The protagonists of two of my all time favourite RPGs share something in common. Both (the best Final Fantasy game) Final Fantasy 8’s Squall and The Witcher 3’s Geralt simply cannot get enough of leaving their friends and the entire world in mortal peril while they sneak in a quick round of cards, and I love them for it. Way back when the Wild Hunt released, there was a special edition kicking about that gave you a few decks for Gwent - the fleshed-out, playable card distraction that ended up being responsible for some of the game’s best moments. I pined for those decks, but I never acquired them. Now, Hatchette Board Games is putting out a full physical edition of Gwent next year.
The set contains "over 400 cards and a playmat" for £44/$39.99. I’m still recovering from various Fantasy Flight LCGs, so my value sense for this stuff might be a bit skewed, but that strikes me as incredibly reasonable. A good Gwent deck consists of only about 25 cards. They’re not bad cards, either! I’ve got a real pet hate for tabletop versions of videogames that just use in-engine screenshots for the cards, but these ones look to have the proper artwork from the game on them:
]]>Have I ever bellowed breathlessly about how much I appreciate modders? If I’ve done it a thousand times, it still isn’t enough. Today’s saintly file tinkerers are MerseyRockoff and glassfish77, who’ve restored a series of boat racing quests in open world RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and made them available in a mod for your sailing pleasure. Cheers, PC Gamer!
]]>Big large huge RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt recently got a fresh set of official modding tools in the form of REDKit, a powerful bit of downloadable that helps you add whatever you fancy to the game, including entire custom questlines. Not two months on from REDKit’s release, ‘Tuber xLetalis and modder glassfish - a contributor to the cut-content-restoring Brothers in Arms mod - have put together a showcase containing around 20 minutes of cut content from the game’s ending. Cheers, cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer!
]]>After a month or so of testing, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's offiical mod tools REDkit will launch on May 21st. It'll make it easier for players to make new quests, items, weapons and so on for the nearly nine-year-old RPG.
]]>If you can't wait to start rummaging in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's guts with its powerful new modding tools, you can now shoot for early access by signing up for a playtest on Steam. The new REDkit suite is based on the actual tools that CD Projekt RED themselves sued to create one of the best RPGs, and will let folks make a much wider range of mods. We'll be able to make new quests, new characters, even whole new worlds.
]]>Dragon's Dogma 2 is seemingly a superb game, when it's not buggy or surprising its players with microtransactions.
CD Projekt Red are no stranger to releasing buggy games, but they're less keen on microtransactions - at least for singleplayer games. In an interview with a Polish investor site, CDPR's chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz said that they "do not see a place for microtransactions in the case of singleplayer games", but they wouldn't rule it out for multiplayer.
]]>CD Projekt Red are continuing to bulk up the team developing The Witcher 4 - officially codenamed Polaris - with two-thirds of the studio now working on the follow-up to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Meanwhile, the team working on Cyberpunk 2077 has shrunk to fewer than 20 people, less than half the number working on its upcoming sequel.
]]>While cloud gaming is very much not at a point where I want it to be the main way I play games, if I ever will, I do appreciate having the convenience as an option. Being able to play a game away from my PC can be handy. So it's neat that GOG have announced they're teaming up with Amazon to make select GOG games playable through the Amazon Luna cloud gaming platform "soon". Sure, I might be tempted to take a nice stroll through Night City while slouching about with my laptop that absolutely cannot run Cyberpunk 2077.
]]>Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt makers CD Projekt Red have said in no uncertain terms that they “are not interested” in being acquired by another company, while still leaving the door open for the studio to potentially acquire others in the future.
]]>CD Projekt have announced that they're working on a free mod editor for The Witcher 3, allowing you to write entire new quests for grizzly Geralt, or just make him walk around with no trousers on, which he spends every other cutscene doing anyway. There are already many mods for the venerable fantasy RPG, of course - the options range from mods that give you Henry Cavill's face to mods that simulate the effects of long Covid to raise awareness - but the editor should make life easier for the internet's Geralt-whisperers.
]]>CD Projekt RED's Colin Walder, engineering director for management and audio, has shared a few thoughts on how the Polish developer's next Witcher RPG, codenamed Polaris, will improve on the cataclysmic development of Cyberpunk 2077. There's not a lot to share at this stage, of course, but what there is sounds like a step in the right direction.
]]>There's a side mission in Cyberpunk 2077 that involves abducting a notorious union-breaker. One wonders if any of the people who worked on that have joined the union founded by CD Projekt RED employees this month. The union is part of the larger Polish worker's organisation OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza, and comes in response to CD Projekt's firing around 100 employees in July due to "overstaffing". Its membership is anonymous and open to people in the industry who aren't employed by the Witcher and Cyberpunk studio, but are thinking about forming a union in their own workplace.
"We started talking about unionizing after the 2023 wave of layoffs when 9% of Reds (that is roughly 100 people) were let go," reads an official FAQ from the group. "This event created a tremendous amount of stress and insecurity, affecting our mental health and leading to the creation of this union in response. Having a union means having more security, transparency, better protection, and a stronger voice in times of crisis."
]]>If 2023 is remembered for one thing, it's that it was a 100% critical success year for the RPG. Role-players across the land have been feasting exceedingly well these past few months, what with the stonking success of Baldur's Gate 3 (and to lesser extents, Starfield and Diablo 4), so we thought it was about time to celebrate your favourite RPGs of all time. Your votes have been counted, your comments have been sorted, and the cream of the RPG crop has been assembled. But which of the many excellent RPGs have risen above all others? Come and find out below as we count down your top 25 favourite RPGs of all time.
