The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt needs no introduction. In the 11 years since its launch, The Witcher 3 has become widely known as not just one of the best open world RPGs ever made, but one of the greatest video games of all time. So when developer CD Projekt Red announced a surprise third expansion to its decade-old game a few months ago, it was only natural that the gaming world was set on fire a little.
13 weeks after the official announcement of The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, the upcoming expansion finally received a trailer during Gamescom Opening Night Live. A day later, I attended an in-person, behind-closed-doors preview of The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past. The hour-long session saw developers from both CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory walk us through a live play-session of the new expansion, showcasing the new region, teasing the DLC’s new central story, and highlighting some of the biggest improvements coming with the free Witcher 3 Remastered update on September 29. Following the presentation I had one clear takeaway: Songs of the Past is definitely more Witcher 3. But as someone who adores this franchise and CD Projekt’s take on it, that’s all I could ever want.
Letten Them Cook
The hour-long live play session of The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past began with our beloved monster-slayer waking up on the serene banks of Letten, the home region of the bombastic bard Dandelion, and the new primary setting of this upcoming expansion. Having celebrated the Belleteyn festival the night prior, Geralt’s memory is a little fuzzy, and his flamboyant friend is nowhere in sight. Geralt decides to head to Lettenhove Manor, the magnificent, towering centerpiece of the region and the childhood home of Dandelion (Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove) and his well-off family.
A few steps down the river bank, Geralt hears the familiar strums of a very particular lute. Shown in the UI as an optional objective, Geralt decides in this play session to confront the new owner of Dandelion’s lute. After a short exchange of words, and an even shorter bout of fisticuffs, Geralt reclaims his friend’s most prized possession. Geralt’s voice may sound gruffer than ever, but the Witcher’s characterization is still spot on during this initial exchange, and the same delightfully crass tone found in the base game’s dialogue has been captured perfectly once again over a decade later.
Lute in hand, Geralt hops on a boat and makes his way across the small lake encircling Lettenhove Manor. As the boat floated gently on the water, The Witcher 3‘s newly remastered graphics took center stage. While The Witcher 3‘s next-gen patch from 2022 greatly improved the 2015 game’s visuals, this upcoming free remaster is taking things even further. Two immediately noticeable refinements in this preview were Songs of the Past‘s lighting and reflections, with the sun dancing beautifully between trees and the water rippling naturally underneath Geralt’s boat as he made his way across the lake. These refined systems provided the perfect introduction to Songs of the Past‘s Letten, immediately depicting it as an idyllic region, and one unlike any that was seen in The Witcher 3‘s base game.
Geralt then docks his boat at the foot of a little fishing village, reunites with his trusty steed Roach, and continues to make his way to Lettenhove Manor on horseback. As Roach gleefully gallops through the beautiful countryside (inspired by rural areas of Poland and England), the expansion’s NPCs became the new highlight of the preview session. Every time Roach turned a corner, there seemed to be a brand-new group of NPCs all having unique conversations with one another, and getting up to something distinct. These brief but memorable moments really helped to make the world feel alive in The Witcher 3‘s base game, and both the quantity and quality of NPC interactions seem to be even greater in Songs of the Past. As Geralt passed these lively groups, the devs leading the live demo confirmed that Songs of the Past‘s Letten is a full open world region that contains its own assortment of side content, new monsters, and new weapons.
A Personal Connection Drives Songs of the Past’s Story
Upon arriving at the hulking doors of Lettenhove Manor, Geralt enters and a lengthy dialogue sequence begins. Geralt is beckoned to sit at a long wooden dining table by Dandelion’s grandmother, whose impressive facial animations suggest that she clearly has some reservations about her misfit grandchild’s closest friend. The two are quickly joined by Lilla, Dandelion’s cousin and the clear standout character in the preview session. After years of hearing Dandelion’s embellished tales of his and Geralt’s misadventures, Lilla now yearns for a life outside of Lettenhove’s majestic walls.
The three awkwardly discuss Dandelion’s potential whereabouts and Geralt shows the family the reclaimed lute. Lilla immediately suggests there’s something wrong, and Geralt mentions a dream he had the night before of a well surrounded by thorns. Lilla mentions an old legend of a place in Letten known as ‘The Garden of Thorns’, but her grandmother silences her abruptly. In this extended dialogue sequence, I noticed that there seemed to be a little more direction in terms of camera movement than in Witcher 3‘s base game, giving the conversation a more cinematic quality. That said, there were some noticeably awkward pauses between voicelines and some somewhat stilted character animations in this sequence, but there’s plenty of time to refine that before the expansion’s release “sometime next year.”
After a rather intense breakfast, Geralt meets up with Lilla in the Lettenhove stables, where she persuades the Witcher to let her join him in his search for Dandelion. Following her on horseback, Lilla leads Geralt to a new area of Letten, detailing the legend of the Garden of Thorns along the way. It’s said that years ago, one of Lilla and Dandelion’s ancestors fell in love with a witch. This alleged witch was attacked by the Letten townsfolk and the ancestor is believed to have massacred those who harmed her.
Geralt and Lilla soon arrive at the entrance to the Garden of Thorns and make their way inside (an objective that players will have different ways to achieve). The idyllic, picturesque beauty of Letten’s countryside during daylight has now been completely replaced by a dark, eerie forest thick with vines and brambles, illuminated by a gigantic full moon hanging in the midnight sky above. In classic Witcher fashion, it’s clear that there’s a lot more to Letten than meets the eye. Shortly after entering the foreboding garden, Geralt is confronted by a Swarmion, a brand-new monster type that uses a cloud of wasps to shield itself. This shield can only be removed with The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past‘s new Chain weapon, a ranged tool that pulls enemies close and allows players to deliver a satisfying slow-motion finisher.
Following the Swarmion encounter, Geralt eventually stumbles upon an armored corpse that springs to life once Lilla touches it. A short boss fight begins with this ‘Slumbering Knight’, and that’s when I finally spotted some of The Witcher 3 Remastered‘s combat improvements. Now, over the last few months, I’ve put around 70 hours into The Witcher 3 in my attempt to finally Platinum the game. Naturally, I’ve engaged in hundreds of combat encounters in that time. So believe me when I say, The Witcher 3 Remastered‘s combat improvements are rather…subtle.
The most obvious improvement I spotted was that the camera now follows Geralt as he dodges underneath an oncoming attack, keeping the intended target in the center of the frame at all times. Dodge, parry, and attack animations have all also been noticeably smoothed out, giving combat a more natural flow. Of course, these combat improvements probably feel much more significant when hands are on the sticks, but as just an observer, it took some real effort to tell exactly what’s been changed for the upcoming Witcher 3 remaster.
The boss fight concluded with Geralt swiftly slicing off the Slumbering Knight’s arm, and the preview session as a whole came to an end when it was revealed that the armored foe was, in fact, Lilla and Dandelion’s ancestor, teasing that there are some dark secrets tied to their family’s past and that they’ll play a central role in the Songs of the Past expansion.
The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past Preview Final Thoughts
Based on the hour-long hands-off session, I feel it’s safe to say that The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past won’t be breaking any new ground for the franchise. But that isn’t really what CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory are aiming for, nor is it something the expansion needs to do. Even 11 years after its launch, The Witcher 3‘s core foundations are incredibly strong, and if the demo was any indication, those foundations are firing on all cylinders in the upcoming expansion. Songs of the Past might not feel like a big evolution of the formula, but when that formula is already considered one of the best of its genre, I can’t complain about getting another incredibly well-crafted dose.
- Released
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May 19, 2015
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
