday, revealing that Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty has sold 4.3 million copies so far, which helped contribute to the best Q3 period in the company's history. This is up from 3 million copies sold, which was the milestone the expansion reached just days after launch.

The publisher says this is a 20% attach rate, math that seems to check out when accounting for the fact that the expansion isn't available on the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 versions of Cyberpunk 2077. Additionally, CD Projekt RED reported profitability of 51.1% for the quarter.

In my review of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, I wrote "The storyline is gripping from the beginning, and integrates naturally into the main path of the base game. Protagonist V is drawn into cloak-and-dagger wetwork with a compelling cast of characters, all of which have their own agendas. This synergizes with the free 2.0 update, which brings a heavy rework to the perks, improved police chases, a new system for Cyberware, and more."

What's next for CD Projekt RED?

With Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty available now on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5, CD Projekt RED is working on shipping an ultimate physical edition of the game. Outside of that, the largest team at the company is now working on the next Witcher game, codenamed Polaris. Not much is known about the title, but it's being developed with Unreal Engine 5 and is meant to be the first game in a new trilogy. 

At internal studio The Molasses Flood, work is continuing on another spinoff in the Witcher franchise, though the team restarted development after being hit with layoffs earlier in the year. CD Projekt RED has also partnered with an external developer, Fool's Theory, to create a remake of the first Witcher game using Unreal Engine 5.

Analysis: Going dark for a bit

Outside of continued sales milestones for already-released games, I expect it'll be a little while before we hear anything from CD Projekt RED about the next Witcher game, though I do expect it'll be the next project we hear about, considering how work on the remake seems to be extremely early and the spinoff from The Molasses Flood was recently rebooted. 

For Cyberpunk 2077, its comeback now seems drawn in iron, and sales from Phantom Liberty and the Ultimate Edition of the game should help keep the company steady over the next year or so. 

What you need to know

• CD Projekt RED shared its financial results for Q1 2023, revealing that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has crossed 50 million copies sold. 
• The Witcher franchise as a whole is over 75 million copies sold. 
• CD Projekt RED currently has multiple Witcher games in development, both internally and with partnerships at external teams. 

The seemingly final tale of the White Wolf isn't slowing down in sales. 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is over 50 million copies sold, per the Q1 2023 earnings report from CD Projekt. That's up 10 million copies from April 2022, where it was reported the game had crossed 40 million copies sold. Meanwhile, The Witcher franchise of games is over 75 million, meaning that The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings have put up a combined 25 million copies sold. 

Looking ahead, CD Projekt RED is developing a number of new games in The Witcher universe, including one codenamed "Project Polaris" that is meant to kickstart a new trilogy. CD Projet RED is overseeing an external team, Fool's Theory, which is early in development working on a remake of the first Witcher game. There's also a more stylized project in development at The Molasses Flood, which was recently reshuffled as the team suffered layoffs.

In addition to the world of The Witcher, CD Projekt RED is working on Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the first and only expansion for the 2020 game. Phantom Liberty is slated to launch at some point in 2023, and will be present during Summer Game Fest via the Play Days event for media. 

Windows Central's take

The strength of The Witcher 3's ongoing sales legs can't be denied. This is down to a lot of things: Renewed interest from the Netflix show, a quality Nintendo Switch version, the recent current-generation update, but above all else, the game's quality continues to speak for itself. I still haven't had time to play more than an hour of the updated version, but I need to get back to it. 

What you need to know

• The Molasses Flood is a studio in Boston, Massachusstets that was acquired by CD Projekt back in 2021.
• The Molasses Flood is currently working on a multiplayer spinoff title in The Witcher universe, referred to as "Project Sirius."
• Following a restructure of Project Sirius, CD Projekt RED confirmed that several developers previously working on the game have been laid off.

The story of layoffs at gaming studios in 2023 continues. 

Several employees at CD Projekt RED working on Project Sirius have been laid off following a recent reboot of the game. Project Sirius — previously announced alongside a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, new Witcher trilogy, and new IP — is a multiplayer spinoff title set in the world of The Witcher, and will reportedly have a stylized art direction. 

Project Sirius is primarily in development at The Molasses Flood, a studio in Boston, Massachusetts that previously released The Flame in the Flood before being acquired by CD Projekt in 2021.

In a statement to GameSpot, CD Projekt RED said that "Because the project changed, so has the composition of the team that's working on it--mainly on The Molasses Flood's side. The concrete number of employees we parted ways with is 21 team members in the US and 8 in Poland," the latter of which were working on the game outside of the U.S.

These layoffs join thousands of others across gaming and tech in 2023, with Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon laying off thousands of workers. Electronic Arts laid off hundreds of QA workers earlier in the year, and Sony recently announced plans to close PlayStation studio PixelOpus. 

Windows Central's take

I understand that corporations are going to behave like corporations, but it's still disappointing to see this trend of layoffs continuing this year. Hopefully everyone at the studios in Boston and Poland who were affected land on their feet and find new jobs soon.

What you need to know

• CD Projekt RED recently announced a remake of the first Witcher game. 
• Speaking at an investor meeting, CD Projekt RED confirmed that the remake will be an open world role-playing game. 
• The Witcher Remake is being developed by Polish studio Fool's Theory, with CD Projekt RED providing oversight.

Players will be waiting a while to experience the upcoming remake of The Witcher, but a couple of new details have come through at this early stage of development. 

As part of CD Projekt RED's Q3 2022 results, the company reiterated that The Witcher Remake (previously codenamed Canis Majoris) is in development, adding that it will be a "Story driven, single player open world RPG." 

The Witcher, which was first released for PC in 2007, was a single-player RPG but it was decidedly not an open world game, being limited in scope. While it's unlikely The Witcher Remake will quite hit the scope of the 2015 entry, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it seems like players will have more to explore across a more seamless open environment. 

This remake is still years away, and is being developed by Polish studio Fool's Theory using Unreal Engine 5, with CD Projekt RED looking over the production. Platforms for the game have not technically been announced, but given how far out the title is, it's safe to expect it will be developed for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, and PS5.

In addition to The Witcher Remake, CD Projekt RED is internally working on a trilogy of Witcher games, which will start off with the next Witcher game, codenamed Polaris. This trilogy is also being developed using Unreal Engine 5, with the first game currently in pre-production. 

More immediately, a current-generation upgrade is coming for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with ray-tracing, a photo mode, and more being added for free on Dec. 14, 2022.

What you need to know

• CD Projekt RED shared a new trailer for the free current-generation update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. 
• This update, which is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PS5, including ray-tracing features, performance modes on console, a photo mode, and more. 
• The free update is scheduled to launch on Dec. 14, 2022.

In just a couple of weeks, Witcher fans will be able to enjoy an upgraded version of CD Projekt RED's 2015 epic, and now, we've got a better idea of what the upgrade entails.

CD Projekt RED shared a trailer on Wednesday, giving a look at the free current-generation upgrade for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This update, which is coming to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, and PS5, includes new features like performance modes on console, ray-tracing, a photo mode, and more. You can check out the trailer below.

Other fun additions to the game include the ability to pause during cutscenes, and a new quest that allows Geralt to hunt down a suit of armor that's based on the armor used in the Netflix Witcher series. Players who want to alter the look of the game can also adjust the camera angles, going up closer or zooming out more depending on if Geralt is traveling by foot or horseback.

The current-generation update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is slated to be available on all platforms on Dec. 14, 2022. A new physical version of the game that includes all the DLC and updates bundled in is also on the way, and will be available at a later date.

What you need to know

• Developed by CD Projekt RED, The Witcher was first released for PC back in 2007.
• The game later received an Enhanced Edition, but plans for a console port were shelved.
• CD Projekt RED shared that the previously-announced project Canis Majoris is a remake of The Witcher using Unreal Engine 5. 
• The remake is being developed in partnership with Polish studio Fool's Theory. 

CD Projekt RED is going back to where it first began with The Witcher games.

CD Projekt RED shared on Wednesday that the previously-revealed project codenamed Canis Majoris is in fact The Witcher Remake. This remake is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, and is being created in partnership with Fool's Theory, a Polish studio that has hired several staff that previously worked at CD Projekt RED. 

The Witcher was first released in 2007 on PC. While it found critical and commercial success, the somewhat rythm-based combat is widely considered to have not aged well, and the game's visuals are naturally well behind those of the studio's later games in the series, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which were released in 2011 and 2015, respectively. 

While CD Projekt RED planned a console port of the first game that was titled The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, plans for this port fell through after CD Projekt RED fell out with planned porting team Widescreen Games, a team which went bankrupt and dissolved in 2009. 

“Collaborating with Fool’s Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games," said Adam Badowski, head of CD Projekt RED. "They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games. And although it will take some time before we’re ready to share more about and from the game, I know it’ll be worth the wait.”

CD Projekt RED recently shared the codenames and details of multiple projects that are in development. In addition to Canis Majoris, other Witcher projects include a new trilogy that's beginning with the next Witcher game — codenamed Polaris — which is also being developed using Unreal Engine 5.

Finally, CD Projekt RED's Boston studio The Molasses Flood is working on a game codenamed Sirius, which will introduce some form of multiplayer to the franchise.

What you need to know

• As part of an investor strategy update, CD Projekt shared what the company has planned with internal development at CD Projekt RED and external partnerships in the years ahead. 
• CD Projekt RED is working on a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, codenamed Orion. 
• The next Witcher game is currently codenamed Polaris, and is meant to be the start of a new trilogy of Witcher role-playing games. 
• Another Witcher game, separate to the aforementioned trilogy is being referred to as Canis Majora and is being developed by an external studio, while recently-acquired team The Molasses Flood is working on Sirius, a multiplayer Witcher title.
• CD Projekt RED is also very early in development on a new IP codenamed Hadar.

At an investor meeting, CD Projekt opened the floodgates on what the publisher is working on across internal development at CD Projekt RED and, for the first time, external partnerships.

CD Projekt confirmed that it is working on a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, codenamed Orion. This comes after the recent announcement that the original game is getting an expansion called Phantom Liberty.

Outside of the realm of Cyberpunk, numerous Witcher games are on the way. The next Witcher game is currently codenamed Polaris, and will be the start of a trilogy of new Witcher role-playing games. CD Projekt RED intends for all three games to be developed using Unreal Engine 5, with an extremely ambitious launch plan of all three games six years after the arrival of Polaris.

The Molasses Flood, a Boston-based studio acquired by CD Projekt RED, is also working on a new Witcher game codenamed Sirius, which will introduce multiplayer into the franchise. CD Projekt RED is expanding its internal development teams by opening a new studio in Vancouver, marking the second North American studio under the publisher. 

Outside of the internal development teams, another Witcher game codenamed Canis Majora is being developed in partnership with an external team, though the team was not named. 

Finally, CD Projekt RED is beginning early work on a new IP codenamed Hadar, though there are no other details at this time.

What you need to know

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt first launched seven years ago on May 19, 2015.
• CD Projekt RED is working on an upgraded version of the game for current-generation consoles. 
• The upgrade was previously delayed, and is now slated to arrive sometime in Q4 2022.

CD Projekt RED may have delayed the current-generation upgrade of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but players can still expect to play it before the end of the calendar year. 

CD Projekt RED shared via Twitter on Thursday — which happened to be the seventh anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — that the upgraded version of the game is slated to arrive at some point in Q4 2022, or the final quarter of the year.

The upgrade was slated to arrive in the earlier in the year, but was delayed when CD Projekt RED took over development from Saber Interactive, moving the upgrade in-house. In addition to providing improvements of some kind that'll take advantage of the Xbox Series X|S and PS5, the upgraded version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is set to include some DLC items inspired by the popular Netflix series, The Witcher.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt first launched on May 19, 2015 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. It remains CD Projekt RED's most successful game, reaching critical acclaim and crossing 40 million copies sold. Cyberpunk 2077, which received an upgrade for current-generation systems earlier in the year, has reached 18 million copies sold, though the majority of these copies were sold during the game's launch back in December 2020, while the game faced criticism, especially for bugs and poor performance on the older consoles.

What you need to know

• CD Projekt RED is working on a new Witcher game, one that will be the start of a new saga and isn't called The Witcher 4.
• The teaser image for the announcement included a Witcher medallion half-buried in snow.
• CD Projekt RED has confirmed that this medallion is a Lynx.

Developer and publisher CD Projekt RED confirms that the medallion on the teaser image of the new Witcher game isn't a cat, it's a lynx.

"Ok, some mysteries should not be so mysterious," CD Projekt Red global communication director Robert Malinowski said to Eurogamer, when discussing the next Witcher game. "I can confirm that the medallion is, in fact, shaped after a lynx."

