Table of contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………….3
CD Projekt……………………………………………………………...4
The Witcher…………………………………………………………….7
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings………………………………..…11
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt…………………………………...…17
 The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone………………………………..25
 The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine……………………………….27
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….31
Bibliography…………………………………………………….…….32

2019
 Introduction:

CD Projekt is a company that started from almost nothing in a

relatively poor country like many if not all, found in Eastern Europe
and rose to the top of the gaming industry by putting their heart in
every video game that they developed thus far.

I chose to write about them because they created my favorite

singleplayer video game and series of all time called The Witcher 3:
The Wild Hunt from The Witcher trilogy. I remember being
absolutely immersed in the world of these games when I played them
some years ago.

2
 CD Projekt

CD Projekt S.A. is a Polish video

game publisher and distributor
based in Warsaw, founded in May
1994 by Marcin Iwiński and
Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and
Kiciński were video game retailers
before they founded the company.
CD Projekt is best known for their
The Witcher series, developed by
their CD Projekt Red division, and
their digital distribution service
GOG.com.
The company began translating major Western video-game releases into Polish, collaborating with
Interplay Entertainment for two Baldur's Gate games. CD Projekt was working on the PC version
of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance when Interplay experienced financial difficulties. The game was
cancelled and the company decided to reuse the code for their own video game. It became The
Witcher, a video game based on the works of Andrzej Sapkowski.
After the release of The Witcher, CD Projekt worked on a console port called The Witcher: White
Wolf; but development issues and increasing costs almost led the company to the brink of
bankruptcy. CD Projekt later released The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011 and The Witcher
3: Wild Hunt in 2015, with the latter winning various Game of the Year awards. The company's
upcoming project is Cyberpunk 2077, an open-world role-playing game based on the Cyberpunk
2020 tabletop game system, for which it opened a new division in Wrocław.
A video game distribution service, GOG.com was established by CD Projekt to help players find
old games. Its mission is to offer games free of digital rights management (DRM) to players and
its service was expanded to cover new AAA and independent games. The company opposes DRM
in video games, and hopes that free downloadable content becomes an industry standard. CD
Projekt considers maintaining their independence one of their most important strategies. By
September 2017, it was the largest publicly traded video game company in Poland, worth about
US$2.3 billion. It joined WIG20, an index of the 20 largest companies on the Warsaw Stock
Exchange, in March 2018.

According to Iwiński, although he enjoyed playing video games as a child they were scarce in
Poland (which was in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence at the time). Polish copyright law did

3
not exist and Iwiński, in high school, sold cracked copies of Western video games at a Warsaw
marketplace. In high school Iwiński met Kiciński, who became his business partner; at that time,
Kiciński also sold video games.

Wanting to conduct business legitimately, Iwiński and Kiciński began importing games from US
retailers and were the first importers of CD-ROM games. After Poland's transition to a primarily
market-based economy in the early 90s, they founded their own company. Iwiński and Kiciński
founded CD Projekt in the second quarter of 1994. With only $2,000, they used a friend's flat as a
rent-free office

Cd Projekts wondered if the company should develop their own game. Because the project they
were working on got cancelled, They intended to develop a game series based on Andrzej
Sapkowski's Wiedźmin books (which were popular in Poland) and the author accepted the
company's development proposal. The franchise rights had been sold to a Polish mobile game
studio, but the studio had not worked on anything related to the franchise and CD Projekt acquired
the rights to the Wiedźmin franchise. According to Iwiński, he and Kiciński had no idea how to
develop a video game at that time.

The team, unfamiliar with video-game development, spent nearly two years organising production.
They received assistance from BioWare, who helped promote the game at the 2004 Electronic
Entertainment Expo by offering CD Projekt space in their booth next to Jade Empire. BioWare
also licensed their Aurora game engine to the company.

The game's budget exceeded expectations. The original 15-person development team expanded to
about 100, at a cost of 20 million złoty. According to Iwiński, content was removed from the game
for budgetary reasons but the characters' personalities were retained; however, there was difficulty
in translating the game's Polish text into English. Atari agreed to publish the game. After five years
of development, the game brought Wiedźmin to an international audience, and so the company
came up with an English name: The Witcher. The Witcher was released in 2007 to generally
positive reviews.

