It looks like the remake of the original Witcher game is going to be making one big change. The first title in the now beloved franchise was rather more linear than The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. CD Projekt Red have revealed plans to take the game into a more open-world environment.
It makes sense to go some way to emulate the features of The Witcher 3, given its acclaim, worldwide success and very successful Netflix show. The games, based on the books by Andrej Sapkowski, follow Geralt of Rivia as he hunts beasts throughout the world.
The Witcher has run for three seasons on Netflix, with a fourth to come soon
CD Projekt Red have been working on a remake of the 2007 title for some time now. The Witcher Remake recently popped up in an investor presentation for the developer. It appeared on a slide featuring the game's title in the traditional font with the remake being described as a "story-driven, single player open-world RPG."
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This doesn't give us much to go on, but it does hint to the shift for the original game. The 2007 title was much more linear than the most recent iteration, offering large spaces to explore in a smaller contained world. There's a feeling that CD Projekt Red might go down a road similar to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake which expands the original game, rather than follows it rigidly. So, we could end up with some very different scenes and moments from what players saw originally.
We have no word on a release date as yet and other details are thin on the ground. Hopefully we find out more next year, perhaps with a short trailer to see how the game is making the leap from its origins to this new format. We will then perhaps find out if CD Projekt Red chooses to remake the second game, too.
Featured Image Credit: CD ProjektTopics: The Witcher, The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red