2016 is shaping up to be another very important year for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the third and final instalment in the acclaimed RPG series developed by CD Projekt Red (well, at least it's the third and final chapter in Geralt's story arc).
After a series of additional free content drops and a massive expansion, Hearts of Stone, the Polish outfit is about to release the second and perhaps even more gigantic expansion, Blood & Wine, later this year (there's no official release date as yet).
Now, during a recent interview, senior writer Jakub Szamalek has had the opportunity to talk about the long and arduous development process the studio underwent when making their impressive game, as well as offering some interesting details about Blood & Wine.
In particular, when talking about the upcoming DLC, Szamalek said that "Blood & Wine will be even better than the main game." Here's what he had to say:
"Blood and Wine is an independent plot, not strictly tied with the main plot of Wild Hunt. With our experience and with all the feedback received after the game's release, we believe we have made something even better than the main game".
Among other things, the reason they're so confident is in their decision to go with a more charismatic enemy compared to the one we faced in Wild Hunt, as Szamalek explained:
"For example, we believe that we failed in Wild Hunt to create a charismatic enemy, and then we worked to make a unique and memorable opponent in this expansion. We also created a rather complex story that we believe players will appreciate. We're quite satisfied with this work, but we know that we can do even better".
Among other curiosities emerging during this long and detailed interview, Szamalek also revealed that they considered finding a different character to front the game instead of Geralt of Rivia:
"One idea was not using Geralt as the main character. In our early plans it was Berengar, the Witcher that guides you through the early stages of The Witcher, that was the main character. We tried to make it work but this choice didn't appeal to everyone. There are many Witchers but only one is THE Witcher. In our heads, The Witcher's saga has always had Geralt of Rivia as main character, then we got to the point and we said 'Ok, we will use Geralt'."
It's fortunate then that CD Projekt changed their collective mind, otherwise who knows what the series might have turned out like! Now we just have to wait for the next details regarding Blood & Wine, which is due out later this year.