]]>A new series of challenge mod packs aim to raise awareness for Long Covid and chronic fatigue symptoms using three perennial favourites: Elden Ring, Minecraft, and The Witcher 3. The initiative is called Long Covid Mode and all three mods make sweeping adjustments to the games, turning “real-world symptoms into in-game effects.” Take a look at some of the examples below:
]]>While the patch notes for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s 4.01 update claim it "improves the overall stability and performance of the game", if you’re not using the recently added ray tracing settings, it might well do the opposite. I gave the patch a whirl to try out its PC-specific changes – namely a new 'Performance' setting for RT global illumination and a fix for the broken screen space reflections setting – only to find that non-ray-traced, DirectX 12 performance has been utterly knackered. Again.
]]>One dev who worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had a good think about their most useless piece of video game knowledge in response to a Twitter stumper, but still came up with something interesting anyway. Patrick Mills was a quest designer on The Witcher 3 and senior quest designer on Cyberpunk 2077 for CD Projekt RED, and shared a neat bit of trivia about The Witcher 3’s wandering merchants on his own account this week. Mills revealed that the script for these lads would dish out fixes whatever stage you were at in the game.
]]>Want to see all hairstyles and beards that you can get in The Witcher 3? Geralt can get a great many hairstyles from the barbor in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but there's no preview option. That means you'll need to spend coin to actually see what it'll look like, and that can mean losing a hefty pile of money to find the perfect look. Fortunately, we've gone through the trouble so that you don't need to.
In this guide, we'll list all hairstyles and beards in The Witcher 3, with a handy image so that you know what it looks like.
]]>Want to know whether you should simulate a Witcher 2 save in The Witcher 3? Upon starting a new adventure in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it will ask whether you would like to simulate a Witcher 2 save. This is incredibly vague, giving you a simple choice between "on" and "off", but it actually has an impact on future conversations and could even lock you out of an optional quest.
In this guide, we'll explain why you should simulate a Witcher 2 save, and break down each of the choices you will make and their outcomes.
]]>Want to know how to get the Netflix armor and weapons in The Witcher 3? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt next gen makes everything look a lot prettier, but it’s not just cool Ray-Traced puddles that are making people swoon. You can also get new Netflix armor and weapons inspired by Henry Cavill’s run as Geralt in the TV series. If you want to know how to access The Witcher 3’s Netflix DLC, then you’re in the right place.
In this guide, we’ll break down how to play the Netflix DLC in The Witcher 3, explaining how to find, start, and complete the new quest. Then, we’ll break down where to get the Netflix armor and weapons, so that you can kit Geralt out with Cavill’s gear.
]]>CD Projekt RED have pushed out another hotfix for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s ever-so-slightly borked next-gen update that was released last week. You can expect some extra stability compared to the previous version of the update, something that’ll always be welcome on my PC. Along with Roach’s early Christmas present of some stabilisers, the hotfix also tackles the annoying bug that caused toxicity to be stuck at max level, along with some minor tweaks to photo mode, and unexplained improvements for The Witcher 3’s performance on Steam Deck.
]]>Hello, yes, I know this is our fourth post on the subject but it’s mostly good news – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s next-gen update is now considerably less of a technical muddle. After applying yesterday’s PC hotfix, performance with the new ray tracing settings is majorly improved, and if you don’t (or can’t) use those, The Witcher 3 no longer runs slower than it did before the next-gen update hobbled it.
That’s judging by some tests I’ve run using the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, on which overall stability seems to have improved as well. I’m still having trouble with AMD graphics cards, however, with FSR upscaling being a particularly reliable source of crashes.
]]>The Witcher 3's next-gen update was borked on PC, but a fresh hotfix from developers CD Projeckt Red might have just unborked it. They say the update to the update "should improve the overall stability and performance", which will hopefully be especially good news for anyone trying to de-neck nekkers on an ageing graphics card.
]]>Amazon are close to signing a deal with Games Workshop to bring Warhammer 40,000 and its grimdark futuristic universe to TV streaming. Hollywood Reporter say that Henry Cavill, recently-dropped Superman and former Geralt Of Rivia, is involved as an executive producer and potential series lead. The rights to Warhammer 40K are reportedly hotly contested among the rival streaming services, with Amazon spending months negotiating the possible deal with Games Workshop.
]]>Someone hexed The Witcher 3's next-gen update for PC, with players reporting widespread framerate issues along with crashes and weirder problems involving the HUD. Resident RPS hardwaresman James struggled with performance, too.
Developers CD Projekt Red now say they're "actively investigating" the problems, and will update us on what they find "as soon as possible".
]]>Update: CDPR have released a PC hotfix that returns non-ray traced performance to its previous levels, with RT performance getting a boost as well. Hooray! Though it's still quite stuttery and it appears AMD FSR is causing crashes. Less hooray! The original article, based on test results taken before the hotfix, continues below:
Earlier today we brought news that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s next-gen update – a seemingly juicy serving of new ray tracing, DLSS/FSR upscaling, and assorted quality of life features – had in fact arrived in a bit of a mess. To assess the damage, I’ve spent some time with it myself, and can confirm: it ain’t great! Besides the devastating frames-per-second toll that the RT effects take, it seems far more crash-prone than I ever remember The Witcher 3 being in the past, and performance in general is just worse than it was pre-update.
