A bit of the lid on CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been lifted in the latest edition of Game Informer, where the game features on the cover and it is revealed the studio has now opted for an open, streaming game-world.

NeoGAF broke the information and also features a scan of the wrap-around cover of Game Informer.

CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3 takes the series' dark fantasy universe and non-linear storytelling into a truly open world for the first time. Even if you haven't been following Geralt's exploits so far, The Witcher 3 offers a perfect entry point.

According to information from the issue, the game-world is roughly 20% larger than that of Skyrim's and it will take you 40 minutes to cross it on horseback. This is all achieved with a new streaming technology as part of CDRED Engine. Geralt's memory is also said to be restored meaning he won't be specifically aligned with one faction, which would make sense for an open-world game, allowing players to choose who they wish to work with. Geralt also has a beard and we'll see the game sometime in 2014, and before Cyberpunk, too.

We should have more information following an official announcement of the game from CD Projekt RED soon, so stay tuned.

Looks awesome. I'll definitely be getting this.
The Witcher was pretty damn good, but the chapter system could have been a bit better, it felt like a set of disjoint stories in some places. Still yet to play the Witcher 2 but I'm not far off firing it up.

I am one of those people who can overlook brokenish/boring gameplay if there is a nice juicy story and lots of cool dialogue options. From what I've heard the story and dialogue options in the Witcher games are top notch so I should really get to playing them.

People have told me that but I am scared of missing out on the big picture.

Heh just after I typed that I checked out this site. Seems I am up for about 40-45 hours of gameplay if I want to complete The Witcher. Hmmmm :/

+1 for playing both games. The first (I had directors cut version off steam) is still a solid game and it's interesting to see how it's moved forwards.

It also still looks pretty nice and imho is a little harder in places than the second.

Awwwwwww Yea. I rkn they could do it better than Bethesda.

Bethesda are great at creating an awesome world for you to explore but when it comes to crafting stories and characters they pretty much suck. Think about the whole civil war aspect of Skyrim. There is no reaction from Stormcloak if you show up to his castle playing a high-elf. Even after encountering the racist hooligans as you enter his city. The whole civil war storyline in Skyrim was a wasted opportunity to make your playthrough unique but instead it was just a pointless series of fetch quests with no satisfying final outcome.

There were other things too. Khajits are apparently not permitted to enter cities but if you play one you are allowed to enter them at will. I assume this is because you are Dragonborn but there is not a single piece of dialogue from anyone in the game acknowledging this. NPCs are also almost bereft of any sort of acknowledgement about becoming the head of certain factions in the game. You still get taunted about magic even if you have become Arch-Mage of the College of WInterhold. There is also a complete lack of choice in many quests where you are forced to complete an action when there is some sort of obvious alternate action you could have taken.

Now I really fucking loved Skyrim, don't get me wrong. It's probably one of my favourite RPGs ever. However Bethesda have shown themselves to be consistently lacking in the writing talent and attention to detail department, which makes them second best to Obsidian when it comes to crafting a personal journeys.

Yeah I wanted to finish Witcher then play Witcher 2, so far I've managed about an hour in the Witcher and haven't started the Witcher 2.

Think I might just skip to Witcher 2 - but that's not happening until I finish Dishonoured.. that game is epic! You checked it out fpot? You're a fan of thief/deusex style if I recall correctly.

Bethesda are great at creating an awesome world for you to explore but when it comes to crafting stories and characters they pretty much suck.

Yep, when you boil it down there's the occasional interesting storyline in the later Elder Scrolls RPGs. I particularly liked where they took the Dark Brotherhood story. Others, however, like the Thieves Guild devolved into fetch quests with fast travel once the map was opened up.

The civil war story was a bit of a laugh. I could side with the Stormcloaks (or the King) and go topple a collection of forts in Bumfuck Snowville or I could completely ignore it and the world is fairly indifferent no matter what you choose. That's not a personal story, that's ticking quest boxes. At least the Witcher NPCs occasionally care about Geralt is doing and why.

The first 2-3 hours of The Witcher are pretty horrid & the combat system seems really gumby at first. I wasn't sure if I'd stick with it but I'm glad I did. Later on the story and gameplay get better as you start to get more sword skills, grok the potion system and visit different locations.

I hate story driven games

wtf?!?!?

that's odd that is.

Whilst Skyrim was fun to explore. It felt hollow, like Fallout 3.

Put whatever shine on it you want Davo, you pirate video games.

I love that the MPAA and RIAA have brainwashed people to the extent that we have to listen to this shit.

Put whatever shine on it you want Davo, you pirate video games.

I certainly dont deny that but i think trying a torrented game before buying can be warranted.

You test drive a car right? You check out a house before buying right? Cant you even listen to samples of songs online before buying? Yet for some reason game demos seem to have been forgotten in favour of getting purchases from hype, previews, preorder bonuses etc rather than actually releasing a demo for people to try.

Witcher 2 on steam sale for $10. Also Alan Wake on sale. Havent gotten them yet but am interested.

What is actually happening is that he downloads games and then waits for them to be on sale so he can play them and avoid paying full price.