This is an interesting development, pointing to a completely new school of Witchers. In the books and games, the Order of Witchers divided over the years into different schools, each of which had a different base of operations, as well slightly different training methods, gear and specialties. The School of the Wolf is by far the most popular, with central protagonist Geralt of Rivia and his adopted daughter Ciri both belonging to this school.

Other schools mentioned include those of the Griffin — to which book character Coen belonged — as well as the schools of the Bear, Cat, Manticore, and Viper, the latter of which is original to the games. The Netflix TV series has so far opted to remove the presence of non-Wolf schools, though naturally that could change in season 3 or beyond.

Initial speculation was that the teaser image was a cat medallion, but with the revelation that it's a lynx, it appears the next Witcher game will include a new school, possibly even allowing players to create their own characters. It'll be a while before we learn more, as CD Projekt RED is not giving a release window for the game and is swapping engines, shifting away from in-house technology and partnering with Epic Games to use Unreal Engine 5.

The next Witcher game is on the way!

Developer and publisher CD Projekt RED confirmed that a new game is in development with an ominous image and press release. It's been years since Geralt of Rivia was seen in action, but the developers are promising this is a new saga. While details are scarce, there are some things we know, and it's always fun to speculate. Here's everything we know about the next Witcher game so far.

What is the next Witcher game?

The next Witcher game was first announced by CD Projekt RED on March 21, 2022, via a press release. The announcement consisted mainly of a lone image. As seen above, the image consists of a Witcher medallion half-buried in snow, alongside the words "A new saga begins."

CD Projekt RED has confirmed that this will be an open-world game, similar to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This prior Witcher game was critically acclaimed and commercially a hit, generally being considered one of the best Xbox games of all time.

Who is the main character of the next Witcher game?

CD Projekt RED has not shared who the main character of the next Witcher game will be; however we can make some educated guesses. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — and more specifically, its Blood and Wine expansion — was billed as the end of Geralt of Rivia's story. This doesn't mean he can't show up as a character, but it's overwhelmingly unlikely that Geralt will be the main character.

It's possible that Geralt's adopted daughter Ciri will be the main protagonist. Initially, we thought that the medallion in the teaser image appears to be from the School of the Cat. In the books, Ciri obtained a Cat school medallion after killing the mercenary Leo Bonhart. Ciri was also the secondary protagonist of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and is by far the biggest character in the Witcher franchise, alongside Geralt.

With that in mind, CD Projekt RED has revealed that the medallion in the image is a lynx. There is no School of the Lynx in any of the prior books or games, so it appears a new Witcher school is being founded. This might indicate that players will get to customize their own characters.

Why is the next Witcher game using Unreal Engine 5?

By far the most surprising part of the reveal for the next Witcher game has been the news that it will be developed using Unreal Engine 5, the latest iteration of Unreal Engine, which is maintained by Epic Games. Previously, CD Projekt RED has primarily used in-house custom technology, with The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk 2077 being developed with REDEngine 2, 3, and 4, respectively.

CD Projekt RED is explicitly partnering with Epic Games to make sure Unreal Engine 5 works well for the next Witcher game, with a "multi-year strategic partnership" to ensure the engine is suited to open-world game development.

"Epic has been building Unreal Engine 5 to enable teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity," said Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games. "We are deeply honored by the opportunity to partner with CD PROJEKT RED to push the limits of interactive storytelling and gameplay together, and this effort will benefit the developer community for years to come."

"One of the core aspects of our internal RED 2.0 Transformation is a much stronger focus on technology, and our cooperation with Epic Games is based on this principle. From the outset, we did not consider a typical licensing arrangement; both we and Epic see this as a long-term, fulfilling tech partnership," said Paweł Zawodny, CTO of CD Projekt RED. "It is vital for CD PROJEKT RED to have the technical direction of our next game decided from the earliest possible phase as; in the past, we spent a lot of resources and energy to evolve and adapt REDengine with every subsequent game release. This cooperation is so exciting, because it will elevate development predictability and efficiency, while simultaneously granting us access to cutting-edge game development tools. I can't wait for the great games we're going to create using Unreal Engine 5!"

Given the reported issues CD Projekt RED faced developing Cyberpunk 2077, as well as how many patches were needed to get the game in a better state post-launch, it's possible that by shifting to Unreal Engine 5, CD Projekt RED hopes to avoid the same kinds of development problems this time around.

CD Projekt RED isn't completely abandoning REDEngine however, as the upcoming expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 is naturally still being developed using this in-house engine.

Isn't the next Witcher game actually The Witcher 4?

No, it isn't. CD Projekt RED has explicitly noted via Twitter that the game is not called The Witcher 4. The game will no doubt get a new, finalized name later on but for now, it is simply known as the next Witcher game.

A current-generation upgrade for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is on the way, and will be free for anyone who already owns the game. This upgrade will also include some DLC items themed after The Witcher Netflix show.

What is the next Witcher game's release date?

Right now, we don't have a release date for the next Witcher game, or even a release window. For historical comparison, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was announced in 2013 and released in 2015, after being delayed out of 2014. CD Projekt RED first announced Cyberpunk 2077 in 2013 and would launch the game in 2020. Notably, CD Projekt RED would then take over a year to fix multiple issues, relaunching Cyberpunk 2077 for Xbox Series X|S and PS5 with a free upgrade.

CD Projekt RED is also using the announcement of this new Witcher game as a recruiting drive, attempting to hire many new developers across the various studios under the CD Projekt RED umbrella. As such, the game is likely at least a few years away.

What you need to know

• CD Projekt RED is officially working on the next Witcher game.
• The game is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, instead of CD Projekt RED's proprietary RedEngine.
• There's no release window or further details at this time.
• CD Projekt RED faced widespread criticism over the poor state of Cyberpunk 2077 at release.

CD Projekt RED announced on Monday that the team is officially working on a new Witcher game. The announcement consists of a single image: A Witcher medallion half-buried in snow, with the words "A new saga begins."

Most notably, the game won't be developed using CD Projekt RED's RedEngine, which powered prior games such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. Instead, CD Projekt RED is opting to use Unreal Engine 5 for this new Witcher game, working closely with Epic Games in the process.

"Epic has been building Unreal Engine 5 to enable teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity," said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. "We are deeply honored by the opportunity to partner with CD PROJEKT RED to push the limits of interactive storytelling and gameplay together, and this effort will benefit the developer community for years to come."

CD Projekt RED noted that the RedEngine will still be used in other projects, such as the upcoming expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. While The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was critically acclaimed, Cyberpunk 2077 was widely criticized at launch, with extremely poor performance and criticism of stereotypical depictions of various characters. Cyberpunk 2077 was recently relaunched for Xbox Series X|S and PS5 through a free upgrade patch.

A current-generation update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is also currently in development, though there's no release date as it stands right now.

What you need to know

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt first launched in 2015, with two major expansions and several DLC packs added later.
• Earlier this year, CD Projekt Red confirmed an upgrade for The Witcher 3 is in development for the latest consoles and PC.
• At WitcherCon, CD Projekt Red announced new items inspired by the Witcher Netflix series will be included in this upgrade.

One of the best Xbox games is getting even better. During the first ever WitcherCon on Friday, CD Projekt Red and the Netflix Witcher series crew teamed up to talk all things Witcher, including a neat announcement for fans of both The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the Netflix show. The previously-announced current generation upgrade of the game is getting some neat extras in the form of DLC items inspired by the Netflix series.

These will presumably take the form of swords and armor designed in the same fashion as Geralt's gear in the show but we'll have to wait for more info.

This upgrade is currently scheduled to arrive later this year on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC and PS5. While we don't have many details right now on exactly what this upgrade will entail, CD Projekt Red has confirmed that the upgrade will bring faster loading times and ray-tracing. It'll also be completely free for anyone who already owns The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Xbox One, PS4 or PC.

No exact release date has been announced for this upgrade, nor for the upgrade of Cyberpunk 2077, which is also currently scheduled to arrive later this year.

What you need to know

• CD Projekt Red announced today that The Witcher franchise has crossed 50 million copies sold.
• Of these 50 million sales, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt accounts for over 28 million.
• CD Projekt Red's next game up is Cyberpunk 2077.

Today, CD Projekt Red confirmed that The Witcher franchise has crossed 50 million copies sold. While this includes every paid Witcher game released so far, the majority of these sales are from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which has sold over 28 million copies.

A combination of deep discounts, the release of a Nintendo Switch version and The Witcher Netflix TV series saw game sales skyrocket back in December 2019, with copies sold up a staggering 554% year-over-year.

CD Projekt Red's next game is Cyberpunk 2077. Scheduled to arrive on September 17, this ambitious futuristic RPG allows players to customize every aspect of their character. Every aspect. A Night City Wire presentation on June 11 is coming, which will reveal some new information about the game, though we're not exactly sure what.

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What you need to know

• Gwent: The Witcher Card Game takes the popular minigame from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and expands it.
• It's been available on GOG and mobile platforms.
• Today, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game has arrived on Steam.

While Gwent: The Witcher Card game has been available on PC through GOG, as well as mobile platforms, it hasn't been present on Steam until today. Today, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game has made its way over to Steam. You can check out the trailer for this occasion below, though do note that it's not in English.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is completely free-to-play, though you can drop some cash on extra packs of cards to speed up your deck-building. The Steam version of this game has full cross-play with the GOG and mobile versions, so you shouldn't have any issues finding players.

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A new patch has added cross-save as a feature between the PC and Nintendo Switch versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This cross-save functionality is two way, as not only can you share your save from PC to your Nintendo Switch but you'll also be able to upload your Nintendo Switch save and use it on your PC! It's a simple process, so if you aren't sure where to begin, here's you can transfer your save of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from PC to Nintendo Switch.

How to transfer your save of The Witcher 3 from PC to Nintendo Switch

To start off, you'll naturally need to own the game on both PC and Nintendo Switch. You'll also need to have a save with at least some progress on it, though any amount will do, even the prologue. Due to the nature of the how the transfers work, you'll also need to have Cloud saves enabled on either GOG or Steam.

1. At the main menu on Nintendo Switch, select Cloud Saves.
2. Select Steam or GOG.
3. Select Standard Edition or GOTY Edition.
4. When prompted, enter your account username and password for either Steam or GOG.
5. Now press Load Game.
6. Choose the save file that you want to load.

You can tap or click the images below for a direct look at the process.

Source: Windows Central

Just like that, you'll be playing your PC save on Nintendo Switch! Whenever you're done playing on Switch however, you might want to make sure your progress is saved and ready for when you get back to your computer. The process is fairly simply.

1. Pause the game.
2. Choose Upload Save.
3. Upload the save file.

With this easy process after initial setup, going back and forth between these two platforms is easily accomplished, so you're set to continue looking for Ciri and partaking in Geralt's adventures wherever you go.

What you need to know

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt first released on PC in 2015 and released on Nintendo Switch in October 2019.
• A new update for the Nintendo Switch version has added cross-save support between PC and Nintendo Switch.
• PC saves from both Steam and GOG can be used.

CD Projekt Red has released a new update for the Nintendo Switch version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, allowing players to take their PC saves on the go with cross-save support. Currently, cross-save support is not available for the other console versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

This update also added new graphical options for the game on Nintendo Switch, so while you'll likely be taking your save over to a different platform with worse technical specs, you'll still be able customize some of the graphics to your liking.

It's also worth noting that using a modded save file isn't recommended and will likely cause crashes or bugs. Since the release of The Witcher TV show in December 2019, the game has seen heavily renewed interest, with sales of the game in the U.S. last month up a staggering 554% year-over-year compared to December 2018.

What you need to know

• Netflix's The Witcher is its most popular show.
• Everyone wants replica swords after watching the series.
• Swordsmith Artur Wysocki can't keep up with demand for the swords.
• You can check out The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt game on Amazon.

Netflix's The Witcher premiered in December, and it's already the streaming service's most popular show. Netflix sure does have a lot of confidence in the series. It's so popular that the only swordsmith licensed to make the swords has been innundated with requests.

In a report by PC Gamer, Artur Wysocki said that he has hundreds of emails asking for replicas. You can read an excerpt from the article below.

One of those emails is mine I have to admit. Hopefully, he'll be able to fulfill my request soon, but I'm not counting on it. That's a lot of emails and requests! If you want to check out the swords and place an order, just go here. Keep in mind that if you want a silver-plated sword, it'll cost you more, much more. I just went with the steel one because it shows the beauty of the metal, without anything covering it.

