The Witcher was improved by its reduced scope and scale, say former devs

The original Witcher game was improved by its reduced scope, CD Projekt Red devs at the time have revealed.

Speaking to The Gamer in a new interview is former lead narrative designer Artur Ganszyniec, who worked on The Witcher at CD Projekt Red back in the mid-2000s. Ganszyniec explains in the interview that the original opening of The Witcher was meant to be twice as long, with various extra locations and characters, as well as an entirely new protagonist in a man named Berengar.

"We had to cut them due to budget constraints," Ganszyniec explains, adding that it was the best thing that could happen, as they "had to find a way to tell the story using a smaller cast of characters." This would ultimately make The Witcher more "concise and emotional," says the former lead narrative designer, adding that however stressful things might have been at the time, it all worked out for the best.

It's an interesting anecdote from a former developer on the original Witcher game, and we'd highly recommend reading the full interview for an extensive deep dive into the creation of a series that would eventually aspire to 'modern classic' status for CD Projekt Red in The Witcher 3 eight years later.

You can play The Witcher right now on PC, if you've yet to experience the origins of CD Projekt Red's series. As for The Witcher 3 though, CD Projekt Red recently revealed that they would be delaying the new-gen upgrade of the 2015 RPG to some point in 2022. While Geralt's new-gen overhaul with 4K visuals and 60 frames per second gameplay was originally meant to launch this year, we'll be waiting a while longer to step back into the Witcher's shoes on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

Witcher 3 tips | Witcher 3 armor | Witcher 3 romance | Best Witcher 3 Gwent Cards | Witcher 3 places of power | Witcher 3 side quests | Witcher 3 contracts | Witcher 3 Master of the Arena | Witcher 3 Ladies of the Wood | Witcher 3 Wandering in the Dark | Witcher 3 ending | Witcher 3 Following the Thread | Witcher 3 monster killing