Fans of The Witcher 3 have been waiting for the next-gen port of the game on the latest consoles and PC for quite some time now. The new port will bring ray tracing, faster load times, and improved visuals to improve the experience in the game. The game is already over 6 and a half years old, and although the visuals still look amazing, they could use an upgrade. That way, they can fully utilize the increased power of the latest PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S and modern PC hardware. However, it seems like the port will not be a sole release, and CD Projekt Red might pack the re-release of the title with some free DLC too.
The next-gen port of the game was initially scheduled to be launched in 2021. But, back in the day, it was postponed for a 2022 release. Just the term “2022” is very generic, and it does not tell us a lot about when we should expect the title to release. But, the latest leads have helped us narrow down the release window to Q2, 2022. That means the next-gen port will release sometime around April, May, or June 2022.
CDPR tweeted way back in July of last year that they have prepped some new free DLCs to accompany the release of the next-gen port. Although Twitter may not be the most trusted news platform to exist, the fact that this comes straight from the official account of The Witcher games explains it all. However, these new DLCs are going to be nowhere close to the scale of the two DLCs the game got back in the first year of its release.
The two original DLCs were “Blood and Wine” and “The Hearts of Stone”. These expansions added over 100 hours of content to the game when combined. That is huge. These two are probably the reason that the thought of more upcoming DLCs warms our hearts. But, these new downloadable expansions are going to be way smaller than what we might think.
There are several valid reasons as to why these DLCs will not be as big as the ones we have gotten in the past. First off, the game is already over six years old, and secondly, CDPR might be working on another The Witcher title behind the scenes. However, some weapons and skin packs won’t harm, and we think that is what CDPR has worked on for the upcoming release. The last lead comes from the fact that these upcoming DLCs will be based on the Witcher web series on Netflix. That might send us daydreaming, but I don’t think we are going to get a Henry Cavill makeover of Geralt.
We can’t wait to play The Witcher 3 in 4K resolutions with ray tracing on the latest hardware this summer!