If you're not one for collecting swords, you can always check out The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the game, on Xbox One. It's available as a disc, download, or free if you're an Xbox Game Pass subscriber.

What you need to know

• A new Witcher anime film is coming to Netflix.
• It's titled The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.
• Lauren Hissrich and Beau DeMayo from The Witcher on Netflix are helping lead the project.
• Studio Mir, an animation studio that has worked on The Legend of Korra, is responsible for the animation.

If you just can't get enough of The Witcher, something is coming that might ease the wait for Season Two. Netflix has just announced a new Witcher anime film called The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Lauren Hissrich, showrunner for The Witcher Netflix series, is part of bringing this project, as is Beau DeMayo, a writer for The Witcher Netflix show. The animation is being handled by Studio Mir, a studio that has worked on The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Given the nature of the series' timeline, it's entirely possible that this anime film ends up being an interquel of sorts —taking place before certain events and episodes but well after others. At this time, we don't know much else about this film, such as if any of the cast from The Witcher series will be reprising their roles. In the meantime, if that wonderful song "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" is still ringing in your ears, you can just embrace it and listen to it on Spotify.

The Witcher show has seen a great amount of success on Netflix and has even helped boost the number of people trying out the games, as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt saw its highest-ever number of concurrent players on Steam, with over 100,000 all playing at the same time. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 4 version of the game was the #7 most downloaded PlayStation 4 game in December 2019.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best games ever made, but if you're a PC gamer, there are some truly stellar community-made mods that will enhance your experience with the game. Some are simple and simply boost graphical quality while others aim to re-balance entire sections of gameplay, but all of them ultimately serve to make The Witcher 3 even better than it already is. Here are our favorites.

Ghost Mode

Ghost Mode is a gameplay overhaul mod that aims to re-balance nearly everything about the game and make the overall player experience tougher, but still rooted within the core principals of the vanilla gameplay balancing. This is achieved by the addition of stamina-based combat, a logical rework of how loot spawns, an overhaul to the alchemy system, and much more. On top of this, the mod buffs and nerfs many under or overpowered items and skills respectively so that every part of The Witcher 3's sandbox has a place. While this mod probably isn't a good pick if you're new to the game, it's absolutely an awesome way for veterans to experience The Witcher 3 in a fresh new light. You can download it here.

Shields

If you like the sound of being able to use shields in The Witcher 3, then you'll love this lore-friendly and well-balanced gameplay addition project. The mod adds a plethora of different shield types to the game world's loot tables and shops, and you can use them for a stronger frontal defense at the cost of speed in combat. In addition, you can still get hit if enemies manage to flank you, meaning that the mod isn't overpowered and actually fits quite seamlessly into The Witcher 3's gameplay design. You can get the mod here.

HD Reworked Project

This mod significantly improves The Witcher 3's graphical quality by massively improving the quality of the textures, all with only a slight impact on system performance. With this overhaul, everything from the mugs in taverns to the rocky sides of castle towers look absolutely stunning and lifelike. As a result, the project makes The Witcher 3 look and feel even more immersive than it already was, which is quite the achievement. You're definitely going to want to break out NVIDIA Ansel for some screenshots with this one. You can download the overhaul here.

More Shadows

This graphics mod adds shadows to lighting objects that don't cast any in the vanilla game, such as torches, candles, and lamps. Though you won't see the effects of this mod much in the daytime, it really works its magic during night gameplay, as the realistic shadow casts make The Witcher 3's evening visuals more immersive and engaging to look at. While it is far from being a game changer in terms of scope, this mod is nevertheless appreciated for how it gives a boost to the game's nighttime look. You can get it here.

The Appearances Menu Mod

This mod allows you to change the look of both Geralt and his horse, Roach, at any time through a new menu in the user interface. You can edit everything from Geralt's beard style to the boots he wears, and doing so is a quick, easy process that will please anyone who wants to mess around with The Witcher 3's fashion options without having to search for, craft, or buy clothes and armor. The menu is also balanced from a gameplay perspective as well, as the edits made in the menu are purely cosmetic. This means that while the menu's options will override the visual appearance of whatever gear Geralt is wearing, it won't alter any stats. You can get it here.

Your thoughts?

What do you think of my top five choices for The WItcher 3: Wild Hunt mods? Are there any that you think I should have put on this list instead of one of the ones I chose? What's your personal favorite mod? Let me know down below.

The Witcher 3 on PC is available for $40 through Steam.

What you need to know

• Netflix's The Witcher is an upcoming show.
• It's going to premiere on December 20 for Netflix subscribers.
• It's already been renewed for a second season according to Showrunner Lauren Hissrich.
• You can check out The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt game on Amazon.

Netflix's The Witcher premieres in December, but it looks like it's already been renewed for another season. Netflix sure does have a lot of confidence in the series. According to a report by The Wrap, the show will get another season as this information was confirmed by Showrunner Lauren Hissrich.

You can take a look at an excerpt from the article below.

Let's see what the show has in store for us on December 20. The latest trailer makes it sound like quite an epic adventure. However, only time will tell. We're definitely excited for it though, mostly because the novels and games are stellar.

Xbox

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What you need to know

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an incredible open-world game for Xbox One and other platforms.
• Netflix is developing a show based on the series.
• The series may premiere in December according to a recent leak.
• You can purchase The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition for $35 on Amazon.

Updated October 31, 2019: The Witcher will premiere on December 20 according to Netflix.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the greatest games ever made, and Netflix wants to cash in on the popularity. A few months ago, the streaming giant revealed that it was working on a show inspired by The Witcher series. While we knew that it would feature an original story, we didn't know anything about its production values.

Luckily, that changed recently because the company released a trailer for its The Witcher show. While some gamers might object to lead actor Henry Cavill's out-of-control hair during certain scenes, the overall sense is that it's pretty epic. It seems like topics such as genocide, racism, and other social issues are touched upon in the show. Plus, there are plenty of large-scale battles. Now, you might be wondering when it's coming out.

According to a report by PC Gamer, the Redanian Intelligence spotted Netflix Netherlands' tweet about how long people would have to wait for their favorite shows to return. The post mentioned that The Witcher would premiere in 97 days, or on December 17.

While this could always be a mistake, it doesn't seem likely because Netflix Netherlands immediately deleted it. The dates for some other shows are correct so there's no reason to doubt this at the moment. However, don't get your hopes up because at the end of the day it may have just been an honest mistake. We'll keep you posted as soon as we know more.

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What you need to know

• CD Projekt RED will be moving toward a "dual-franchise" model to help streamline production.
• The studio is thinking about the future of Cyberpunk beyond 2077.
• The report states the company sees a lot of potential in Cyberpunk as a brand.

CD Projekt RED is going to focus on the futures of both Cyberpunk and The Witcher going forward, according to financial results.

The report, which was posted online Thursday, stated that the company will be moving towards a "dual-franchise model" that will help it to streamline production on future entries in both series.

Here's the quote from the report.

What does this mean for consumers? Well, for starters, it's looking like the studio is planning on more entries into the Cyberpunk franchise, or is looking to at least expand upon it beyond 2077. CD Projekt, the parent company that owns CD Projekt RED and GOG.com, sees a lot of potential in the new brand based on feedback from the community and the press, and that's even before the game has hit platforms.

"To-date enthusiastic reception of the Studio's new product by gamers and experts alike suggests strong potential of the brand, both in terms of PR and commercial appeal," the report says.

Cyberpunk 2077 will obviously have a huge impact on CD Projekt RED's bottom line, since the studio has put a large amount of money behind both its development and the marketing campaign. It's something that's emphasized in the consolidated financial statement, which states that the game will "fundamentally shape the Group's revenues in the near future."

The game will also be the studio's first major release outside The Witcher franchise, although the company doesn't plan on dropping that any time soon. The dual-franchise strategy states that CD Projekt RED will focus on both Cyberpunk and The Witcher (which also includes GWENT) as the key franchises on its portfolio. This includes hopefully getting more players to purchase the older Witcher games and use GOG.com to do it.

The report doesn't mention any specifics on the future of CD Projekt RED or any projects beyond Cyberpunk 2077, but it does highlight updates to GWENT, saying that "future results of the CD PROJEKT Capital Group will also depend on the popularity and progress of development of GWENT: The Witcher Card Game."

Other interesting tidbits from the report include the makeup of the people employed by the parent company (25% women and 75% men) and the demographics who use GOG.com to purchase games.

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Updated January 11, 2019: The Witcher content is coming to Monster Hunter: World on February 7.

Over the past year, Monster Hunter: World has received many crossover events and other festivals. The title has also received numerous updates and boasts a significant fan following many months later. For the past few weeks, there haven't been many changes to the game. Luckily, that's about to change in two important ways. 

After the "Winter Star Fest" ends on December 17, 2018, Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series is joining Monster Hunter: World. According to CD Projekt RED, the collaboration sees Monster Hunter: World players take on the mantle of Geralt of Rivia in a series of Witcher-inspired quests. These offer a unique gameplay experience blending the role-playing mechanics of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Monster Hunter: World's game systems. As we all know, Geralt is a master swordsman. Players should get to utilize his signature fighting style, seamlessly blending swordplay, combat magic, and an assortment of monster hunting equipment.

The Witcher content is coming to Monster Hunter: World on Xbox One in early 2019 as a free update. However, that's not all. Today, Capcom also announced a major expansion for the game. The "Iceborne" content should launch in Spring 2019. It's unclear if this is a free update or how much it'll cost. When Monster Hunter: World launched, the publisher said that all future updates would be free, however, it doesn't seem to be the case with Iceborne.

Hopefully Capcom will clear up this confusion soon. The fact that the company hasn't said anywhere that it'll be free like it does with other updates seems to imply that it won't. Despite this issue, it's great to see that Monster Hunter: World is getting aggressive post-launch support.

Monster Hunter: World launched on Xbox One on January 26. The Monster Hunter franchise started off on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, but then became a Nintendo exclusive for many years. Games like Monster Hunter Tri, Monster Hunter 4, and even Monster Hunter Generations were only available on systems like the Nintendo Wii.

The premise behind Monster Hunter: World might be simple, but it tells a rather complex story. Once every decade, monsters known Elder Dragons trek across the water to travel to the region known as the New World. This migration event is referred to as the Elder Crossing. To get to the bottom of this mysterious pattern, the Guild has formed the Research Commission, dispatching them in large groups to the New World. The Guild is the main governing body in the Monster Hunter universe. They work alongside the Elder Dragon Observation to monitor and research particular species of interest.

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Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

CD Projekt RED has been on a roll recently. Not only did the team unveil the first gameplay footage from Cyberpunk 2077 after Gamescom 2018, but the studio also released a new Witcher card game. While Gwent left Xbox Game Preview today, another adventure called "Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales" is also available on consoles. As you can see from the gameplay, Thronebreaker is an isometric role-playing game with card battles.

The description says Thronebreaker "spins a truly regal tale of Meve, a war-veteran queen of two Northern Realms. Facing an imminent Nilfgaardian invasion, Meve is forced to once again enter the warpath, and set out on a dark journey of destruction and revenge."

The game is currently available for $29.99 on various platforms like Xbox One and PlayStation 4. CD Projekt RED says that Thronebreaker lasts roughly thirty hours and features twenty different endings. Only a few are radically different from the others. There are also 75 different side quests to occupy your time.

If you can't get enough of CD Projekt RED and loved Gwent, then this might be an experience to sink your teeth into. Keep in mind that battles occur through cards. You have to use the right solider at the right time to succeed. Instead of featuring traditional combat, you have to essentially play Hearthstone. That's probably the biggest consideration when it comes to purchasing Thronebreaker.

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Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

If you're pumped to jump back into the world of The Witcher with its upcoming spinoff, titled 'Thronebreaker,' developer CD Projekt RED has some new gameplay footage that should stoke that hype a bit more. In the game's latest trailer, we get a quick overview of just some of the challenges players will have to overcome as protagonist Meve fights back against an impending Nilfgaardian invasion.

Thronbreaker: The Witcher Tales is a single player role-playing game that combines isometric exploration with card battles. Players will control Meve, described as the "war-veteran queen" of Lyria and Rivia, as she embarks on a dark quest to crush a Nilfgaardian invasion and pushes up against the dark realities of the world of The Witcher series.

As you'd expect from a CD Projekt RED game, Thronebreaker will give players plenty of freedom to make choices throughout the journey, and suffer their consequences in kind. All told, Thronebreaker is expected to contain around 30 hours worth of gameplay with 20 different endings and 75 sidequests to check out.

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is expected to launch on PC on October 23, with a console release scheduled for December 4 on Xbox One. For now, you can snag a preorder for either platform for $30.

