Geralt fastidiously circles the Swarmion, his steps slowly overlapping as he sizes up his foe. The creature might be simply mistaken for any generic fantasy undead or humanoid mutant, have been it not for the cloud of hornets that swarm round its torso – a weird type of armour by any stretch of the creativeness. However our Witcher is as resourceful as ever. He switches his silver sword for a series, swinging the hooked finish spherical and spherical as he chooses his goal. The creature’s legs, or its head? The reply is clear. The hook sinks into the fleshy neck and pulls taught, wrenching the creature out of the hornet swarm and pulling it straight into the path of Geralt’s blade. Blood plumes from its neck. The top falls with a boring thud.
The silver chain is a crucial weapon for Geralt of Rivia. Those that have been there from the starting will keep in mind it from The Witcher’s very first cutscene, again in 2007. Those that have been there from the precise starting will comprehend it from the quick story inside The Final Want assortment, from which that cutscene was tailored. The necessary factor is that it’s half of Geralt’s core Witcher gear – and so it’s solely becoming that we lastly get to make use of it in what might effectively be the final time we get to play as him.
Songs of the Past is The Witcher 3’s surprising third enlargement pack, which can launch subsequent 12 months – 12 years after the base recreation was initially launched, and a 12 months forward of the sequence’ in-development fourth recreation, which passes the protagonist baton to Ciri. And Geralt’s chain-swinging monster battle was only one small part of an hour-long demo I watched at gamescom 2026, throughout which a member of the CD Projekt Crimson dev staff performed by way of the ‘A Mattress of Thorns’ quest, an early chapter that establishes Songs of the Past’s story.
Geralt awakens in Letten, the homeland of his frequent partner-in-heroics, Dandelion. Whereas a lot of Geralt’s life has been effectively documented throughout each Witcher books and video games, Dandelion’s historical past is a bit more of an enigma – one which Songs of the Past appears primed to crack. The search’s opening sees Geralt trek in the direction of a grand hilltop property, the residence the place Dandelion grew up not as a bard, however as Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove. It’s not onerous to see why he left this life of the Aristocracy behind; Geralt endures a painfully tense meal with Dandelion’s extremely stern grandmother, a girl who would make even the most pampered individual wish to run away from residence. Additionally current is Lilla, Dandelion’s cousin – a way more agreeable girl and Geralt’s new companion (plus, of course, potential goal of affection – though this playthrough ignored any flirtatious dialogue choices.)
I hesitate to make a judgement name on Songs of the Past’s writing at this early stage, however I will perceive in the event you’ve some reservations – fairly than purely CD Projekt Crimson behind the wheel, this enlargement is the work of Idiot’s Idea, a unique studio (though one that’s made up of many CDPR veterans). Fortunately, what I’ve seen thus far suggests the high quality bar has been maintained. Inside only a single scene I had an excellent concept of who these two girls have been and the way their values complimented or clashed with Geralt’s personal well-established code.
Not at the desk is unquestionably the purpose Geralt got here right here in the first place; his devoted bard is nowhere to be seen. And so begins Geralt and Lilla’s mission to hunt out Dandelion and convey him residence. However the place to start out? Effectively, in desires: throughout the night time Geralt had visions of blood, thorns, violets, and a effectively – a picture Lilla recognises as The Backyard of Thorns. The 2 meet later that day to go out in search of what ought to simply be a foul story, however may be very shortly going to turn out to be a horrifying actuality.
Letten is a gorgeous place, divorced from the woes of The Continent. In that method it’s just a little like Blood and Wine’s idyllic Toussaint, and the comparisons don’t cease there: CD Projekt Crimson says to anticipate one thing of a comparable dimension, so it could be that Songs of the Past extends so far as 30 or so hours. Geralt explores the previous and new sides of the city, and we move by rows of bushes entwined with wild flowers – there’s just a little of Nordic midsummer in its design, blended with English and Polish countryside. All of it appears lovely, helped by the newly-announced remaster, which upgrades The Witcher 3’s know-how base with higher-resolution textures and path-tracing lighting. It will be disingenuous to say it makes this decade-old RPG appear like a recreation from the present console technology, but it surely’s nonetheless a gorgeous factor, notably in relation to pure environments caught in the last rays of the day’s solar.
