The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Looking to Take Skyrim's Open-World Fantasy Crown

Post by Steve Farrelly @ 03:51pm 05/02/13 | 30 Comments

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.

the witcher 3 open world cd projekt red cyberpunk

Latest Comments

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fpot
Posted 03:59pm 05/2/13

This reminds me. I have Witcher and Witcher 2 from a Steam sale and I haven't played them yet.

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Dazhel
Posted 04:09pm 05/2/13

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.

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ravn0s
Posted 04:14pm 05/2/13

This reminds me. I have Witcher and Witcher 2 from a Steam sale and I haven't played them yet.

heh i've played about 15 mins of the witcher and about a hour of witcher 2.

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fpot
Posted 04:16pm 05/2/13

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.

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Eorl
Posted 04:19pm 05/2/13

fpot, I'd just suggest skipping the original Witcher all-together as Witcher 2 offers a far more interesting storyline and better combat system. Plus side is you don't really need to know what happened in the original to play the second.

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fpot
Posted 04:22pm 05/2/13

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 :/

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Vash
Posted 04:38pm 05/2/13

Play the original first, like i did, and when you fire up the second, it's so much nicer to see the improvements to the game, and to see the characters from the original.
Unless time limited, play the original too

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WirlWind
Posted 04:49pm 05/2/13

+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.

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deadlyf
Posted 05:15pm 05/2/13

heh i've played about 15 mins of the witcher and about a hour of witcher 2.

Pretty much the same boat. I've been meaning to give them a better go but I think the main character doesn't really grab me. I much prefer to be able to create your own character and shape your own story in those kind of games like in Skyrim.

I also had to go through about 3 different digital distribution options before I found out who I had purchased the games from. I need some kind of 3rd party app that logs you into Steam/Origin/GMG/GOG etc. and lists all the games I've bought through all the different systems.

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Trauma
Posted 05:25pm 05/2/13

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

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Steve Farrelly
Posted 05:59pm 05/2/13

I actually disagree.

The one thing Bethesda Game Studios does better than anyone else is let you feel like you're crafting a very personal journey, like everything is meant to reflect you personally and not some narrative-specific character. Geralt is a cool cat, don't get me wrong, but you're going to be dealing with his world, not your own. I know that might sound strange, but be it Fallout or Skyrim or whatever, BGS games just make you feel like the world is yours and that you're writing your own destiny and story, I just can't see that being the case here. If anything I think it might be closer to the likes of Red Dead Redemption than Skyrim with more branching decisions and the like, but not nearly as personal a journey

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fpot
Posted 09:40pm 05/2/13

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 f*****g 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.

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ravn0s
Posted 10:40pm 05/2/13

fans are speculating that the other person on horseback on the gameinformer cover is ciri, geralt's adopted daughter from the novels.

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Viper119
Posted 10:51pm 05/2/13

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.

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WirlWind
Posted 11:29pm 05/2/13

"Ciri, give me directions to nearest whore house..."

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Dazhel
Posted 11:32pm 05/2/13

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 Bumf*** 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.

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DeadlyDav0
Posted 12:57am 06/2/13

21 mins of witcher 1 played that i paid $20 on special IIRC after a mates recommendation. I hate story driven games like mass effect and found the start of witcher slow and combat lacking. Realised pretty quick it wasnt my type of game and probably money wasted. Am yet to test my torrent version of witcher 2 to see if its worth buying.

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Dazhel
Posted 01:15am 06/2/13

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.

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Enska
Posted 06:03am 06/2/13

Am yet to test my torrent version of witcher 2 to see if its worth buying

I love how you constantly pirate s*** and then state your just "testing" it.

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ravn0s
Posted 09:24am 06/2/13

I hate story driven games

wtf?!?!?

that's odd that is.

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DeadlyDav0
Posted 10:39am 06/2/13

I love how you constantly pirate s*** and then state your just "testing" it.

Mad?
I torrent a game, play it and if i actually am still enjoying it after a few hours i will buy it. 80%+ of games i torrent i install, play for less than 1hr then never play again and therefore dont purchase. If devs released more demos then i wouldnt have to do this. If devs didnt release such s***** console ports then i wouldnt have to do this. Want me to rattle off a list of torrented games ive purchased? You can even check my steam account.

that's odd that is.

Ive said it before but i skip every cutscene in games apart from batman 1+2 and also doom 3 IIRC. Just find them boring. I play games for the gameplay and i find i dont need a cutscene for that. If a game can add story or story elements while im playing (such as bioshocks audio tapes) then i have no problem with that.

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Tollaz0r!
Posted 10:41am 06/2/13

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

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Enska
Posted 01:06pm 06/2/13

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

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eski
Posted 01:39pm 06/2/13

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 s***.

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Khel
Posted 02:05pm 06/2/13

Davo does still buy plenty of games though, its the people who hold their pirating of games as some kind of right and pretend they're on a moral crusade that s*** me. The "I'm gonna stick it to the man by pirating s***" type people, or the ones who are trying to prove a point, like they'd buy it if it was cheaper / had less drm / had some feature they wanted but since it doesn't they're going to 'boycott' it and pirate it instead.

And back on topic, this news makes me want to go back and finish Witcher 2 now, I'm about halfway through it and really enjoying it, like someone said in the other thread it had a real 'Game of Thrones' feel to the politics and stuff.

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DeadlyDav0
Posted 04:24pm 06/2/13

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.

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qmass
Posted 07:20pm 06/2/13

You test drive a car right?

yeah but if they won't let me take it out on my own for a decent drive then I'm not gonna come back when they are shut and 'borrow' it.

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Dazhel
Posted 09:59am 07/2/13

^ The Witcher 3 is going to include slutty asian escorts? That sounds in keeping with the series I guess.

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fpot
Posted 01:48pm 07/2/13

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.

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