Sales were satisfactory, and the development of sequels began almost immediately after The
Witcher's release. The team began the design work for The Witcher 2 , and experimented with
consoles to develop a new engine for The Witcher 3. Their development was halted when the team
began work on The Witcher: White Wolf, a console version of The Witcher. Although they
collaborated with French studio Widescreen Games for the console port, it entered development
limbo. Widescreen demanded more manpower, money and time to develop the title, complaining
that they were not being paid; according to Iwiński, CD Projekt paid them more than their own
staff members. The team cancelled the project, suspending its development. Unhappy with the
decision, Atari demanded that CD Projekt repay them for funding the console port development
and Iwiński agreed that Atari would be the North American publisher of the sequel of The Witcher
2. CD Projekt acquired Metropolis Software in 2008.

The dispute over White Wolf was costly; the company faced bankruptcy, with the financial crisis
of 2007–08 as a contributing factor. To stay afloat, the team decided to focus on The Witcher 2
with the Witcher 3 engine. When the engine (known as Red Engine) was finished, the game could

4
be ported to other consoles. To develop The Witcher 2, the company suspended development of
Metropolis' first-person shooter, titled They. After three-and-a-half years of development, The
Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was released in 2011 to critical praise

The moment we start becoming conservative [and] stop taking creative risks and business risks, and stop
being true to what we're doing, that's when we should worry. And I am not worried. Our values and our
care for what we are doing and – hopefully what gamers would agree with – care for gamers is what drives
this company forward. It's my personal horror to become a faceless behemoth of game development or
publishing or whatnot. As long as I am here I will be fighting for this not to happen.

— CD Projekt Red founder Marcin Iwiński, on maintaining independence

5
 The Witcher
The Witcher is an action role-playing game developed by CD
Projekt Red and published by Atari, based on the novel series of The
Witcher by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The story takes place
in a medieval fantasy world and follows Geralt of Rivia, one of a
few traveling monster hunters who have supernatural powers,
known as Witchers. The game's system of moral choices as part of
the storyline was noted for its time-delayed consequences and lack
of black-and-white morality.

Gameplay:
There are three camera styles available in The Witcher: two isometric perspectives, where the
mouse is used to control most functions, and an over-the-shoulder view, which brings the player
closer to the in-game combat, but limits visibility. In all three views the controls can be changed
to be primarily mouse focused or a combined keyboard and mouse approach.

Players can choose one of three fighting styles to use in different situations and against different
foes. The fast style allows for faster, less-damaging attacks with a greater chance of hitting faster
enemies; the strong style deals more damage in exchange for a slow attack speed, and a lower
chance to hit faster enemies; and the group style features sweeping attacks best used if Geralt is
surrounded. The player can switch between the styles at any point. Both of Geralt's main swords
also have distinctively different combat styles from other weaponry, and serve specific purposes.
The steel blade is used to fight humans and other flesh-and-blood beings, while the silver sword is
more effective against supernatural monsters and beasts (against some of which steel may have no
effect whatsoever). With precise timing, the player can link Geralt's attacks into combos to more
effectively damage enemies.

Alchemy is a major part of gameplay. The player can create potions that increase health or
endurance regeneration, allow Geralt to see in the dark, or provide other beneficial effects. The
recipes for these potions can be learned through scrolls, or by experimentation. Once the player
creates an unknown potion he can choose to drink it, but if the potion is a failure it will poison or
have other harmful effects on Geralt. Each time Geralt drinks potions they increase the toxicity
level of his body. This can be reduced by drinking a special potion or by meditating at an inn or
fireplace. In addition to potions, the player can create oils used to augment the damage done by
weapons. They can also create bombs for use as weapons in combat. Neither can be created until
talent points have been allocated into the corresponding skills.

A time-delayed decision-consequence system means that the repercussions of players' decisions

will make themselves apparent in plot devices in later acts of the game. This helps avert a save-
reload approach to decision making. It also adds to the game's replay value, as the consequences
resulting from the player's decisions can lead to great difference in the events that take place later,
and ultimately a very different gameplay experience than in prior playthroughs.

6
The player often find themselves choosing from the lesser of two evils rather than making a clear
choice between good and evil, a situation reflective of real life morality.

Plot:
The game tells the story of Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher – a genetically enhanced human with special
powers trained to slay monsters. The Witcher contains three different paths, which affect the
game’s storyline. These paths are: alliance with the Scoia'tael, a guerrilla freedom-fighting group
of Elves and other non-humans; alliance with the Order of the Flaming Rose, whose knights protect
the country of Temeria; or alliance with neither group to maintain "Witcher neutrality".

