CD Projekt Red has announced The Witcher Remake, a ground-up rebuild of their first game in the popular RPG series. This game was previously revealed to be in development under the codename ‘Project Canis Majoris‘.
The Witcher Remake is in development by Polish studio Fool’s Theory, but it’s a team with close links back to CDPR and the series as a whole. In fact, the studio was founded by veteran Witcher series staff, so they have intimate knowledge of the games. CDPR will also be providing creative supervision, and will be sharing the new tools that are being created for CDPR’s upcoming games in Unreal Engine 5.
CD Projekt Red boss Adam Badowski said in a statement: “The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD PROJEKT RED. It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and remaking the game for the next generation of gamers to experience it feels just as big, if not bigger.
“Collaborating with Fool’s Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games. They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games.
“And although it will take some time before we’re ready to share more about and from the game, I know it’ll be worth the wait.”
Remaking The Witcher is, frankly, a great idea. While The Witcher 3 is held up as an all-time great, and The Witcher 2 was a pioneering effort on PC and Xbox 360, the original The Witcher has not aged all that well. The graphics are now rather dated, the combat lacked the complexities of traps and ranged weaponry, and it’s not particularly welcoming to new players compared to its sequels.
Modernising the game in a full remake is more than welcome. Of course, it’s still early days yet, and CDPR has announced their upcoming slate of games well before they have anything to actually show. Don’t expect this any time soon, in other words!
The other two games that CDPR announced last month were Project Polaris, which is the full follow up to The Witcher 3 that’s in development within CD Projekt Red’s Polish studios and will kick off a brand new trilogy of games. There’s also Project Sirius in development by The Molasses Flood, which promises to be “an innovative take on The Witcher universe telling an unforgettable story for existing Witcher fans and new audiences.” A part of that will be multiplayer, it’s also been confirmed, with the studio best known for survival and base-building games The Flame in the Flood and Drake Hollow, from before their acquisition by CDPR last year.
Source: CD Projekt Red
Khaliel
They can’t even finish the next gen version of Witcher 3 and they dare announcing another remake? CDProjekt should stop announcing things too early, it’s not good for them.
Stefan L
Those are very different development tasks, and on top of that many of the things they’ve announced are being worked on by completely distinct or external teams. It is unusual to have things announced so early in the process – this is like Disney pre-announcing films 5 years in advance – but they’re seemingly doing this out of obligations to their investors on the stock market.