A few weeks ago, CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher Remake, which aims to rebuild the first Witcher game from the ground up. We had many questions about the game, including whether the original's "wide but discrete levels" structure would be maintained. The answer is no. According to a recent CD Projekt Red document, "The Witcher Remake" will be open-world, which begs the question of what else will change.

The information comes from the CD Projekt Group Q3 2022 Earnings report. As the name implies, the document outlines the company's financials for the last quarter and how it intends to allocate its resources in the near future. Information on the Witcher remake is on the fifth slide.

On this slide, the words "The Witcher Remake" are superimposed over a fiery background, explaining that the internal codename of the game is Canis Majoris. Just below that, it states that the game will be "a story-driven, single-player, open-world RPG that is a modern reimagining of 2007's The Witcher."

This is not enough information, but there are a few key terms. The "open world" is a major key term, and differs significantly from "The Witcher" (2007). The original game had large levels to explore, but it was not an open world. Each level had clear boundaries, and there were loading screens between the city and the wilderness. Furthermore, once one left an area at the end of a chapter, one usually could not return.

Another thing worth noting is the phrase "modern reconstruction." We had previously wondered if The Witcher remake would be a faithful recreation of the original game, but CD Projekt Red seems to be thinking in a different direction. Given that the upcoming game will be an open-world structure, we have to assume that many other gameplay mechanics will also be changed, from quest design to equipment acquisition.

(Players may not remember, but in the first "Witcher" game there were only a handful of swords and armor, and every upgrade was a big deal. With an open-world structure, it might make sense to make upgrades smaller and more fragmented, as in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.")

The earnings report did not provide any additional information regarding a remake of The Witcher. If you are looking for more Witcher action in the near future, the PS5/Xbox Series X version of The Witcher 3 will be available as a free upgrade on December 14.

Next The Witcher remake will be open world.