• See at Microsoft
• See at GOG

CD Projekt RED has been on a roll recently. Not only did the team unveil the first gameplay footage from Cyberpunk 2077 after Gamescom 2018, but the studio is also releasing a new Witcher card game this year. On October 23, 2018 — and December 4 for consoles — the developer will release another game tied to Gwent called "Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales." As you can see from the gameplay, Thronebreaker is an isometric role-playing game with card battles.

The description says Thronebreaker "spins a truly regal tale of Meve, a war-veteran queen of two Northern Realms. Facing an imminent Nilfgaardian invasion, Meve is forced to once again enter the warpath, and set out on a dark journey of destruction and revenge."

Thronebreaker is currently available for preorder for $29.99 on various platforms like Xbox One and PlayStation 4. CD Projekt RED says that Thronebreaker lasts roughly thirty hours and features twenty different endings. Only a few are radically different from the others. There are also 75 different side quests to occupy your time with.

If you can't get enough of CD Projekt RED and loved Gwent, then this might be an experience to sink your teeth into. Keep in mind that battles occur through cards. You have to use the right solider at the right time to succeed.

• See at Microsoft Store
• See at GOG.com

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

Updated September 28, 2018: Thronebreaker is now available for digital preorder on Xbox One.

CD Projekt RED has been on a roll recently. Not only did the team unveil the first gameplay footage from Cyberpunk 2077 after Gamescom 2018, but the studio is also releasing a new Witcher card game this year. On October 23, 2018 — and December 4 for consoles — the developer will release another game tied to Gwent called "Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales". As you can see from the gameplay, Thronebreaker is an isometric role-playing game with card battles.

The description says Thronebreaker "spins a truly regal tale of Meve, a war-veteran queen of two Northern Realms. Facing an imminent Nilfgaardian invasion, Meve is forced to once again enter the warpath, and set out on a dark journey of destruction and revenge." There appears to be plenty of choice in terms of dialogue as well.

Thronebreaker is currently available for preorder for $29.99 on PC. It's unclear when preorders will open up for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. CD Projekt RED says that Thronebreaker lasts roughly thirty hours and features twenty different endings. There are also 75 different side quests to occupy your time with.

If you can't get enough of CD Projekt RED and loved Gwent, then this might be an experience to sink your teeth into. Keep in mind that battles occur through cards. You have to use the right solider at the right time to succeed.

• See at Microsoft Store
• See at GOG.com

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

CD Projekt RED has been on a roll recently. Not only did the team unveil the first gameplay footage from Cyberpunk 2077, but the studio is also releasing two games this year. Gwent has been in a beta state for months now, but it's finally launching as a proper release. On October 23, 2018, PC users will get to play the final build. Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners will have to wait until December 4.

That's not all though. On October 23 — and December 4 for consoles — CD Projekt RED will release another game tied to Gwent called "Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales". According to sources, Thronebreaker is an isometric role-playing game with card battles. According to the developer, "the game spins a truly regal tale of Meve, a war-veteran queen of two Northern Realms. Facing an imminent Nilfgaardian invasion, Meve is forced to once again enter the warpath, and set out on a dark journey of destruction and revenge."

It's unclear how the game will play because no gameplay footage was provided. We'll keep you posted as soon as we know more. However, the fact that it's from CD Projekt RED definitely makes it special. The studio is known for pushing the boundaries of storytelling through meaningful quests. Hopefully Thronebreaker will carry on this tradition when it launches in a few weeks.

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Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

The Witcher 3 is a brilliant game, that much has already been said in reviews when the game released in 2015. Even though it has been a full two years since the third installment hit PC and consoles, the game holds up to titles released in 2017. The Witcher 3 is the pinnacle of Role-Playing Games (RPGs) and is now used as a benchmark for future titles, taking into account stunning visuals, immersive gameplay and locations, and excellent writing.

The series actually celebrated its tenth birthday in September with the first game coming out in 2012. I decided to start a new save and playing the game for the tenth time still doesn't feel old. It's a strange experience whereby I find new things to do. After completing the game and its expansion DLCs, I wanted to show some love for the White Wolf and CD Projekt who created stunning experiences to enjoy and remains as one of the best publishers in the industry.

CD Projekt RED released a video to mark the occasion.

Interestingly, I know people who have yet to play through the series, even RPG fans. I've pointed a few to the books to start things off and learn the backstory behind Geralt, Yen and other characters that appear in the series of games. Others, I've recommended to simply throw themselves into the deep end and fire up The Witcher games. Though clearly aging, both the first and second installments continue to entertain.

Even if you've never heard of Geralt and The Witcher, it's possible to leap ahead and only play the latest game. There's plenty of material available to get you quickly up to speed and the story eases one into the world of monsters and hilarious characters. Whether you're into exploring a vast continent, talking to everyone you come across, hunting lost treasures, completing quest lines, or just messing around on a trusty steed, The Witcher 3 has it all.

Happy anniversary, Geralt. And thank you CD Projekt for not only bringing the world of The Witcher to life but also keeping the consumer in mind when making business decisions. If you haven't slain a few ghouls as the White Wolf, you should pick up The Witcher games and give them a go. As for what's next in The Witcher saga, we'll have to wait and see, though I'm sure CD Projekt RED's next game, Cyberpunk 2077, is going to keep us occupied in the meantime.

• See at GOG
• See at Microsoft

Those of us who have played through The Witcher and have followed Geralt for the past decade, what are your most memorable moments?

Geralt of Rivia has been around for some time, appearing on PC ten years ago. Time has passed and we've been blessed with three incredible RPGs, not to mention what appears to be the foundations of a solid standalone card collectible game, based on Gwent. GOG has decided to celebrate this anniversary with a PC game sale.

The company is currently subtracting up to 85 percent from the team's most beloved RPGs. Not only are you able to save 60 percent on The Witcher 3 — and anywhere between 50 and 85 percent on all other things Witcher — but also Bethesda classics and The Risen series. Here's a quick rundown:

• Fallout series (excluding Fallout 4) and select Elder Scrolls titles — up to 50% off.
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition — 85% off at just $1.49.
• The Witcher 2 — 85% at just $2.99.
• The Witcher 3 — 60% off at just $17.91.
• Risen series — up to 80% off.

The Witcher 3 expansions and other listings within the series can also be found at reduced prices (and on Steam). The Witcher games promotion will remain live until October 25, while other RPG deals will come to an end on October 23.

Geralt of Rivia, master of not only swords and magic, but words, women, and now sales.

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Updated May 30, 2017: We've refreshed this list to ensure all information is still relevant now that Gwent has moved from closed to public beta.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is a standalone version of the wildly popular minigame from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. While it draws many similarities to its older sibling, it has been fine-tuned and adapted to fit into its new role. To help you deal with the stiff competition in the public beta, we've compiled some great gameplay tips and tricks.

Take part in the public beta at PlayGwent.com

• What is Gwent?
• A fistful of cards
• Building a Gwent deck
• How to win a game of Gwent
• Leveling up, kegs, and crafting
• Meteorite powder, premium cards, and trinkets
• A few more tips and tricks to help you succeed at Gwent

What is Gwent?

Gwent is an Xbox Play Anywhere collectible card game that supports cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10. The nut of the game is that it lets you build your own decks from a base of starter cards and any cards you've crafted or collected from booster packs. In Gwent, these packs are known as kegs.

As you progress through the leveling system, you will collect ore, scraps, and meteorite powder. Ore is used to purchase kegs — you can also use real cash — and scraps are used to craft new cards. Meteorite powder is used for premium cards. Once you have a deck you think can stand up to competition, it's time to take it online. Play in a casual match for bragging rights and resources, or jump into a ranked match and begin your journey to the top of the Gwent leaderboard.

Check out our first impression of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

A fistful of cards

Gwent's cards are spread out over four factions based on The Witcher 3's world, plus there is a neutral category for cards that don't fit into a faction.

• Neutral: These cards include weather effects, special power-ups, Witchers, dragons, mages, dwarves, and any other characters that don't necessarily fit into a faction — yes, this category includes Geralt's horse, Roach.
• Monsters: Here you'll find members of the Wild Hunt, harpies, nekkers, golems, griffins, cranes, and any other horrible figures that Witchers usually kill to make a living. This deck is great at manipulating the weather, playing the graveyard and creating enormous armies.
• Nilfgaard: Expect to find siege engines, mages, heroes of Nilfgaard, and even some Witchers. This deck relies on espionage and being able to see your foe's plan before it can be deployed.
• Northern Realms: Foltest's empire includes plenty of siege engines, foot soldiers, commanders, cavalry, and some of the most iconic figures from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Promoting lots of weak infantry and bolstering them with siege engines and other power-ups is the premise of this deck.
• Scoia'tael: Rogue elves and dwarves come together to make up this deck. You'll find mercenaries, sappers, marksmen, and plenty of heroes, including Zoltan Chivay. Strength is gained from playing card combinations, and plenty of cards can be recycled through rounds.
• Skellige: Likened to Vikings, the Skellige deck involves a lot of hearty infantry, berserkers, shapeshifters, and longships. Skellige decks work better as they take damage, and there is plenty of opportunity for resurrection.

Decks you build can be fine-tuned to your heart's content, and the wide variety of cards allows for almost endless combinations. It's highly likely that the best decks have yet to be discovered.

Building a Gwent deck

When you first begin the game, you'll have a few starter decks to play around with. These are great to learn the basics, but you'll almost immediately want to create your own deck.

The first step required is to choose a faction. Each faction has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you'll want to experiment with each one to find the best for how you play. You can't see your opponent before the match begins, so you want to create a deck that can compete against any faction.

Next, you have to choose a leader. You'll likely only have one leader card for each faction to choose from at the start, but you'll eventually collect more from kegs or crafting. Each leader has a specific power that can be played during your turn. Using the leader's skill will finish your turn.

After choosing a leader, you want to start adding cards to your new deck. You can have up to four gold cards with no doubles, six silver cards with no doubles, and unlimited bronze cards with a maximum of three of the same card.

You can see what type of card it is by looking at the border. If there's any confusion as to which card belongs to which type, you can filter cards based on their color.

Cards also belong to one of six classes: infantry, ranged, siege, multi, spy, or special. The classes pertain to which row the card can be played on when it comes time to battle. The card's class can be verified by checking the icon near the top-left corner.

• Sword: This card belongs to infantry and can only be played on the infantry row.
• Crossbow: This card belongs to the ranged class and can only be played on the ranged row.
• Catapult: This card belongs to the siege class and can only be played on the siege row.
• Cycle arrows: This card belongs to the multi-class and can be played in any row.
• Icon with red eye: This card will be played on the enemy's side of the board on the corresponding row, usually with additional benefits.
• No icon: This is a special card and is played once before being discarded — it does not belong to any row.

Some cards will now have a set number of armor that must be depleted before their strength number is affected. This number is not noted visibly on the card, but is mentioned in the card's description.

There are also sub-classes for some cards. These cards have a secondary icon below the class icon.

• Cracked skull: A special move is triggered when this card is removed from the battlefield.
• Fiery shield: This card has an extra power, including gaining power when certain other cards are played or immunity to certain effects. The power is mentioned below the card on the right side of the screen.
• Shield with a number: This card has an effect triggered when the number of turns displayed on the shield has passed.

As you build, you'll see whether or not you've met the requirements for a legal deck. You must have at least 25 cards in a deck, and you cannot have any more than 40 cards. A "Ready to play!" message will appear in the top-left corner of your screen when you've created a legal deck.

Save and exit when you're satisfied, and you'll be able to play with your newly created deck. You can use the same cards from your collection in as many decks as you want.

Read more about how to create a great deck in Gwent

How to win a game of Gwent

The first thing to do when you start a match is to discard any cards you don't want in your hand and draw fresh from your deck. You can discard and redraw up to three cards, and you can do that one card at a time if you so desire. If you're happy with the cards in your hands, you don't have to discard any and can move right along.

Once you're finished redrawing, a coin will flip to determine who goes first. When it's your turn, you can either play a card or pass your turn. Once you pass once, you will continue passing turns until your opponent also passes or runs out of cards in-hand. Only pass when you're certain you've won the round or it applies to your strategy. Remember, the first to win two rounds wins the match, so passing too early can be a big mistake.

Once you play a card, the turn will pass to your opponent. It will go back and forth until one of you runs out of cards, or both of you pass. The player with the higher count — this number can be found next to your name in the bottom-left corner of the screen — will win the round. This number is the sum of the strength of all your cards currently in play.