In the game’s opening cutscene, Geralt is tasked with curing King Foltest's daughter, Princess
Adda, of a curse that transforms her into a feral monster. Years later, a group of Witchers find an
amnesiac Geralt unconscious in a field and take him to the Witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen.
As he struggles to recall his memories, the castle is attacked by a gang of bandits named the
Salamandra. The Witchers and sorceress Triss Merigold battle the invaders, but the mage Azar
Javed and the assassin Professor escape with the mutagenic potions that genetically alter the
Witchers. The Witchers head off in different directions to find information on the Salamandra.

Geralt heads south to Vizima, capital of Temeria and where Foltest reigns. On the outskirts, he
meets a magically gifted child called Alvin and learns that Vizima is in quarantine. To obtain a
pass, Geralt defeats a hellhound plaguing the outskirts, but is arrested upon trying to enter Vizima.
Geralt volunteers to kill a monster in the sewers in exchange for his freedom from jail and emerges
in Vizima's Temple Quarter. With the help of a private investigator, Geralt pursues multiple leads
on the Salamandra and witnesses rising tensions between the Order of the Flaming Rose and the
Scoia'tael. After a confrontation with Azar Javed and the Professor, Geralt is knocked unconscious
and saved by Triss, who invites him to a party of high-standing officials in Vizima's Trade Quarter.
There, Geralt meets Princess Adda and gains several new leads on Salamandra's business front.

7
As the Order and the Scoia'tael grow bolder in their efforts, Geralt finds out more about Alvin's
powers and visions while taking down Salamandra drug operations.

Geralt finally assaults a Salamandra base in Vizima with the help of either the Order or the
Scoia'tael and kills the Professor, but finds himself surrounded by royal guards after escaping.
Adda, who has been forging royal edicts in Foltest's absence, declares that she must kill him to
conceal her treachery, but Triss teleports him to a village on the other side of Vizima Lake. Geralt
and his friend Dandelion find some unsteady peace while taking care of Alvin, helping with
problems surrounding an ill-fated wedding, and negotiating between the village and the inhabitants
of an aquatic city. Eventually, however, the conflict between the Order and the Scoia'tael threatens
the village, forcing Geralt to finally pick a side or make enemies of both factions. The scared Alvin
mysteriously disappears in a flash, and Geralt and Dandelion decide to sail back to Vizima to end
Salamandra.

Foltest finally returns and retakes control of his castle, but at the same time civil war has broken
out. The Scoia'tael have caused an uprising, and the Order of the Flaming Rose has responded by
killing non-humans with little discern. Depending on which side Geralt took in the previous battle,
he must either help the knights or the elves in the battle or assist nurses in a field hospital. He also
deals with Adda, who has suffered from a relapse of her curse, after which the grateful king
discloses clues about Azar Javed's location. Storming the main Salamandra base with his allies,
Geralt finally kills the evil mage, but is shocked to learn that the Grand Master of the Order of the
Flaming Rose is the mastermind behind Salamandra's mutation program.

With most Knights of the Order and their mutants now entering open rebellion, the king again
turns to Geralt with a contract to kill the Grand Master. Upon being confronted, the Grand Master
tries to persuade Geralt of his "greater plan" to save humanity from prophecies of world-consuming
ice. The skeptical Geralt is cast into an icy wasteland illusion by the Grand Master, who bears
striking similarities to Alvin. Geralt successfully defeats him and is then approached by the King
of the Wild Hunt in specter form, to collect the Grand Master's soul. The specter warns Geralt of
the impending events or fights him and disappears, upon which Geralt murders the Grand Master
and escapes the illusion. In the ending cut scene, a man with a Witcher’s vertical pupils attempts
to assassinate Foltest, but is thwarted by Geralt, leading directly into The Witcher 2: Assassins of
Kings.

Development:
The Witcher is powered by a heavily modified version of the Aurora Engine by BioWare, enhanced
for single-player. A number of changes have been introduced to the original engine; some of them
are described below.

One of the most important features of the Aurora Engine is that the world is designed exactly as
the developers envisioned, rather than using a tile-based system. All the environments are
developed in 3ds Max and then exported into the game engine. As a result, developers can create
unique game worlds, rather than recycling the same tiled objects over and over again. CD Projekt's
version of the engine supports lightmaps generated in 3ds Max. Shadows generated this way are
reported to look more realistic, and provide better game performance.