However a Witcher’s job not often stays in nice territory. It’s not lengthy earlier than Geralt and Lilla have journeyed past the city’s borders and located themselves in additional cursed lands. Knotted bushes with twisted branches type the edge of an area during which Geralt does battle with a Thornbloom, a big vine-like plant that may trigger fields of giant bulbs to develop and subsequently explode. Whereas the remaster and, by extension, Songs of the Past profit from an upgraded fight system, it’s not apparent on this battle how substantial the change is – this very a lot appears like Witcher fight as ordinary. Just a little later, when the Swarmion and its hornet protect flip up, it turns into clear that the chain does add some further aptitude to the proceedings, and I like that in a second of slow-motion you’re capable of goal what physique half Geralt sinks the hook into earlier than grappling a far-off enemy into melee vary. However till I’m going hands-on with the new system I’m going to imagine the modifications are delicate tweaks fairly than a revolutionary overhaul.
Equally, CD Projekt Crimson didn’t dedicate a lot time to exploring Geralt’s upgraded character development methods, so it’s as but unclear simply how various things are in comparison with the authentic model. What I did see, nevertheless, have been new ability pages that re-arrange the layouts of the talents in additional of a definite tree form, so it might be that there’s been a re-thinking of the way you progress Geralt by way of his RPG upgrades… or at the very least a re-thinking of how that development is communicated.
Geralt and Lilla proceed to push by way of the forest and finally make their strategy to a tightly-woven wall of thorns, its branches laced with violets and human skulls. At its base lies a dying deer, its blood soaked up by the horrifying construction. That is the gate to the Backyard of Thorns. Past lies solutions to the thriller of our lacking Dandelion. In one other playthrough, Geralt could effectively have used his mind to coax these branches open – CD Projekt Crimson guarantees that there are a number of methods to navigate this drawback. In the curiosity of time, although, the developer controlling the demo takes the path of violence, slicing the gate aside. The strike causes the backyard to develop vines between Geralt and Lilla, separating them. Maybe that is the consequence for not looking for out a extra cautious strategy to the state of affairs? Both method, Geralt is pressured to battle by way of Big Centipedes and people aforementioned Swarmions to search out his method again to Lilla… and the effectively.
Sure, the effectively from Geralt’s dream is actual, and defended by the Slumbering Knight, this demo’s boss battle. A noble corpse that’s turn out to be half tree, it’s capable of strike and defend itself with an enormous, bark-shrouded arm. However that’s not the fascinating factor: round its neck is a series completed with a horse pendant. The sigil of Lettenhove. This withered warrior is a member of Dandelion’s personal home… or at the very least was, as soon as upon a time. Fortunately, regardless of the indicators this man as soon as wore flamboyant costuming, there’s no suggestion that is Dandelion himself. The search goes on, and the subsequent location is clear: down the effectively. Will there be a satan on this one?
Not fairly. However the twisted picket determine inside it, which you noticed throughout the trailer for Songs of the Past proven at Opening Night time Stay, might effectively be mistaken for one. Fairly what it’s stays to be seen, as that’s the place the gamescom demo out of the blue cuts to black. However, contemplating its prominence in stated trailer, this creature probably lies at the coronary heart of this Dandelion-themed thriller.
This primary style of Songs of the Past doesn’t supply up something radically new or surprising. That is extra of The Witcher 3, even with its remastered tech base and up to date fight and skill methods. But it surely’s smart to not strategy this challenge with the expectations of “new” Witcher – that is an enlargement for a 11 12 months previous recreation, in spite of everything. Save that enthusiasm for The Witcher 4. However nonetheless, that is an 11 12 months previous recreation that has summoned me again quite a few instances already, and whilst its joints get creaky, it’s all the time extremely clear why The Witcher 3 is a generational-defining RPG. To have the ability to revisit it as soon as extra to play by way of an entire new story, meet model new characters, and discover a wealthy new setting isn’t one thing I believed I’d ever get to do, and so in some ways in which’s extra fascinating than a model new recreation – maybe with Songs of the Past, CD Projekt Crimson and Idiot’s Idea has discovered a strategy to make coming again to a well-loved residence really feel like the first time once more.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Government Editor of Options.