At the start of the second round, two cards will be drawn into your hand. You can choose to redraw one card. If there is a third round, a single card will be drawn into your hand. You can also, at this point, choose to redraw one card. Keep this in mind when using cards or attempting to exhaust your opponent's hand.

An update to how cards are placed in a row

In early versions of the Gwent closed beta, placing cards on rows was as easy as picking a row. Not so much anymore. When placing a card, you can now choose where it goes on the row in relation to other cards already in play. This is a pretty big change, and coincides with adjustments to how a lot of cards work. Whereas before a card's special ability might affect an entire row, it might now affect only the cards directly adjacent.

A few words on bluffing

Depending on the deck you're playing, there is an incredibly deep pool of strategies to choose from. As you gain experience, you'll begin to see that bluffing plays a huge part in Gwent. One of the most popular strategies involves intentionally playing some big cards right off the bat to get your opponent to play their heavy hitters, in which case you throw the round by passing. This depletes the enemy's hand, but can backfire if you can't make up for the pass by winning two rounds in a row. No matter how you choose to play, you must win two rounds to win the match.

Leveling up, kegs, and crafting

When you win a match, you'll gain a bar of XP toward the next level. You'll also collect a small amount of ore or scraps for each small bar — when you level up by filling all bars, you'll collect a way larger amount of resources that can be used for crafting or for purchasing kegs.

To purchase a keg with either ore or real money, visit the shop and click a keg. Each keg costs 100 ore and has five cards within, where at least one card will be a rare, epic, or legendary. You're shown four overturned cards that you flip over one at a time — the suspense! — before choosing a fifth card. All five cards will be added to your collection.

Buying kegs isn't the only way to add cards to your collection. If you navigate to the actual Collection page within Gwent, you can view all cards whether or not they're in your collection.

Why show all cards? You can craft any card you want as long as resources allow. When highlighting a card, you'll be shown how many scraps it takes to craft, as well as how many scraps you'll receive if you mill a copy. Select the card and hit Craft in order to create this card.

Any cards you don't think you'll use — especially if you have more than three copies of the same card — can be milled into scraps. There is a smart-mill function that will get rid of unnecessary duplicates for you, and shows you how many scraps you'll receive if you choose to mill all your spare cards.

Meteorite powder, premium cards, and trinkets

Meteorite powder is a currency available alongside ore and scraps. It can be collected by playing matches, by purchasing with real cash, or by milling premium cards. What are premium cards? They are normal cards that are converted with Meteorite powder. Premium cards are the same as regular cards function-wise, except they have an animated graphic and new sound bite.

A Trinkets section can be found under the Cards tab in the main menu. Here you can choose your avatar, you can choose a border to place around your avatar, and you can choose a title for yourself. These are strictly vanity items and are unlocked by reaching certain ranks or by placing in a certain position during seasonal play.

A few more tips and tricks to help you succeed at Gwent

There are a few more general tips and tricks that deserve mention when it comes to learning how to play Gwent.

• Don't mill decks you don't play with. It might be a little tempting, especially when you're first starting out, but milling most or all of a deck's cards will come back and bite you. It is incredibly difficult to build a deck from scratch, and you'll likely, at some point, want to try out every faction.
• Don't be afraid to mill spare cards. You can only use three copies of the same card in a deck, so having more is a waste. Use the smart-mill function or mill extra cards on your own. Remember, the same cards can be used in as many decks as you want at the same time.
• Take account of weather effects when placing cards. Frost affects the infantry row, fog affects the ranged row, and rain affects the siege row. It's never a bad idea to spread out your troops over all three rows or keep a First Light card in your deck to wipe weather from the battlefield.
• Try to keep the number of cards in your hand as low as possible. Yes, you can cram up to 40 cards into a hand, but the best cards will be buried among the weak cards.
• Don't be afraid to practice against real players in casual matches before moving to ranked matches. The AI is a decent opponent, but the real challenge rests in human intelligence.
• Always plan a few moves in advance. Like chess, you want to have an idea of where your opponent is going, and want to have a contingency plan no matter how your opponent plays.
• Plan for the future by looking into the past. A move history is available for you to check at any point during an ongoing match. Can't remember if you already played a certain card? Look it up!
• Don't get discouraged! Even if you lose a lot, you're learning the ins and outs of each deck. It takes time to get good at Gwent.
• Communicate with your opponent. A Taunt feature lets you shoot short phrases back and forth over the board, which was previously completely silent. There are both sides of a coin here: hostility and friendliness.
• Complete challenges as an easy way to get ore, scraps, and other goodies.
• Get involved with the community. Gwent has a vibrant community on reddit.com/r/gwent, and this is where you will learn a lot of the strategies for more advanced play.

Take part in the public beta at PlayGwent.com

The Witcher 3 is my go-to title when it comes to comparing role-playing games (RPG) in 2017. Honestly, in my opinion, it's the best RPG that has been released for some time and still looks great today. When Mass Effect: Andromeda finally hit the Origin store, I was fairly excited to see what Bioware could do with a clean slate and the power of EA's Frostbite engine. Visually, Andromeda looks stunning, but one cannot simply overlook the sheer number of bugs, glitches and other issues that plague the game.

I've since stopped playing after around 26 hours (according to Origin) and have fired up a new game as Geralt to see how the 2015 title fares against what Bioware released in 2017. The results left me nothing other than stunned. Immediately, while both games are by no means similar, I noticed many differences that left me baffled as to how the company behind Knights of The Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect managed to miss the ball, even with a new team.

My Gwent is tired

It doesn't take long to spot just how much of a divide there is between those who rave and enjoy Andromeda and those who absolutely despise it. Whatever reasons either camp may have for their opinions, I'm still on the fence. I can't quite work out whether or not I like Andromeda. It's such a strange experience and is one that makes it difficult for me to continue through the main story. I highly recommend you check out our official review, in which Senior Editor Jez Corden picked up on a few points I raise here:

Andromeda is riddled with bugs, even after 1.0.5 was released. Honestly, I couldn't go for more than 20 minutes before noticing some form of glitch. I'm not talking about minor things like texture popping or basic oddities, but actual issues that take you right out of the pathfinding experience. Enemies levitate and remain in a pose, taking damage. Others are inside terrain, firing at you from rocks and seemingly immune to return fire.

Another major issue I had was the dialog, which pulled me right out of the immersion. You've already heard, read and seen the countless "My face is tired" memes, but there are other parts of the script that make you sit back for a second and think, what? Which leads me onto some of the bizarre political pushes that are placed throughout the game. I'm usually one who prefers to separate art from the artist when it comes to politics and beliefs. The same goes for video games.

That being said, something I liked about the older Mass Effect titles was the diverse characters and how players were able to go down the path they wished. Take romance, for example, which allowed you to engage in a variety of formats. Male-to-male, male-to-female, and female-to-female. I applauded the developer for including this functionality without hampering the overall story and dialog. This isn't how I feel about Andromeda, though.

Looking at various scenes and conversations online, it almost becomes awkward, and I don't understand why the developer would make such content appear forced. Some of the dialogs are downright awful and aren't limited to just the romantic paths. Take the following scene, for example:

Not only does it not flow well, I would be slightly concerned if this particular person was heading up a team to locate suitable planets for various species to survive on.

Then there are the animations, the facial expressions, and a strange representation of a human. It's just weird. And it's mainly the humans I have an issue with, while Krogans and other species appear to be just fine. Faces don't feel like they're properly entwined with the conversation, and expressions are sometimes simply blank. Some things have been addressed in a recent patch, and I'm sure Bioware will release a few more to tackle bugs and other issues players have raised, but I don't think any number of patches will fix this game for me.

The Crones of Eos

Returning to The Witcher 3, I'm reminded of the outstanding animation and conversation systems in place. The world feels alive and invites you to explore every nook and cranny. Non-playable characters are interesting, most with some sort of backstory or even a quest line. And all this is set in a war-torn land.

You get a sense of just how dire the situation is for civilians caught up in battle, ravaged by looters and bandits, or left baffled at what to do once The Wild Hunt leaves the village in ruins. When locked into a conversation, facial expressions, the tone of voice, the writing, it all creates a gloomy atmosphere that completes the experience. It feels real. The same can't be said for Andromeda.

I enjoyed the settlement deployment, as well as the mining and exploration in the Nomad, and thought the Scourge to be an interesting anomaly to uncover in the inevitable sequel. Some of the dialogs made me chuckle and a number of guests were thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding. I also loved the crafting system (excluding the UI). There are more than enough positive points about Andromeda. At the end of the day, it is a fun game.

I can't bring myself to hate the game, but I also can't love it. This is incredibly frustrating, and not only because I'm a Mass Effect fan, but because I was so intrigued by what could have been. Bioware had formed an entirely new galaxy, opening up the gates to endless creativity. I have hope, though. I'm certain the developer is taking in feedback about the game, and I'd wager we'll see a better second installment in the trilogy.

Further Reading

• The 6 biggest unanswered questions about Mass Effect: Andromeda's ending
• 5 things you'll love about Mass Effect: Andromeda — and 4 you'll hate
• Mass Effect: Andromeda romance guide — Flirt your way to intergalactic love

The Witcher 3 is set to be one of the year's biggest role-playing games when it arrives on Xbox One, Windows and PlayStation 4 this May. The third game in the Witcher series differentiates itself from other open-world action-RPGs with its dark and mature storyline filled with meaningful player choices and memorable side quests.

To help prepare our readers for The Witcher 3, Windows Central has begun a new weekly Twitch series focused on The Witcher 2. Every Tuesday night at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific, 2am GMT), we play through another section of the game while you guys watch the stream at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch. Join us and engage in our social take on this epic Witcher adventure!

Did you miss the previous episode of our Witcher Twos-day series? Don't worry; we've got a full write-up that will get you up to speed – complete with screenshots from the stream!

Watch live video from EastXTwitch on Twitch

Previous recaps

• Prelude: About the hero Geralt and a quick summary of the first Witcher game
• Episode 1 recap: The assassination of Foltest and Geralt escapes the prison
• Episode 2 recap: Geralt and team arrive in Flotsam, where he rescues Dandelion and Zoltan. Geralt agrees to help a sorceress kill a sea monster called the kayran.
• Episode 3 recap: Triss and Geralt team up to investigate the kayran. Loredo offers to help Geralt fight the terroristic Scoia'tael if he will leave Vernon Roche behind.

Broken contract

Much of the flavor of The Witcher games comes from completing optional sidequests. During our first visit to the port city of Flotsam, Geralt accepted a job from a shady character known as Vencel Pugg, initiating the quest ' The Scent of Incense.' Pugg claims to be a scholar and hires Geralt to procure the formula for a unique type of incense being sold at a local shop.

On the way to the shop, our hero meets a group of villagers to tell him that said incense is actually a powerful and dangerous recreational drug. Geralt agrees to their request to stop the shopkeeper from selling it. Using his powers of persuasion, the Witcher secures the drug's formula and convinces the shopkeeper/drug dealer to leave town.

Geralt eventually returns to Flotsam's port area and meets up with Pugg once more. At this point, we can choose either to deliver the formula or refuse to give it to the client. Because our Geralt tends towards altruism, he refuses and makes an enemy of Pugg. That choice was the less interesting one from a gameplay perspective though, as agreeing would have ended with us following Pugg to his otherwise inaccessible secret laboratory.

Later on in the forests outside of Flotsam, Vencel Pugg ambushes Geralt with a pack of goons. At this point, our hero only wields a relatively weak club and his usual (mild) magical powers. But Geralt still manages to make short work of the lot, saving Pugg for last (see image near the end of the article). One less potential drug manufacturer off the streets!

Meeting Dandelion at the inn once again

Geralt heads back to Flotsam's inn, where his friends Dandelion the bard/spy and Zoltan the dwarf/merchant (who Bernard Loredo claims is colluding with the Scoia'tael) continue to spend their time. We discuss a variety of topics with Dandelion:

• Dandelion wants to know what really happened to King Foltest. Geralt briefly retells the events of our first episode and how he has been set up to look like the killer. The assassin is hiding with the Scoia'tael in the forests near Flotsam and Geralt hopes to catch him.
• What did Dandelion report on to Vernon Roche? He witnessed a variety of crimes and chalks them up to cold calculation. In Flotsam, the people are more willing to hurt others in order to get ahead than in other places.
• Any new information that could help Geralt locate the kingslayers? No, he has only heard a variety of wild theories on the subject. King Foltest's assassination has made everyone paranoid and xenophobic.
• Geralt has been having flashbacks to his death (which preceded the first Witcher game). Dandelion witnessed the tragic event as well as Yennefer the sorceress sacrificing herself in an attempt to save the fallen Witcher. Geralt's return has Dandelion confused, but our hero still doesn't remember enough to explain how he came back to life.