]]>Today is the day The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s much touted free next-gen update arrives on PC and consoles, but it’s not been going so well for a lot of us folk on PC. People have already taken to Twitter, Reddit, and Steam with their tales of performance woe since the update landed, with Steam reviews claiming it's caused everything from reduced frame rates to issues with the HUD. The RPS Treehouse has also been having trouble since installing the 4.0 update too, getting very inconsistent frame rates on the new max settings even with a RTX 3080 unless they turn off ray tracing and other new graphical features. Hardware editor James and vid bud Liam have more on The Witcher 3's performance woes here, but for now, here's how to avoid having the next-gen update ruin your Witcher 3 experience, and keep Roach running nice and smoothly.
]]>The Witcher 3's hotly anticipated next gen update arrives in just over a week, like an early Christmas present from a man who has a white beard and is often covered in red, but you definitely wouldn't describe as jolly. As part of the lead-up to the PC version's update, CD Projekt Red has issued a breakdown of how the update will affect the game's most popular mods.
]]>We just got our first look at The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's much-delayed free "next gen" update, by which they mean current gen, and which yep, looks like a looker. Vanilla Witcher 3 still looks gorgeous for a nearly seven year old game, but the upcoming update will add ray-tracing options, ultra+ settings and a suite of other visual and quality of life updates.
It's not out 'til December 14th, but you can peek at it below while the devs natter in the background.
]]>How time flies, eh? We were so busy putting together The RPS 100 last month (including the first ever Reader Edition), that we clean ran out of time to do another RPS Time Capsule. But fear not! Our written repository of games we've deemed worthy of saving from the eternal hell bin of the future has returned, and this time it's a good 'un. The year is 2015, folks, and cor, has there ever been a better year for video games? Of course, with only 11 slots to fill in our RPS Time Capsule, it also means we're having to say goodbye to some real gems. Come and see what's transcended to the higher plane of Capsule existence.
]]>CD Projekt Red have confirmed the release date for The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt’s ray tracing-enabling Complete Edition update as December 14th. The update will also bring a number of other visual and technical improvements, as well as integrate a number of mods into the fantasy RPG, originally released in 2015. Gameplay from the Complete Edition of The Witcher 3 is due to be shown off in a REDstreams event on Twitch next week, along with some new stuff for the game based on Netflix’s version of Geralt Of Rivia’s adventures.
]]>The Witcher's third season hasn't yet released on Netflix, but the streaming service today confirmed that the show has been renewed for a fourth season. They also announced that Henry Cavill, who has played protagonist Geralt for the first three season, won't be returning. He's being replaced for season 4 by Liam Hemsworth.
]]>In an update for investors, CD Projekt Red today outlined their "long-term product outlook." It contains some projects we already knew about, such as next year's Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty, but also many that we did not. That includes a new trilogy of The Witcher RPGs, a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and a brand new IP being developed by CD Projekt Red, plus two further games in The Witcher universe being created by third-party studios.
]]>Watchers of The Witcher's TV series have had long waits to endure between seasons, but the next twelve months should offer an opportunity to gorge themselves. During Netflix's fan event Tudum, the streaming service announced that their prequel series The Witcher: Blood Origin would launch on Christmas day, and that The Witcher season 3 would release sometime summer 2023.
]]>You might count yourself among those who thought the collectible card game Gwent was one of the best parts of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. If so, CD Projekt Red have just made your day by revealing the existence of a single-player standalone expansion for their Gwent game, dubbed Rogue Mage. Not only that, but the fantasy roguelike deckbuilder will be out tomorrow, July 7th.
]]>Can you believe it’s already been twenty years since CD Projekt Red started making games? No? Well, let’s have a quick refresher of what else happened in 2002 for some perspective: Queen’s Golden Jubilee, check, last confirmed sighting of the Yangtze river dolphin, righto, SARS starts spreading… okay, let’s just stick to tipping our hats at one of Poland’s best known games developers for now. You can start doing that when the CDPR 20th anniversary livestream kicks off at 3pm BST/4pm CEST/7am PDT today.
]]>In the giant jumbled word cloud of all my qualities and traits, I'm willing to bet that "pluviophile" would be one of the biggest words. I adore rain. Whenever it starts, I tend to drop whatever I'm doing - work, dishes, significant other - and I'll be out frolicking in the downpour before they've hit the floor.
Because I love rain so much, I hold games to an almost unfair standard when it comes to the simulation of precipitation. How in the world can a videogame come close to emulating that wonderful, transcendental feeling of being outside in the middle of a thunderstorm? The answer is, it can't. Games have to rely on other things, like textures, sounds, and clever little animations to really sell the idea of being out amongst the H₂s and the Os.
The time has come, fellow pluviophiles. It's time to grade the very best rain that PC gaming has to offer. Below you'll find our eight worthy contenders. Each has been chosen for their spectacular rendition of one of nature's greatest phenomena. Each one shall be marked according to my patented and cutting-edge WIPERS grading system for digital rain. So drop what you're doing. It's time to frolick. No umbrella required.
]]>Yesterday was the seventh anniversary since the launch of The Witcher 3, and to celebrate CD Projekt Red put a new release window to the fantasy RPG's next-gen update. The much delayed graphical spit-and-shine is now aiming for a Q4 release.
]]>Netflix have started filming the third season of The Witcher, their flashy (and dumb and campy and fun) adaptation of the books about the white-haired monster hunter. To prove it, they shared a single on-location photo of the filming and the new season's official synopsis.
]]>The most despicable, awful and down right evil thing I’ve ever done in a video game was during a Dark Side playthrough of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. At the end of the side quest Honest Debt, you convince a man to either spare or gun down a rather horrible chap who wronged him greatly. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about that - I’ve encountered the same thing dozens of times in games - but what comes after is a real doozy.
Not content simply with nudging the fella into giving in to his worst impulses, I then proceeded to persuade him to wipe the very memory of his nemesis from the galaxy, up to and including hunting down his friends and family members. Bastilla Shan, noted Jedi do-gooder, pointed out that neither she nor the Jedi council would approve. I was giggling like a schoolgirl.