8
The modified engine also includes texture paint, a special tool that allows the developer to paint
the environment using custom textures. This enables the developer to make the game world truly
unique. New realistic skyboxes and water effects designed specifically for The Witcher were added
to the engine. The natural light during various phases of the day is realistically altered, and the day
and night transitions serve to enrich the game's ambiance. The weather can dynamically change
from a light drizzle to a dark, stormy downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning.

Other important changes include motion-captured animation, improved physics modelling, new
mechanics and combat system. Additional modifications include the introduction of portals and
the inclusion of additional graphical effects (glows, advanced dynamic shadows, blurs, etc.)

Reception:
The game received mostly positive reviews. The game's cumulative score stands at 81 out of 100
on Metacritic. Michael Lafferty from GameZone gave the game 8.8 out of 10 describing it as deep,
immersive game that will "ask you to think and make choices, not just hack and slash your way to
glory". The Witcher's cinematic intro was nominated for the 2007 VES Awards in the category of
Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game and the game's soundtrack was voted "Best
Fantasy Game Soundtrack" in the 2007 Radio Rivendell Fantasy Awards.

In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play
Before You Die.

9
 The Witcher 2:
Assassins of Kings
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is an action role-
playing hack and slash video game developed by CD
Projekt Red for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, OS
X, and Linux. The game was released for Microsoft
Windows in May 2011, for Xbox 360 and OS X in
2012, and for Linux in 2014.

It is a sequel to the 2007 video game The Witcher.

Like its predecessor, the game is based on The
Witcher series of fantasy novels by Polish author
Andrzej Sapkowski. The player directs the actions of
Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter known as a Witcher.
The fantasy world in which his adventures take place
owes much to Polish history and Slavic mythology.

Gameplay:
The gameplay of The Witcher 2 is a marked departure from that of its predecessor. Combat, for
instance, is much more complex, with additions in the form of abilities to lay traps and aim and
throw ranged weapons. The protagonist, Geralt, has an improved offensive and defensive arsenal,
with a wide range of melee and ranged weapons, armor, bombs, traps and secondary weapons such
as hatchets and shovels. Upgrades are divided into four distinct paths: an initial training path,
which includes generalized upgrades for various core abilities and must be invested in before the
other paths can be accessed; swordsmanship, which improves Geralt's sword fighting abilities;
alchemy, which includes perks such as reducing the negative effects of potions; and magic, which
improves Witcher Signs.

The Witcher 2 includes a stealth mode in certain parts of the game, where players must remain
undetected as they make their way to a certain objective. Players have the option of stunning
enemies if Geralt manages to get behind them, but the player may choose to take a less subtle
approach and engage the guards in combat.

10
The game drew from influences such as Demon's Souls, Heavy Rain, and Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Plot:
Prologue

At the start of the game, Geralt is in prison under suspicion of assassinating Foltest, the king of
Temeria. The head of the Temerian special forces, Vernon Roche, interrogates Geralt and learns
the story that led from Geralt being Foltest's right-hand man to a prisoner. Prior to and during the
events of The Witcher, Foltest had a secret relationship with a baroness named Maria Louisa La
Valette, which led to two children, Anais and Boussy. Some time after Geralt saved Foltest from
a witcher assassin (at the end of The Witcher), Foltest attempted to claim his children and bring
them to live with him in Vizima. Maria was not willing to give up the children, and Foltest waged
a war to claim them. Geralt succeeded in escorting Foltest to his children, but an unknown assailant
kills Foltest before disappearing, leaving Geralt the only suspect. After the interrogation, Roche
decides that Geralt is innocent and aids him in escaping the prison. The two, along with sorceress
Triss Merigold, go in search of the kingslayer.

Chapter 1

The trio arrive in the trading town of Flotsam and are ambushed by Iorveth, a rebel elf. It appears
to the group that a witcher, believed to have assassinated King Demavend of the neighboring
country of Aedirn, is in league with the rebels. Geralt saves his old friends, the bard Dandelion
and the dwarf Zoltan Chivay, from being hanged in the city square. With the help of sorceress Síle
de Tansarville, Geralt kills a kayran, a giant monster that is disrupting the town's trade routes.
Geralt discovers that Loredo, the ostensibly Temerian commander of the town, is intending to sell
the town to the Kaedwenian king Henselt. He also discovers that the kingslayer, a witcher known
as Letho, intends to betray Iorveth and convinces the elf of the truth. As Geralt and Iorveth confront

11
Letho, Roche arrives with an armed force. The player chooses between assisting Iorveth or Roche,
thus setting the path of the second chapter. Regardless of the choice, Letho kidnaps Triss and forces
her to teleport both of them to Aedirn.