Don't mess with the Zoltan

We then speak with Zoltan, who laments his misfortune at losing his betrothed because her father falsely believes him to be part of the Scoia'tael. Zoltan has been working as a gem polisher for Síle de Tansarville, the temperamental sorceress with whom Geralt is supposed to team up and kill the tentacled kayran that threatens Flotsam. She needs the gems for a mysterious magical device.

Zoltan and Geralt fear for Commandant Loredo's plans for nonhumans in Flotsam. The dwarf once overheard Loredo muttering about a new world order that only includes humans. He might plan to use the Scoia'tael as justification for eliminating the city's peaceful elves and dwarves.

Finally, we engage in an arm wrestling minigame against Zoltan and win – no easy feat where a stout dwarf is concerned! He tells us about other nearby arm wrestlers who might give Geralt a challenge,

Killing time at the inn

We take a break from advancing the story to engage in a trio of diversions within Flotsam's inn.

First Geralt busts a few heads in the local fight club and win some coinage. Then we play dice poker, a game which has divided viewers right down the line. The cooler viewers want to see more dice playing!

Finally, Geralt parts with some coins by visiting the brothel and paying one of its workers for her services. Although I enjoyed the scene's raciness, I felt that she left Geralt without the requisite pillow talk that such a situation demands.

Incidentally, people are not squeamish about sex in the Witcher's world. My kind of people! But Geralt's current girlfriend Triss Merigold would likely be jealous if she found out about his wanderings.

Getting Geralt's equipment back

Towards the end of episode 3 of our series, Geralt was hired by a recruiter to win a series of underground fights. He did so with flying colors, but something went wrong during our actual playthrough. Before entering the fight club, Geralt had to leave his weapons and armor behind. Unfortunately for yours truly, somehow I missed the chance to retrieve those belongings after the quest ended!

That put me in a rough spot this week, as Geralt started out without the swords he needs for battle. We eventually gave up on finding the original equipment, instead opting to purchase or craft replacements. Easier said than done!

We had to search high and low to find some silver to buy before we could pay a dwarven blacksmith to create the all-important silver sword. By the stream's conclusion, Geralt has finally procured the silver sword he uses to slay monsters and a steel sword with which to battle human foes.

Now our newly-equipped Geralt ready for more adventures, and you're ready for the next chapter of our epic Witcher 2 playthrough!

• The Witcher – Windows – $9.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link
• The Witcher 2 – Xbox 360 – $29.99 – Xbox.com Link
• The Witcher 2 – Windows – $19.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link

How to watch Twitch livestreams

We'll be streaming The Witcher 2 for 90 minutes tonight, starting at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific).

What's the best way to experience Twitch? The Twitch website on your PC or Mac web browser. If you don't have or prefer not to use a computer, you can get the Xbox One, Playstation 4, or Xbox 360 Twitch apps and watch from the comfort of your couch. Android and iOS both have official and unofficial Twitch apps to choose from as well.

On Windows Phone, you'll have to grab an unofficial app. There are several to choose from, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Only one app lets you search directly for our channel, though. If you use the others you'll have to find and follow us from a web browser first. Read the roundup to learn more!

Streaming schedule

Want to know what's next for Windows Central's weekly Twitch streaming contests? Here's our upcoming schedule. The stream always starts at the same time: 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific).

• Saturday, March 7: Order & Chaos Online (Windows 8) from Gameloft. Guest cohost: "Gameloft" Ryan!
• Saturday, March 14: Forza Horizon 2 from Microsoft

In addition to our Saturday contest streams, we also livestream a variety of different games throughout the week. These streams don't have contests, but they still offer a great chance to see more exciting games while enjoying our live commentary and stream chat.

• Mondays: PlayStation Vita games! See what the other side gets to play. This Monday we're playing adventure game classic Grim Fandango.
• Tuesdays: The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360. Catch up on The Witcher saga before The Witcher 3 launches in May!
• Wednesdays: Xbox One games. This Wednesday we're playing Dragonball Xenoverse!
• Thursdays: Dragon Age: Inquisition! Game selected and funded by our excellent stream viewers.

We hope you'll tune in as often as you can! Set a recurring alarm on your phone so you'll always know when it's time for the stream to start.

Thanks to tonight's cohosts Xero and Tylerh1701 and our Twitch stream moderators for keeping the stream friendly!

The Witcher 3 is set to be one of the year's biggest role-playing games when it arrives on Xbox One, Windows, and Playstation 4 this May. The third game in the Witcher series differentiates itself from other open-world action-RPGs with its dark and mature storyline filled with meaningful player choices and memorable sidequests.

To help prepare our readers for The Witcher 3, Windows Central has begun a new weekly Twitch series focused on The Witcher 2. Every Tuesday night at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific), we play through another section of the game while you guys watch the stream at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch. Join us and engage in our social take on this epic Witcher adventure!

Did you miss the previous episode of our Witcher Twos-day series? Don't worry; we've got a full write-up that will get you up to speed – complete with screenshots from the stream!

Watch live video from EastXTwitch on Twitch

Follow this link for part two of tonight's episode. We don't want them both autoplaying at once.

Previous recaps

• Prelude: About the hero Geralt and a quick summary of the first Witcher game
• Episode 1 recap: The assassination of Foltest and Geralt escapes the prison
• Episode 2 recap: Geralt and team arrive in Flotsam, where he rescues Dandelion and Zoltan. Geralt agrees to help a sorceress kill a sea monster called the kayran.

Meet Malena

Last time, we had just stepped outside the games of the port city of Flotsam and into the surrounding forests. Not far beyond the city walls we now discover the small village of Lobinden. Hunters, fisherman, and boat-builders occupy the settlement's wooden homes.

Humans, elves, and dwarves live together relatively peacefully in Lobinden compared to other areas of the Witcher's world. Still, we arrive in the middle of a conflict between a group of soldiers and a female elf called Malena. The soldiers accuse her of spying for the Scoia'tael terrorists. Two soldiers who disappeared in a cave were last seen with her.

Geralt suggests that he search the cave to discover what happened to the soldiers. The soldiers and accused elf agree to meet up with him at the port to learn his judgment. We don't make it to the caves to resolve the quest in this episode, but we'll discover what happened to them eventually!

Triss and Cedric

We climb a ladder to a wooden platform that stretches between trees. At top, we witness two male elves discussing a departed female. They walk away, leaving Geralt to meet with Triss, his sometimes-girlfriend.

Triss has been staying with Vernon Roche's Temerian soldiers during the group's visit to Flotsam. Although the soldiers are somewhat vulgar, Triss gets along well with them.

As for Geralt, the amnesia he has suffered since the opening of the first Witcher game has started to improve. He remembers falling while defending a group of nonhumans from an angry mob of jerk humans. Geralt felt his life slipping away, and Triss arrived too late to save him. And yet he's still alive and kicking, a mystery that has lingered throughout both games so far.

As Geralt and Triss shoot the breeze, they encounter an elf named Cedric. He uses the knowledge he has acquired through his long life to work as a lookout and guide for humans. He also drinks a lot, which Geralt teases him about.

We ask Cedric about the kayran that Geralt has been hired to hunt and learn that it has grown far too large, with strange growths on its tentacles. The creature had been living in a swamp before it outgrew its surroundings. It even sank a boat there, which Cedric recommends we investigate.

Cedric also tells us about an elf woman named Moril who has been missing for over a year. Moril had worked together with another elf named Seherim. Some believe the forest took her, but Cedric suspects foul play. Depending on choices we make later in the chapter, we might eventually discover her whereabouts.

Finally, Cedric mentions a potential job to Geralt. A mental institution long ago burned to the ground, killing its inmates and leaving the land cursed. Two daredevils have recently sought to explore it and disappeared. If our hero can find them or their remains, he'll receive a reward. Witchers gotta eat!

Triss abruptly casts a teleport spell and tells us to meet her near the boat wreck.

Investigating the boat wreck

After taking a long and winding path through the hilly forest, Geralt finally meets up with Triss. Why couldn't she have let him teleport with her? At any rate, they discover a vast swamp area surrounded by ancient ruins. Based on the nearby tracks, a human has been here recently.

Geralt and Triss meet danger once they climb down to the actual swamp floor. Not from the kayran, but a swarm of drowners! When a hanged criminal gets discarded in a lake, he or she often returns as a drowner. Maybe people shouldn't throw their hanged dudes in the water, right?

The group swarms us, and it takes me a few tries to survive the fight unscathed. By staying on the outskirts of the group and avoid letting them surround Geralt, I finally thwart the monsters.

Upon searching the remains of the boat, we discovered the ship's log. The captain intended to report of his journey to his superiors, but died before he could complete his mission. Geralt resolves to mail the report for him. We don't discover a mailbox during this episode, but hopefully we can honor the captain's wishes soon.

Back in Flotsam

Geralt returns to Flotsam, where he picks up on a previous request from a portly man named Ziggy. This guy manages fighters in the local underground fight club, but he hasn't had much luck lately. Geralt agrees to fight for him, and we knock out a duo of opponents.

Next a shady character tries to pay us to throw the fight. My Geralt is heroic though, so I decline to betray Ziggy and go on to win the final round. Without my say so, Geralt turns down Ziggy's offer to celebrate with booze and women – Ziggy can screw enough for the both of them, he says jovially.

Vernon Roche finally catches up with Geralt and brings him along on a mission. Loredo, the commandant of Flotsam who helped Geralt save Dandelion and Zoltan last week, has apparently become too powerful for Roche's liking. In addition to troops, he owns a ballista, an extremely powerful canon-like weapon.

Roche wants to battle everyone near the ballista in order to destroy it. But Geralt prefers to avoid unnecessary loss of life, so he offers to sabotage the ballista himself. To do this, Geralt must first distract the guard closest to the weapon.

A nearby prostitute will offer the guard her services, but only if Geralt first humiliates a pair of soldiers who stiffed her (zing!) by defeating them at arm wrestling. Having wrestled the soldiers, our prostitute friend escorts the ballista guard into the bushes. Geralt sabotages the weapon, and a good time is had by all.

We now attempt to sneak into Loredo's residence, but get captured instead. Luckily, he is not hostile towards Geralt at all. He wants to know why Geralt is snooping around Flotsam. We tell him the truth: Geralt seeks the Scoia'tael and the assassin who helped them kill King Foltest.

Loredo wants to help Geralt stop the Scoia'tael, but he expects Geralt to leave Roche behind. Loredo doesn't trust Roche because he perceives him as being too bloodthirsty and impulsive. Loredo might be not be eager to trust others, but he cares deeply about the safety of his town. Geralt agrees to fight the Scoia'tael with Loredo, for now.

Geralt also cautions Loredo that the local non-humans should be treated better. And Loredo agrees to an extent, but doesn't promise sweeping change. He does at least make the point that Iorveth and the Scoia'tael need to be destroyed before humans and non-humans can truly trust each other.

Loredo still believes that Geralt's friend Zoltan has been in contact with Iorveth lately. But before he'll reveal how he knows this or what his plan for catching Iorveth is, Loredo requires that Geralt defeat the kayran. Dandelion and Zoltan will even receive an official pardon. Good thing Geralt planned to kill the monster anyway!

Finally, Geralt leaves Loredo's residence and resumes his hunt for the kayran.

Now you're ready for the next chapter of our epic Witcher 2 playthrough!

• The Witcher – Windows – $9.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link
• The Witcher 2 – Xbox 360 – $29.99 – Xbox.com Link
• The Witcher 2 – Windows – $19.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link

How to watch Twitch livestreams

We'll be streaming The Witcher 2 for 90 minutes tonight, starting at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific).

What's the best way to experience Twitch? The Twitch website on your PC or Mac web browser. If you don't have or prefer not to use a computer, you can get the Xbox One, Playstation 4, or Xbox 360 Twitch apps and watch from the comfort of your couch. Android and iOS both have official and unofficial Twitch apps to choose from as well.

On Windows Phone, you'll have to grab an unofficial app. Check out our unofficial Twitch app roundup for an in-depth look at five popular apps and their features.

My recommendation is Unstream. It has far more features than competing apps, such as the ability to see a list of users participating in the stream chat. You can even add our channel directly from within the app! Just search for Eastxtwitch, select the channel to view our profile, and then select Follow from the pop-up menu at the bottom.