]]>Dunno if you've heard, but they're making a new Witcher game. Sounds cool, I love indie games. Anyway, it's now been confirmed that the animal medallion they teased a few days ago was a lynx.
"Ok, some mysteries should not be so mysterious," CD Projekt Red's global communication director Robert Malinowski said to Eurogamer. "I can confirm that the medallion is, in fact, shaped after a lynx." So there you go, it's all solved. Except, hang on, I still have no idea what that means.
]]>CD Projekt have today announced they're officially working on the next installment in The Witcher series. Whether this is The Witcher 4, though, we don't know - only that it will be supposedly "kicking off a new saga for the franchise," according to a statement on CD Projekt's website. It will also be kicking off a new venture into Unreal Engine 5, as the developer announced they were leaving their own REDengine behind as they embark on a new, multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games.
]]>A group of former CD Projekt Red folks have formed a new studio, announcing plans to make their own "AAA" "story-driven" "dark fantasy RPG". The studio are named Rebel Wolves, and they're founded by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who was director of The Witcher 3 and secondary game director on Cyberpunk 2077. Their RPG is largely a mystery for now, though a wee bit of artwork suggests at least one vampire is involved?
]]>The update adding raytracing and other mod cons to The Witcher 3 will not launch this year, developers CD Projekt Red announced today. They've been fancying up their fantasy RPG for the latest console generation, and those 'next-gen' additions are headed to PC in a patch too. But not this year. Instead, look to be blinded by the light in spring 2022. They've also delayed the next-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077 for consoles.
]]>While Valve yesterday were busy cracking open a Steam Deck, CD Projekt Red showed us a game actually running on one. They've posted a series of short videos of them playing The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt on Valve's handheld PC and yup, that seems to run well enough. The game might be a few years old now, but it's still one of best RPGs—and honestly the sort of endless sprawling game I might rather play on-and-off on a handheld.
]]>The path of the witcher continues at WitcherCon and ah look, they do have some video gaming news for us after all. CD Projekt Red have previously announced that they're working on a nex-gen game update for The Witcher 3 that us PC folks will also be receiving as a free upgrade. Turns out there's a bit more free DLC coming with it as well. Yup, it sure is some television show tie-ins. Not that I'm ever one to turn down new character outfits.
]]>When WitcherCon was first announced last month, I very much thought it would be some silly thing to capitalise on the success of Netflix's The Witcher series (and, I mean, it still kinda is). But now the full schedule has been revealed, it actually sounds like a pretty good time. On the 9th and 10th of July, the virtual Witcher-themed event will hold panels with the likes of Henry Cavill, chatting about deep lore, trivia, quizzes and updates on the upcoming Witcher TV shows.
]]>On the list of E3-like summer events you didn't know you were getting, go ahead and write down WitcherCon. CD Projekt Red and Netflix have just announced that they're partnering up for their own online event to talk about all things Witcher in July. Well, not all things Witcher. They won't be announcing The Witcher 4 or anything like that, they've already warned. This all came out alongside a rather tiny new teaser trailer for Netflix's The Witcher season 2. Perhaps WitcherCon will reveal a longer one of those, at least.
]]>Last night, Cyberpunk 2077 developers CD Projekt Red posted an update about data leaks following the cyber attack they experienced earlier this year. This news really doesn't fit in with last night's Summer Game Fest celebrations however, because CDPR are concerned that current and former employee data might now be circulating online, in addition to game data.
]]>CD Projekt Red announced last year that they'll be releasing a big next-gen (now-gen) update to The Witcher 3, which PC players will get as a free game update too. We still don't know when that'll be arriving just yet, but when it does it may include the work of modders. CDPR have confirmed that they're in talkes with mod creators whose work may wind up being used in the facy new release. I don't expect it'll include the ones that turn Geralt into Henry Cavill though.
]]>The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has resigned from CD Projekt Red after an internal investigation into alleged workplace bullying, Bloomberg reports. Tomaszkiewicz, who was secondary game director and head of production on Cyberpunk 2077, denies the allegations, but apologised "for all the bad blood I have caused" in an email to CD Projekt staff.
]]>During CD Projekt Red's company strategy video yesterday, the studio covered all sorts of ways in which they feel they got things wrong during Cyberpunk 2077's development. Not just development, but Cyberpunk's marketing too. In the future, they say they'll wait until much closer to a game's launch to start firing up trailers and demos and in depth looks at gameplay. That means if there's another big Witcher game out there on the horizon, we may not hear about it for quite a while yet. Honestly? Good.
]]>In a company strategy video released today, CD Projekt Red have outlined changes they plan to make to the development studio's structure and focus. Chief among the changes is the news that their next project will no longer be a standalone multiplayer Cyberpunk game.
Instead, they're going to focus on developing fundamental technology that will eventually bring multiplayer components to all of their games. This was explained alongside a shift towards "parallel AAA game development", which will allow them to simultaneously work on both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher series.
]]>Valheim, which is Old Norse for "Valerie is home", came out in early access last month to the roars of Viking-likers everywhere. It is a survival game about building a hut in the woods and then protecting that hut from friends who want to erect a gaudy temple next door, totally ruining the rustic ambience of the whole glade. I guess there's some monsters to fight too. But will any of this matter if you do not make it through cold nights full of dangers, and lean days without food? Just where does your Valheim viking fall on the bar chart of survivability? Here are the 8 toughest Vikings in PC games, a healthy exercise in comparison and shame.
