Image: CD Projekt Red
The remake will be a ‘modern reimagining’ of 2007’s The Witcher.
CD Projekt Red is changing things up with its upcoming remake of 2007’s The Witcher, according to its recent Q3 2022 earnings report. In the report, the developer confirmed that the remake will be a fully open world game much like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This change marks a big departure from the original game, which was much smaller in scope.
The remake, originally codenamed Canis Majoris, is listed in the report as a, “story-driven, single player open-world RPG - a modern reimagining of 2007's The Witcher.” The open world bit of this listing wasn’t included in last month’s announcement, which is interesting. The first two Witcher games only allowed players to explore certain areas in the Continent via disconnected open zones. Progressing through the story would then lock zones from being explored any further.
It was only in The Witcher 3 that CD Projekt Red decided to make the Continent a fully open world that players could explore freely, made up of much larger zones and entire cities. Since the third game is now hailed as one of the best open world games of all time, it’s understandable that its developer wanted to keep that same level of ambition going with this remake. This is also our first hint that The Witcher’s remake is going to expand on the original massively, potentially with all-new story content to better tie the trilogy together.
The Witcher remake is being developed by a Polish studio called Fool’s Theory, which is composed of veteran staff from the Witcher game franchise. CD Projekt Red will also provide, “full creative supervision,” for the game, but will otherwise have their hands full with an all-new Witcher trilogy featuring a new protagonist and a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077.
Given the scope of this remake, I wouldn’t expect to see it in stores anytime soon - but hopefully we get actor Doug Cockle back to voice Geralt. One Geralt recasting was more than enough. The Witcher 3 is also getting a free next-gen update soon with improved performance and graphical fidelity, along with a God of War-like camera perspective that brings players closer to the action. The update will also feature content from Netflix’s Witcher series.