• Download Unstream for Windows Phone (free trial or $1.29)

Streaming schedule

Want to know what's next for Windows Central's weekly Twitch streaming contests? Here's our upcoming schedule:

• Thursday, February 26: ScreamRide from Frontier and Microsoft
• Saturday, February 28: Asphalt 8 (Windows 8) from Gameloft. Guest cohost: "Gameloft" Ryan!
• Saturday, March 7: Order & Chaos Online (Windows 8) from Gameloft. Guest cohost: "Gameloft" Ryan!

In addition to our Saturday contest streams, we also livestream a variety of different games throughout the week. These streams don't have contests, but they still offer a great chance to see more exciting games while enjoying our live commentary and stream chat.

• Mondays: Playstation Vita games! See what the other side gets to play.
• Tuesdays: The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360. Catch up on The Witcher saga before The Witcher 3 launches in May!
• Wednesdays: Xbox One games. This Wednesday is Strider history night, featuring Strider 1 and 2 plus Strider for Xbox One!
• Thursdays: Dragon Age: Inquisition! Game selected and funded by our excellent stream viewers.

We hope you'll tune in as often as you can! Set a recurring alarm on your phone so you'll always know when it's time for the stream to start.

Thanks to tonight's cohosts Xero and Tylerh1701 and our Twitch stream moderators for keeping the stream friendly!

The Witcher 3 is set to be one of the year's biggest role-playing games when it arrives on Xbox One, Windows, and Playstation 4 this May. The third game in the Witcher series differentiates itself from other open-world action-RPGs with its dark and mature storyline filled with meaningful player choices and memorable sidequests.

To help prepare our readers for The Witcher 3, Windows Central has begun a new weekly Twitch series focused on The Witcher 2. Every Tuesday night at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific), we play through another section of the game while you guys watch the stream at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch. This week's stream has ended, but you can still watch the full replay after the break.

Did you miss the previous episode of our Witcher Twos-day series? Don't worry; we've got a full write-up that will get you up to speed – complete with screenshots from the stream!

Watch live video from EastXTwitch on Twitch

Previous recaps

• Prelude: About the hero Geralt and a quick summary of the first Witcher game
• Episode 1 recap: The assassination of Foltest and Geralt escapes the prison

The dangerous path to Flotsam

When our first episode concluded, Geralt the Witcher had just escaped from a Temerian prison with the help of Vernon Roche, the commander of the Temerian Special Forces, and Triss Merigold, a sorceress and Geralt's sometimes-girlfriend.

The three of them arrive by ship on the outskirts of the town of Flotsam, where they seek the trail of the assassin who killed King Foltest and the group who aided him. In order to avoid suspicion or interference, our heroes travel along a riverbank towards the city on foot.

There they encounter Iorveth, a scarred elf who leads the terroristic Scoia'tael. In the Witcher's world, humans have long treated non-human races like elves and dwarves with prejudice and cruelty. After years of poor treatment, the more disgruntled nonhumans have banded together to lash out against human civilization as the Scoia'tael.

Iorveth, Geralt, and Roche trade barbs while each side stalls for time. Just as Iorveth's archers launch a flurry of arrows towards out heroes, Triss casts the spell she has been preparing. A magical shield envelopes the group, protecting them from ranged attacks. Triss passes out, forcing Roche to carry her while Geralt fends off the elves who rush them on foot.

Welcome to Flotsam

At last, Geralt and team reach Flotsam and escape from their Scoia'tael pursuers. Not far into town, they discover that Geralt's friends Dandelion the bard and Zoltan the dwarf are facing public execution. Dandelion has been accused of debauchery and burning down a watchtower, while Zoltan faces the noose for collusion with the Scoia'tael. Geralt quickly resolves to save them, and without killing.

To do this, he first must brawl with a guard at the foot of the gallows. Behind them, the executioner continues working his way through the day's criminals, underscoring the urgency of Geralt's mission. After knocking out the guard, Geralt is greeted by Bernard Loredo, Commander of Port Flotsam.

Luckily, Loredo wants to ask Geralt for a favor. He releases Dandelion and Zoltan into Geralt's charge on the condition that Geralt visit him to discuss matters later. The trio of friends retires to the local tavern, where they meet up with Triss. Roche has left to attend his own affairs.

Geralt's team catches up at the inn

Geralt, Triss, Dandelion, and Zoltan discuss a variety of topics:

• Geralt is surprised that Dandelion has become a Temerian spy; he now works for Roche. Zoltan predicts that Dandelion will tire of spying and quit before long.
• Zoltan explains that he would never associate with the hateful Scoia-tael. But the wedding he planned at the end of the first Witcher game was called off because his would-be Father-in-law believed a false rumor that he had joined the terrorists.

• Triss reveals some of the events that occurred after Foltest's death, while Geralt was still imprisoned. The lords of Temeria convened for three days but could not settle on a replacement for the King. A commander named John Natalis (who we will meet later in the story) must keep the peace until a new king is crowned.
• Geralt relates the events surrounding Foltest's death, which we covered in last week's recap, to his friends.

The Kayran attacks

Our group's conversation is interrupted by news from outside: a gigantic beast called the Kayran is savaging the port! Everyone runs out to see its tentacles thrashing at nearby workers.

Before Geralt can act, the buxom sorceress Síle de Tansarville (pronounced Sheala) frightens the monster off with her magic. An ungrateful batch of locals complains that she didn't do enough to help, but the Witcher convinces them to leave.

Louis Merse, a local bureaucrat, approaches Geralt and Lady de Tansarville and asks whether Geralt will cooperate with the sorceress to eliminate the Kayran. He agrees, and a new questline begins. Later, we catch up with Merse and intimidate him into paying both Geralt and Lady de Tansarville the same fee instead of making them split a single payment.

The rest of our play session consists of picking up side quests and playing the local dice game against NPCs. Finally, we exit the town as we prepare to follow through on a quest.

Now you're ready for the next chapter of our epic Witcher 2 playthrough!

• The Witcher – Windows – $9.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link
• The Witcher 2 – Xbox One – $29.99 – Xbox.com Link
• The Witcher 2 – Windows – $19.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link

The Contest (ended)

We'll be streaming The Witcher 2 for 120 minutes tonight, starting at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific). During that time, we'll be giving out a total of 4 game codes:

• 3 copies of The Witcher Adventure Game for Windows and Mac via GOG.com

To enter, just follow me at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch and tune in during the stream. You can watch the stream right here in this post, but you need to actually participate in the stream chat to have a chance at winning. We'll deliver codes to the winners via Twitch message (PM) during the stream. No code begging!

How to watch Twitch livestreams

What's the best way to experience Twitch? The Twitch website on your PC or Mac web browser. If you don't have or prefer not to use a computer, you can get the Xbox One, Playstation 4, or Xbox 360 Twitch apps and watch from the comfort of your couch. Android and iOS both have official and unofficial Twitch apps to choose from as well.

On Windows Phone, you'll have to grab an unofficial app. My recommendation is Unstream. It has far more features than competing apps, such as the ability to see a list of users participating in the stream chat. Unfortunately you'll have to add our channel to your favorites from the Twitch website, outside of the app (for now).

• Download Unstream for Windows Phone (free trial or $1.29)

Streaming schedule

Want to know what's next for Windows Central's weekly Twitch streaming contests? Here's our upcoming schedule:

• Saturday, February 21 : Chariot from Frima Studio
• Saturday, February 28 : Asphalt 8 (Windows 8) from Gameloft. Guest cohost: "Gameloft" Ryan!
• Saturday, March 7 : Order & Chaos Online (Windows 8) from Gameloft. Guest cohost: "Gameloft" Ryan!

In addition to our Saturday contest streams, we also livestream a variety of different games throughout the week. These streams don't have contests, but they still offer a great chance to see more exciting games while enjoying our live commentary and stream chat.

• Mondays: Playstation Vita games! See what the other side gets to play.
• Tuesdays: The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360. Catch up on The Witcher saga before The Witcher 3 launches in May!
• Wednesdays: Xbox One games. This week we're playing Strider!
• Thursdays: Dragon Age: Inquisition! Game selected and funded by our excellent stream viewers.

We hope you'll tune in as often as you can! Set a recurring alarm on your phone so you'll always know when it's time for the stream to start.

Winners

Way to go winners!

• thals1992
• Bluebetta19
• Paprtigr

Thanks to CD Projekt RED for providing tonight's prizes. Thanks also to tonight's cohosts Xero and Tylerh1701 and our Twitch stream moderators for keeping the stream friendly and giving away the prizes!

The Witcher 3 is set to be one of the year's biggest role-playing games when it arrives on Xbox One, Windows, and Playstation 4 this May. The third game in the Witcher series differentiates itself from other open-world action-RPGs with its dark and mature storyline filled with meaningful player choices and memorable sidequests.

To help prepare our readers for The Witcher 3, Windows Central has begun a new weekly Twitch series focused on The Witcher 2. Every Tuesday night at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific), we play through another section of the game while you guys watch the stream at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch. Tonight we also gave out four copies of The Witcher 2 for Windows, and we'll have more prizes next week!

Did you miss the first episode of our Witcher Twos-day series? Don't worry; we've got a full write-up that will get you up to speed – complete with screenshots from the stream. Plus, catch the full video of tonight's episode!

Watch live video from EastXTwitch on Twitch

Beginning the game

Read our previous story for a quick look at Geralt of Rivia and a recap of the first Witcher game.

The Witcher 2 opens with a dramatic full-motion video introduction, which we have embedded above. We see a king and his party traveling on a ship, celebrating. Suddenly a burly bald man throws a vial at the ship's mast. It explodes, causing a wave of ice to freeze everyone in its path. Fortunately for the king and a few guards, the king's mage quickly reacts shields the small group from icy death. But their reprieve is short-lived, as the assassin emerges from hiding and slaughters everyone.

Next we transition to another place, a forest cloaked in dense fog. Series protagonist Geralt – the Witcher (a monster hunter) is running, weakened and confused. Suddenly he awakens, revealing the chase was only a nightmare.

Geralt now finds himself in the dungeon of La Valette Castle, hanging by his wrists. A trip of guards insults and assaults him. Soon Vernon Roche, commander of the Temerian military special forces, commands them to take Geralt to the interrogation room. We see that Geralt recognizes Vernon. "I thought you died," he remarks.

In the interrogation room, Roche unlocks Geralt's cuffs and orders him to relay everything that happened leading up to the assassination of King Foltest. Geralt tells the story in three stages:

That morning, the King summoned me

Geralt awakens in a tent next to the nude Triss Merigold, a sorceress and his sometimes lover. He is soon summoned by King Foltest, but not before we learn that the King has gone to war over a disagreement with the mother of his bastard twins, Baroness La Valette.

We step outside and explore the picturesque war camp. This is the first time the player has control of Geralt. We engage in conversation with a trio of mercenaries and win an arm wrestling minigame with a soldier.

Eventually Geralt meets up with Foltest, who explains his side of the conflict with the Baroness. Nobles in her court swayed her to keep Foltest's children from him, but only so that they could gain more power for themselves.

The la Valettes, led by the Baroness' adult son Aryan, have taken up a strong position atop a castle tower. Geralt volunteers to capture a ballista in the courtyard below, though he has to fight off several enemies to do it. Next he breaches the tower under cover from Foltest's archers.

Finally, Geralt meets up with Aryan La Valette. Here players have the choice to slay him and his men, duel only him, or attempt to talk him into surrendering. We chose the peaceful option, convincing Aryan that continued resistance would be hopeless for all in his charge. Aryan drops his sword and calls upon King Foltest's mercy.  (Note that his option prevents us from encountering Aryan's mother in a state of distress within the dungeon later on.)

The assault

Although Aryan has given up the fight, the rest of the Baroness' forces have not. Geralt, Foltest and crew gain entrance to the main gate after Vernon Roche himself sneaks in and assassinates the gatekeeper. Foltest's forces have already secured the Baroness herself, but not her children.

Just as our team prepares to enter the castle, a dragon swoops in and attacks. They flee the dragon while fighting through La Valette troops along the way. Having been separated from Triss, the trio of Geralt, Foltest, and Roche cross a burning bridge. \

The dragon catches up with them though, and they nearly fall prey to its attack. Thankfully some troops distract the beast with arbalest shots, enabling our heroes' escape.

We split up at the monastery.

Foltest's two children are being kept within the castle monastery. The building is heavily fortified, so it falls on Geralt to discover a rumored hidden passage that will allow entry.  To do this, he'll have to explore the village below.

Geralt encounters a group of soldiers intent on robbing a handful of peasants.  He can choose to threaten the soldiers in a couple of ways, convince them that the dragon will be returning soon, or leave them alone. We choose the dragon bluff and the soldiers leave.