]]>For years, Nvidia's GeForce Now app has been telling me I can play The Witcher 3 on its cloud gaming service. Trouble is, I own a GOG copy of the game, not the supported Steam version. It's been a minor irritation ever since I reviewed all the major cloud gaming services last year, but happily, my frustrations have now been soothed, as Nvidia are finally beefing up their support for GOG games on GeForce Now, starting with four entries CD Projekt Red's popular Witcher series arriving today.
]]>Flee, gentle reader, for she has come again! It's not too late for you to escape her: Horaszdóttir the Endless, she of the big boots and bear fur. Alas, our fate is sealed. She visits us every winter to split open turkeys from her eldritch flock, and soothsay our most anticipated game releases for the year to come.
She shows us many a game in those birds, reader, and we must impart the dread knowledge to you. We've already done strategy games; what hideous vision of the future is forced on us today? Ah yes, of course. It is the time of the storytellers, the quests and levelling, the congress with aliens. RPGs!
]]>Ultrawide gaming monitors can seem excessive compared to regular 16:9 gaming screens, especially when their demanding resolutions often require powerful and expensive graphics cards to make the most of them. Once you try one, though, there's no going back. I've been a big fan of ultrawide gaming monitors for years now, as their extra screen space not only makes them great for juggling multiple desktop windows, but supported PC games also look uttery fantastic on them - and to prove it, I've put together this list of the best ultrawide games on PC.
]]>Whether you prefer wizards, sword-and-board warriors, the irradiated wasteland, vampires, or isometric text-heavy stories, the RPG is the genre that will never let you down. Accross the dizzing number of games available where you can play a role, there's something for everyone - and we've tried to reflect that in our list of the best RPGs on PC. The past couple of years have been great for RPGs, so there are some absolute classics as well as brand spanking new games on this list. And there's more to look forwards to, with rumblings of Dragon Age: Dread Wolf finally on the horizon, and space epic Starfield in our rear view mirror. Whatever else may happen, though, this list will provide you with the 50 best RPGs that you can download and play on PC right now.
]]>All is not well in the land of The Witcher season 2. Production of the Netflix series has reportedly been put on hold after four people working on it tested positive for Covid-19. It seems they've had a pretty rough going of it with the pandemic - they were forced to stop production back in March due to the first lockdown, after actor Kristofer Hivju (who plays a bloke called Nivellen) also tested positive for the virus.
]]>Netflix have shared a wee look at Geralt in the second season of The Witcher, and he's certainly going hard on black leather. Even got leather pecs and leather abs this time. No leather nips, mind. While the live-action series is based primarily on the books, I hope this is the game's influence being felt more, and Geralt will be forever swapping out his swords and jackets as he finds blueprints for new ones in bushes and holes. In one episode, he'll walk into a blacksmith and just clang down twenty swords to cash in.
]]>Here it is, your regularly scheduled Cyberpunk 2077 news courtesy of CD Projekt Red's most recent Night City Wire. On Friday's stream, senior quest designer Patrick K Mills said that the game's story campaign will be shorter than The Witcher 3's because players complained about how long it took to finish Geralt's adventure.
"We got a lot of complaints about The Witcher 3's main story just being too long," he said. "And looking at the metrics, you see tremendous amounts of people played through that game really far, but never made it to the end."
]]>CD Projekt Red today announced they're fancying-up The Witcher 3 for release on the next generation of consoles, and we on PC will receive those improvements too, with a free update. They say that "the next-gen edition of the game will feature a range of visual and technical improvements — including ray tracing and faster loading times". Details are a vague for now so it's not clear exactly how much fancier the PC edition will become, but at the very least I'd expected ray-traced glimmers when someone tosses a coin to your witcher.
]]>Regicide is once again a topic at dinner, thanks to the release of Crusader Kings III. Your aunt passes you the gravy, and asks about council matters. Your mother comments on the rise in guillotine stocks. Your father, the king, chews his mutton with a rueful and distant glare, probably thinking about war. A cloaked advisor enters and hands you a note on parchment. “The ten worft kingf and queenf in gamef,” it reads. You cough politely, put it in your pocket for later, and continue pushing poisoned food around as if you are eating it.
]]>The second series of the Netflix's The Witcher show is still a way away, especially after production was interrupted by the pandemic, but Netflix do have a wee bit more to tide folks over. Today they released a half-hour behind-the-scenes documentary with cast and crew talking about the making of the show, fittingly titled Making The Witcher. It's not hugely enlightening but does have lots of my favourite behind-the-scenes bits: men in green mocap suits, and sped-up monstrous makeup application.
Speaking of witching, CD Projekt Red announced a new mobile game today, The Witcher: Monster Slayer. It sounds a bit like Pokémon Go with Witcher monsters.
]]>Indie studio Kubold are making a sword duelling game named Hellish Quart, and it looks to have some excellent ragdoll and sword-whacking physics. The lead developer, Jakub Kisiel, was animator and motion capture actor for The Witcher 3, and he's bringing those skills to his own game which will feature proper motion-captured fencing techniques. It's not just fencing Hellish Quart has to offer though, you'll be able to duel your pals with all sorts of 17th century blades.
]]>What are the best builds in The Witcher 3? With the release of the next-gen upgrade and The Witcher: Blood Origin, some people are finally picking up The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the first time, and even more are jumping back in after a spell away. Whether it's your first playthrough of this modern classic RPG or your umpteenth time stepping into the shoes of the Butcher of Blaviken, you're likely putting some thought into how you want to build your Geralt this time around. Luckily, this game has never really waned in popularity, so the playerbase has had plenty of time to really hone its knowledge of how to put together a great build.
Our selection of The Witcher 3 builds has been carefully crafted and curated to show you exactly how you can turn Geralt into the most powerful monster hunter who ever lived. Whether you prefer to use magic, alchemy, pure combat, or (like a true Witcher) a mix of all three, we've got a top-tier build to cater to your needs.
]]>What are the best swords in The Witcher 3? Blades in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are divided into two categories: steel, for dealing with human enemies; and silver, for slaughtering supernatural beasts and monsters. There's an awful lot of different swords scattered about the gigantic world of The Witcher 3, so it helps to know which names to keep an eye out for when they appear in your quest list or your inventory.
Below we'll help you reach the heavenly euphoric heights of destruction that befit the Butcher of Blaviken himself. With our cherry-picked list of the best steel and silver swords on offer in The Witcher 3, you'll know exactly where to go and what to do to get your hands on the best swords on the Continent.
]]>What are the best armor and gear sets in The Witcher 3? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's witcher gear sets are your go-to source for the strongest armor and weaponry in the game for our dear old Butcher of Blaviken. Each set belongs to a different witcher school, so the blueprints for these unique pieces of equipment must be tracked down in Scavenger missions, then crafted with very particular materials.
There's a fair amount of complexity to armor and gear sets in The Witcher 3. Below we've laid out all the essential information to get you up to speed on the basic ideas behind gear sets, before walking you through our rankings for each set.
]]>Looking for tips and tricks on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt? Whether you're a returning fan drawn in by the recent next-gen upgrade, or a brand-new player who's finally decided to check out this modern masterpiece of the RPG genre, you're sure to find that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a sprawling, magnificent, and frequently baffling experience.
So we thought we'd help lessen the load for those still at the beginning of their monster-hunting journey with these Witcher 3 tips for beginners! Below we'll cover everything from fight preparation to fast levelling, from inventory management to mods and cheats. Take a look!
]]>All dogs go to heaven, we have heard it said. But what about videogame dogs? By the virtue of their non-existence you may suspect they are refused entry. However, after contemplating the issue for some time, our finest minds in the listicle archives have concluded that, yes, even videogame dogs go to heaven. What a relief. Here are the 10 goodest boys in PC games, all approved for divine ascendence.
]]>Here's a nice one for The Witcher fans on this lovely summer afternoon - Netflix have announced they're making a prequel series to teach us all about the beginnings of those mysterious, white-haired monster hunters. Named The Witcher: Blood Origins, it'll be set 1200 years prior to dear old Geralt Of Rivia's story, and will tell us the tale of how "the very first Witcher came to be".
]]>"It'll be easy," I thought to myself, when it was suggested someone do a nice, timely little post on the new-ish Steam Points system, and the various new goodies on offer through it. "Sure, no problem," I said, when Matt refused to write it because he thought Steam Points were "pointless", and I was the only other writer on the call with Graham. Matt was being negative, I figured, and I'd show him the error of his ways with my happy-go-lucky, anything-goes, good times attitude. I'd breeze onto the Steam store, have a browse of what points-purchasable things were on offer, and do a quickie piece highlighting some of the most chuckleworthy.
Well, turns out Matt was right, and I was not.
]]>Down it, down it, dowwwn it, yeeaahhh! Nice one, you skulled that pint of fizzy water and lemon like an absolute legend, mate, well done. I always knew you were a top enjoyer of a wild night on the tiles, on the rip, on the slosh, on the tear, on the floor, on the bathroom floor, no listen you’re on the bathroom floor mate, for real, get up. I think that San Pelegrino went straight to your head. Maybe just go home, lie down, and play some RPGs. You can always simulate the reckless abandon of a big night in one of these, the 9 best nights out in PC games.
]]>If you haven’t finally cracked into The Witcher 3 after three months of lockdown, perhaps you never will. Still, this latest offer from GOG might make you rethink, as from now until June 23rd, they're giving away free GOG copies of the game to anybody who’s bought it on other platforms, such as Steam, Epic Games Store and Origin – even PS4 and Xbox One copies are eligible. Best of all, your save file and achievements will transfer over, too.
]]>GOG's Summer Sale is in full swing at the moment, but just in case you needed another reason to dive back in to their big sack o' deals, they've just added a new Witcher collection that gets you all five games for £20 / $27, plus a bunch of free games, including Thimbleweed Park's Delores Mini-Adventure, so grab 'em while you can until June 15th.
]]>Technically it should be happy birthday to The Witcher 3, but it's always better to put a face to an event, don't you think? Yes, this week we all celebrated the fifth anniversary of CD Projekt's most favoured baby (until later this year, at least). Join Alice Bee, VidBud Matthew and Nate as they discuss how Geralt would do on Come Dine With Me, if he'd be alright to have a pint with, and also maybe the game itself a bit.
]]>One of the first things you do in The Witcher 3's Blood And Wine DLC is fight a giant. He comes at you moments after you arrive in Toussaint (read: France), when a very silly looking knight rides past you while frantically tilting at a windmill. The giant erupts from that windmill, flailing his club around and sending errant sheep flying. They roll and baa, while you do cool sword moves around succulent countryside. It is both glorious and gorgeous, and a downright terrific way to kick off some of the best adventuring in videogames.
I sure hope you like being heralded in verse.
They really go for that sort of thing in Toussaint. They go hard. It is a silly place, where people swear oaths on herons and dress up as rabbits for courtly nonsense. Geralt, as you might expect, makes a fantastic foil. Especially when he joins in.