It takes a lot of searching, but we eventually discover a well that leads to the hidden passage. Geralt downs a cat potion, giving him the ability to see his way through the dark sewers. After fighting his way through some sewer monsters, our hero emerges inside of the monastery and opens the gate for Foltest and his men.

After dealing with some belligerent nobles within the monastery, Geralt and Foltest finally reach the Solar in which the two children are being kept. Foltest orders Geralt to wait at the doors that he doesn't scare the skittish children, who barely know their father.

While the two children step out of the room to wash up and prepare to meet Foltest's men, the unthinkable happens. The priest who had been guarding the children was actually the bald assassin we first witnessed during the game's introduction! He slashes poor Foltest's throat before Geralt can reach him and escapes out a window. Geralt spies the assassin leaving in a boat with members of the Scoi'atel, a terrorist group.

The escape

Now that Geralt's three-part story has concluded, Vernon Roche realizes his innocence. Roche slips Geralt a key that he can use to escape his bindings after the guards collect him.

We do just that, killing our would-be tormentors. On our way out of the dungeon, we happen across Aryan La Valette, who suffered torture because Foltest was no longer alive to offer him amnesty. Geralt and Aryan escape the dungeon.

After parting with Aryan, our reunited trio of Geralt, Triss, and Vernon Roche board a boat and set off in search of the Assassin of Kings. The Assassin and his Scoi'atel allies are planning something more…

And with that, the game's prologue had concluded! Now you're ready for tonight's episode of our stream.

• The Witcher – Windows – $9.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link
• The Witcher 2 – Xbox 360 – $29.99 – Xbox.com Link
• The Witcher 2 – Windows – $19.99 – Steam Link – GOG Link

The Contest

We'll be streaming The Witcher 2 for 90 minutes tonight, starting at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific). During that time, we'll be giving out a total of 4 game codes:

4 copies of The Witcher 2 for Windows and Mac via GOG.com

To enter, just follow me at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch and tune in during the stream. You can watch the stream right here in this post, but you need to actually participate in the stream chat to have a chance at winning. We'll deliver codes to the winners via Twitch message (PM) during the stream. No code begging!

What's the best way to experience Twitch? If you don't have a PC, you can get the Xbox One or Xbox 360 Twitch app and watch from the comfort of your couch. Or grab the unofficial app Livegaming for Windows Phone. It has plenty of great features, including the ability to chat along with your fellow viewers. Unfortunately you'll have to add our channel to your favorites from the Twitch website, outside of the app.

I'll be available for a few minutes before and after the stream if you have any questions or just want to say hi.

• Download Livegaming for Windows Phone (free)

Streaming schedule

Want to know what's next for Windows Central's weekly Twitch streaming contests? Here's our upcoming schedule:

• Saturday, February 14 : Guacamelee from Drinkbox Studios
• Saturday, February 21 : Chariot from Frima Studio

In addition to our Saturday contest streams, we also livestream a variety of different games throughout the week. These streams don't have contests, but they still offer a great chance to see more exciting games while enjoying our live commentary and stream chat.

• Mondays: Playstation Vita games! See what the other side gets to play.
• Tuesdays: The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360. Catch up on The Witcher saga before The Witcher 3 launches in May!
• Wednesdays: Xbox One games. This week we're playing Dragon Age: Inquisition multiplayer!
• Thursdays: Dragon Age: Inquisition! Game selected and funded by our excellent stream viewers.

We hope you'll tune in as often as you can! Set a recurring alarm on your phone so you'll always know when it's time for the stream to start.

Winners

Congratulations to these lucky dudes and dudettes!

• mook6_99
• kyralea
• Ban01tgaz
• betachris

Thanks to CD Projekt RED for providing tonight's prizes. Thanks also to tonight's cohost Xero and our Twitch stream moderators for keeping the stream friendly and giving away the prizes!

Last week, your friendly neighborhood Games Editor had to miss the Windows 10 event that knocked everyone's socks off. Don't feel sorry for me, though – I was busy with a gaming-specific event in San Francisco. That's where CD Projekt RED hosted the first-ever hands-on event for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, their open-world action-RPG that comes to Xbox One, Windows, and PlayStation 4 this May.

After a short presentation from the game developers, my fellow journalists and I sat down for several hours of uninterrupted playtime with The Witcher 3 on the platforms of our choice. Guess which one I picked! The event wrapped up with a short question and answer session that provided additional insight into what the finished form of The Witcher 3 will be like.

Read on for my detailed gameplay impressions, news of the Witcher 3's second playable character and more!

A who's-who of gaming journalists waits for the Witcher 3 presentation to begin.

Welcome to the Witcher

The Witcher started life as a series of novels and short stories written by Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski. Four of those books have been released in English at present (plus an excellent original comic miniseries from Dark Horse).

The characters and the universe rose to international fame with Polish developer CD Projekt RED's first PC game, The Witcher (only ten bucks on Steam). When the Witcher 2 arrived on consoles shortly after PC, a whole new group of gamers was introduced to the adventures of Geralt of Rivia. In fact, The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360 is free through Games with Gold until the end of January. Get it while it's free!

Players don't need to have read the books or played previous games to enjoy The Witcher 3. The game starts out with a recap (embedded above) that explains the history of its war-torn world and the lonely warriors known as Witchers. Protagonist Geralt and his few fellow Witchers are monster hunters for hire, skilled fighters capable of casting spells called Signs.

After the recap, the true introduction begins (also embedded in this story). We witness a raging battle filled with swordsmen and mounted troops. The intro cuts between the battle and Geralt's subsequent investigation of it. By examining the bodies and other battlefield evidence, Geralt and his mentor/partner Vesemir piece together the events of the battle and the direction that their quarry (a mysterious woman) has fled.

The opening hours of The Witcher 3

The actual gameplay starts with a flashback of sorts. Geralt emerges from a bath, his body covered in scars from years of fighting monsters and humans. His face is clean shaven at this point, but he wears a beard later in the game. Lounging nearby is an impressively nude woman, the sorceress Yennefer. She hurries him along, the two get dressed, and players gain control of Geralt at last.

We control the hero from a third-person perspective. The graphics show an incredible level of detail even in this incomplete stage, especially the character models. Geralt and Yennefer's castle room indeed looks lived-in, with all manner of furniture, decorations, and other details. Stepping out on the veranda, you'll find a view that rivals those of Skyrim. Castle Kaer Morhen rests inside a mountain pass, with clouds, fog, and birds flying by. A vast number of trees dot the landscape as well. As for the frame rate, it remained fluid and never dipped significantly during my time with the game.

Geralt's first task is to find the key he needs to leave the room. Holding the Left Trigger activates his Witcher senses, highlighting interactive objects in the environment. Luckily this doesn't distort the colors too heavily as in the Batman: Arkham Asylum series. The edges of the screen just distort a bit, and everything but the glowing interactive elements retains its typical appearance.

After leaving the room, Geralt discovers that his pupil Ciri has slipped away from Vesemir during a lesson. At this point, Ciri is a young teenager with freckles and curiously white hair, not unlike a Witcher's. The two find her busy jumping between posts and dodging a pendulum while blindfolded. It seems the headstrong and stubborn Ciri much prefers physical training to studying books about monsters and history.

Fight like a Witcher

Lucky for her, it's time for more combat training. Vesemir gives Geralt the choice of reviewing the fundamentals of combat, a clever way of letting players play or skip the combat tutorial. The lesson starts by explaining the Witcher's arsenal: two swords, an array of signs (one-handed spells), and alchemy (potions, bombs, etc.).

The Witcher 3's combat is mostly intuitive, an improvement over the slightly complicated controls in the Witcher 2. Geralt carries two swords: a steel blade for human enemies and a silver one for killing monsters. Tapping left or right on the d-pad draws the corresponding sword. X and Y perform light and heavy slashes.

Evading attack is an essential part of battle. Holding Left Trigger will block oncoming attacks. Enemies will often block your attacks as well, in which case you may need to gain the advantage on them with a parry. Pressing and holding Left Trigger just as the enemy attacks causes Geralt to parry and kick the enemy, creating a window for additional attacks.

The Left Bumper opens the Quick Access menu, from which players can select signs and bombs to use. Geralt's signs include Axii (muddle the enemy's mind), Aard (telekinetic blast), Igni (fire blast), Quen (shield), and Yrden (a magic trap that slows anyone within its radius). Different enemies are weak to different signs, which players can discover by experimentation or reading the game's detailed bestiary.

Finally, Geralt can throw bombs with the Right Bumper. At this point, the aiming reticle is small and difficult to see. The developers assured us that they will refine bomb aiming before the game's release.

A rude awakening

The training session ends as a huge ship emerges from the sky. Standing on the castle wall before it we see the Wild Hunt, a group of ghostly warriors. Geralt finds himself powerless to move or resist them – an effective and frightening scene.

We return to the present to discover that the flashback was only a dream. Geralt is now grizzled and bearded, his dream of Ciri's youth having taken place several years before. Our hero and his companion Vesemir are tracking Yennefer, who they were supposed to meet in the town of Willoughby. Unfortunately Willoughby has been burned to the ground before Yennefer's friends arrived, forcing her to flee to some unknown location.

As the duo travels towards the nearest town, Geralt must follow Vesemir on horseback. Steering the horse is fairly intuitive. You can just hold A and your mount will travel along the pathway automatically. By taking direct control, you can move much faster. Double-tapping and then holding A makes the horse gallop. Galloping consumes stamina, which recharges over time. Horses will panic and throw off their riders when they stay around monsters too long, so you'll also need to watch out for predators as you ride.

Geralt and Vesemir soon chance upon a man being attacked by a gigantic and terrifying griffin. The two scare the monster off and save him, but players will still need to battle the monster later on. Geralt can choose whether or not to charge the merchant for his rescue, a choice that often comes up during quests. It will be interesting to see whether this affects how other characters react to you throughout the game.

Welcome to town

Finally our heroes reach the nearest town. Here they can visit the inn to ask whether anyone has seen Yennefer. Inside the Inn you'll meet a scholar who plays a card game called Gwent. Beat him and you'll win a card, one of the game's collectibles. Geralt also encounters locals who are (foolishly) prejudiced against Witchers, and a scrap ensues.

The Witcher 3 is an open-world game, and you're free to pursue the main quest-line, side quests, or simply explore the vast world. You pick side quests up from a local notice board or by meeting citizens in trouble. The ones I completed were far better than mere fetch quests. Each told their own interesting little tales.

One standout quest started when a man hires Geralt to frighten off the Noonwraith (a grossly disfigured female ghost) that haunts the local well. You don't just fight the ghost outright. Instead, you'll investigate the area and try to figure out what binds the woman to the area. The tragedy behind her death is quite moving.

Having searched the well (which involves swimming) for a significant object, you'll finally light a fire to summon the Noonwraith. She's no easy opponent, but the information learned from the Bestiary should alert you to her weakness to Geralt's Yrden sign.

An epic adventure awaits

I also played a section of the Witcher 3 that takes place much further into the game's story. This portion takes place in Crach an Craite, a snowy mountain fortress. The residents invite Geralt to a feast on the eve of the election of their next ruler. The festivities go sour when three gigantic bears emerge from the banquet hall, killing several hapless victims. Geralt had only begun his investigation of the attack when my time with the game expired.

Although we didn't get to see it firsthand, we did learn that players will sometimes play as Ciri, Geralt's former student. Ciri is a "source," a person of great magical power. Geralt will spend much of the game searching for her, while she must avoid the dark forces that would abuse her power. You won't be switching back and forth between Geralt and Ciri at will. Instead you'll just play as her briefly throughout the story, gaining an insight into her perspective and tribulations.

Another thing we learned is that the developers haven't quite settled on whether we'll be able to continue playing the game after completing the main storyline (which has something like 30 different endings!). Another memorable open-world RPG, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion formerly prevented players from continuing after the story's conclusion. Eventually, Bethesda responded to fan requests by patching the game to allow players to continue indefinitely. Hopefully, CD Projekt RED will allow that same option rather than waiting for player feedback.

I only played three hours of a game that will last for more than a hundred hours (including side quests). But I came away extremely impressed with The Witcher 3. It grabbed me in a way that few games do. The world, characters, and quests are all fascinating and well-realized. If you're a fan of fantasy games, The Witcher 3 should be on your radar.

The Witcher 3 will launch on May 19th. You can preorder it now at Amazon.

As for the Windows Phone and Windows 8 versions of mobile spin-off The Witcher Battle Arena, they sound like they're still several months off. We'll keep you posted!