]]>It has taken me a long, long time to figure out how I, personally, can enjoy The Witcher 3. It got recommended to me loads because it's a big flouncy fantasy RPG, which is my type of thing. But playing it was like running into a brick wall. Or a wattle and daub wall. Or maybe the planks of a grim, windowless wooden hut? Basically, I find it really difficult to inhabit Geralt. Rather than being a John Q. Everyman type, he is a strongly characterised man whose history I do not know - and which I'm not prepared to read an entire library worth of books or play two previous very long games to uncover, thank you very much.
Neither do I feel like I am a protector helping Geralt along, because he is clearly much better at his job without me, given all his expertise in monsters and the seven different types of weeds that'll kill them and such. I ran into trouble playing it last night, for example, because I could not figure out how to brew more of the Swallow potion. The Witcher 3 would go more smoothly without me, the equivalent of an unqualified middle-manager, forcing my involvement on Geralt. But I have come up with a solution, and that is to ignore almost all of The Witcher 3.
]]>If a Netflix show and years of people going on about it have finally convinced you to consider giving The Witcher a go, good news: to celebrate the fifth birthday of The Witcher 3, the whole series is on sale. Both Steam and GOG have big Witcher sales, including the whole RPG series plus various spin-offs. £10 for The Witcher 3 and both expansions is a good price for so many grimaces and weary sighs, every one of them great.
]]>I'm one of those people.
I love the idea of The Witcher 3. I enjoy playing the game, even. But I seem to be cursed. Every year or so I sit down to play it, full of resolve to see it through to the end. But every damn time, despite finding myself increasingly drawn in to its meticulously crafted fantasy world, and despite revelling in my role as a sort of ultra-violent Hagrid within it, I only ever manage a handful of hours before getting distracted and drifting away from the game. By the time I've got the urge to come back again, I've forgotten what was going on. And so I start again, like a gaming Sisyphus forever pushing a grumpy mutant up a hill.
I've played the start of The Witcher 3 five times now. And so, to commemorate its fifth anniversary and my impending, inevitable sixth attempt at playing it, I've decided to see how much of the game I can remember and synopsise here, without cheating and googling anything. I'm going to try and do this in one take, so I can't second guess myself, and I've even done some illustrations, to help with your immersion in the tale. So, are you prepared? Let's go!
]]>GOG's Spring sale begins today, and there are lots of free Witcher goodies up for grabs to kick things off. Alas, The Witcher games themselves aren't free as part of the goodie pack (although they're all heavily discounted as part of GOG's Witcher Universe Collection bundle), but it does include lots of Witcher soundtracks, comics, art, wallpapers and a video of some Witcher music being played at The Video Game Show concert. You'll need to get 'em quick, though, as the goodies pack is only available until 2pm UTC tomorrow (March 18th). Read on below for some more highlights.
]]>I cannot believe that that damn song from the Netflix Witcher series only took 10 minutes to write. When Toss A Coin To Your Witcher was thrust upon us by Jaskier just before Christmas, I was not prepared for how catchy the damn thing would be. And neither were the Netflix show's creators, apparently, as the idea for the song came to co-executive producer Jenny Klein while she was thinking about Geralt in the car.
]]>Ah, religion. I know this is a topic we all have trouble agreeing on. But fear not, humble practitioner of a good pray, I am not here to squint angrily at your favourite book of life advice. I’m only here for the videogame religions. The ones that are very, very, very, very bad. You know, the gun-loving cults and the xenophobic people-burners. The (mostly) fictional religions that involve an uncommon volume of murder. Step this way, sprinkle yourself with some of my 100% genuine oil of the almighty, and peruse the 9 most dodgy religions in games.
]]>How do I romance every love interest in The Witcher 3? With the arrival of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's next-gen upgrade, you might be asking yourself how the sex scenes look now that they're beautifully lit with ray traced shadows and reflections. Wait... it's not just us, surely?
Witchers may be sterile, but they have needs just like anyone else. And who are we players to deprive Geralt of the most fulfilling romantic encounters available? Our Witcher 3 romance guide will walk you through the whos, whens, wheres, hows, and whys of wooing. From Yennefer to Triss, from Keira Metz to the Iron Maiden of Skellige, we'll show you all the steps to ensure a happy ending for all those involved.
]]>Looking for an up-to-date list of The Witcher 3 cheats and console commands? "Evil is evil," opines Geralt during one of his many Ethics 101 lectures. "Lesser, greater, middling. It's all the same." So we can infer that he probably wouldn't think too much of us using all these Witcher 3 cheats and console commands to assume godlike powers of creation and destruction - but hey, if he starts complaining, we can just turn him into Ciri, who I'm sure is far less scrupulous about such things.
]]>That scrappy Polish studio that developed a computer RPG based on the monster hunting novels by Andrzej Sapkowski is all grown up. CD Projekt, parent company of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developers, are now valued as the second largest gaming company in Europe, beat only by Ubisoft.
]]>Looking to upgrade your Witcher 3 combat skills? Whether you're brand new to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt or have jumped back in courtesy of the next-gen upgrade, odds are you'll benefit from a quick combat tutorial. Combat in The Witcher 3 is a beast of two natures. At its best, it is elegant and satisfying, and rewards careful preparation. At its worst, it's like banging your head against a wall.
Don't worry though, because below we've compiled our best Witcher 3 combat tips to help you achieve the former and steer clear of the latter!
]]>CD Projekt say The Witcher 3 has now sold enough on Steam to qualify for the biggest sales cut available on Valve's platform. Hitting $50 million (£38m) means Valve will only take 20% - which is still more than Epic take from all and any sales from any game. Congratulations to The Witcher for reaching that 80% cut, but it is wild that even a game this big has taken so long to score Steam's best deal.
]]>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has cross-save now! Yesterday, a brand new update for the Nintendo Switch version dropped, and it's a very welcome one for us PC players. CD Projekt Red have introduced save file integration with Steam and GOG, so you can continue your adventures with Geralt at your PC or on the go (or docked at your telly if that's how you prefer to play Switch).
]]>Netflix's own Witcher TV show is, as we know, based on ye olde novels by Andrzej Sapkowski and not the RPG trilogy by CD Project Red. But we've all seen the bathtub scene, yeah? So we know there's some of the video game DNA in the small screen version of Geralt's adventures if you know where to look. Showrunner Lauren Hissrich says that it's not just the White Wolf's thorough washing that came from the games. The Witcher 3's beautiful visuals were an inspiration as well.
]]>Geralt's been having quite the romp since his new TV show popped up on Netflix. With the help of modders, he's gone and invaded just about every RPG in the last couple months. Alright then, while he's out slaying monsters in everyone else's games, this modder has ousted him from The Witcher 3, replacing the White Wolf with a different game man face. Mads Mikkelsen is the new witcher in town. Why? I don't know, but it does look a lot like him, dunnit?
]]>Almost five years and a surprisingly good TV series later, and The Witcher 3 is still going strong; a surprising turn of events given how static the game has remained these past few years. Beyond a round of free DLC and two excellent expansions, Geralt Of Rivia's grand quest to become a cool step-dad and maybe settle down at a vineyard in the south of fantasy France remains largely timeless. Still, there's always room to tweak, tune and expand. This week on Modder Superior, we've got quality of life tweaks, re-textures, re-balancing and a Cavill-cade of faces fresh from TV.
]]>I'm going to level with you, I'm extremely late to the party with The Witcher. I never played the games or read the books, so the Netflix series is very much my entry point to all of its extensive lore. And from what I've seen so far, it demands a fair bit of prior knowledge to truly understand what's going on.
It's good then that Netflix have developed an interactive timeline for us, that describes a whole heap of events throughout The Witcher's history that are alluded to in the show.
]]>Corr, remember when we were all making fun of Henry Cavill's wig? It seems only yesterday. And now we're all humming that stupid song. Can't get enough of that there The Witcher on Netflix. Recently, VidBud Astrid walked over and was like "We should have an analysis of the bathtubs in The Witcher TV show and The Witcher 3," and for a moment it was like the grizzling clouds parted and the sun shone on Brighton again. We should have that! And dammit, we shall.
The powerful memetic qualities of bathtub Geralt, originating from the opening cutscene of The Witcher 3, meant that a single screenshot ended up being referenced in episode five of the Netflix adaptation. But which bath is best? One must be, right? There must be a fair way that we can pit the two against one another, resulting in an ultimate champion. Well, at RPS we take baths and needless competition very seriously, so have come up with an exclusive and definitive rating for both bathtub Geralts.
]]>If someone enjoyed Netflix's live-action Witcher series and it made them want to try the games, where should they start? Following the show's debut in December, I've had pals who sorta fell out of games pop up asking that to me, some sort of professional opinion-haver. Should they start at the beginning of CD Projekt Red's series? Skip to the end? Are the older games archaic? Is it easy to pick up the plot? I have opinions! Skip the first two and start with The Witcher 3, I tell you. But what would you recommend?
]]>I have spent the winter holidays making a list, checking it twice, trying to find who is naughty on ice. But unlike the popular red-clad demon of the north, my list is reserved for terrors, demons and critters larger than 4 feet tall. I’m talking about cold monsters. They’re very chic this week. You see, while Nic has been battering majestic species of endangered giganto-moose in our Monster Hunter World: Iceborne review, I have been working hard to catalogue the frostiest freaks this side of video gaming. Here you go, the 8 coldest monsters in PC games.
]]>I have no doubt that "Toss A Coin To Your Witcher", the hit song from the Netflix Witcher series, is destined for greatness. It's got 11 million views on YouTube. Children are chanting it in the street. The music industry is reeling. Before I came along, though, nobody had grabbed a lute and played the song at impoverished Mordhau players. I expected adoration, and that I might inspire songs of my own. Legends about the brave vanguard of pop culture.
Turns out my audience was a little more hostile.
]]>Since Netflix's Witcher series was released last month, there's one particular part of the show that has followed me around the internet like a certain very persistent bard. Jaskier (who you know as Dandelion in CD Projekt RED's Witcher games) sings a silly song at the end of episode two about Geralt's exploits. The lyrics are, frankly, corny. It is not a masterpiece. But boy howdy it is catchy. There are memes and animations and, naturally, someone had to create a mod to add the song to The Witcher.
]]>CD Projekt Red announced today that they have reached a new agreement with the author of The Witcher novels, Andrzej Sapkowski. The announcement is short and light on detail but is aptly timed to suggest new Witcher-related projects are in the works at the Polish games studio.
]]>Merry Witchmas to all the little monsters out there awaiting Geralt's arrival on the small screen. Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski has officially kicked off. If you're not doing any holiday prep this weekend you can tuck in and watch all eight episodes starring Henry Cavill and co right now.
]]>Right now, there’s a room in Buffalo Grove, Illinois that's as quiet as a grave. The power is off, the robotic limbs are becalmed, and the once thumping presses are depressed. The Steam Controller assembly room is assembling no more, and with the recent Steam sale clearing out all the stock, the grand experiment is over.
It’s the final part of Valve’s great Steam Machines undertaking to be shut down. They’d hoped to convince you to have a PC in the living room, or a small box for you to stream your library from your main PC. The Steam Machines never took off, the Steam Link box was discontinued a year ago, and now the Steam Controller will no longer be made. Gone, but not forgotten.
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