Chapter 2 (Iorveth)

If Geralt assists Iorveth, the pair sail to upper Aedirn. There, they become embroiled in a rebellion
against King Henselt of neighboring Kaedwen, and they assist the rebel forces. Geralt completes
three missions: formulating a poison antidote for rebel leader Saskia, determining Triss’s
whereabouts (captured by spies from the empire of Nilfgaard and taken to Loc Muinne), and lifting
a battlefield curse that is preventing the rebels from defending Vergen, the rebel's base of
operations. The rebels defeat King Henselt’s army and Henselt is forced to acknowledge Saskia's
terms. Geralt discovers Saskia is actually a dragon taking human form but she is under mind
control by her advisor, the sorceress Philippa Eilhart. When Philippa teleports Saskia and herself
to Loc Muinne, Geralt and Iorveth follow.

Chapter 2 (Roche)

If Geralt assists Roche, Roche has Geralt assassinate Loredo for treason. Geralt and Roche sail to
upper Aedirn. There, they also become embroiled in the rebellion against King Henselt, but assist
the king instead of fighting against him. Geralt discovers an insurgency in the Kaedweni army:
loyalists who are convinced Henselt is conspiring with the empire of Nilfgaard. Geralt completes
three missions: determining Triss’s whereabouts (captured by a diplomatic delegation from
Nilfgaard and taken to Loc Muinne), lifting a curse on King Henselt, and lifting a battlefield curse
that is preventing the king from marching on the city of Vergen. Geralt defends Henselt from two
witcher assassins and uses necromancy to discover they are in league with Síle de Tansarville, who
has already fled to Loc Muinne with fellow sorceress Philippa Eilhart and entranced rebel leader
Saskia in tow. Roche is revealed to be plotting against Kaedwen, and Henselt executes most of
Roche's men in retaliation. As Henselt assaults Vergen, Geralt defeats Henselt's personal guard,
and either allows Roche to murder Henselt in revenge (which causes a civil war in Kaedwen) or
convinces him to spare the king. Geralt and Roche then go to Loc Muinne, on the trail of Triss and
Philippa.

Chapter 3

Geralt arrives at Loc Muinne, with either Iorveth or Roche depending on whom he assisted
previously. The mages have called a meeting to establish a new magical ruling body known as the
Conclave, and all royal leaders are at Loc Muinne. Philippa Eilhart and Síle de Tansarville intend
to use the meeting to establish their own power, with the still-entranced Saskia as leverage.

If Geralt arrives with Iorveth, he must choose between rescuing Triss or rescuing Philippa, who is
the only person capable of lifting the spell from Saskia but who was captured and blinded by the
king of Redania. If Geralt arrives with Roche, he must choose between rescuing Triss or rescuing
the kidnapped Princess Anais of Temeria. Depending on the choice the mage-royal meeting is
interrupted when Nilfgaardian forces arrive with Letho, who reveals the sorceresses' entire plot, or
if Triss is rescued – regardless of who Geralt assisted – she reveals the sorceresses' plot instead.

12
The meeting is interrupted again by Saskia in dragon form, who is still under mind control by
Philippa. Geralt chases down Síle, who attempts to use her megascope (a magical teleporter) to
escape. However, Letho had sabotaged the megascope, in which Síle becomes stuck. Geralt can
either rescue Síle or do nothing, in which case Síle is torn to bits. Finally Geralt duels Saskia, after
which he can kill her, let her live, or (if he rescued Phillipa earlier) break the spell over Saskia's
mind.

Epilogue

If Triss was rescued, the Conclave is restored and the mages work to seal Loc Muinne. If Triss
was not rescued, a bloody pogrom of magic users occurs in Loc Muinne and throughout the
Northern Kingdoms. Geralt finally confronts Letho the kingslayer, who reveals a Nilfgaardian plot
to destabilise the Northern Kingdoms. After hearing Letho's story, Geralt can either let him go or
duel him to the death. Geralt then reunites with Triss and either Iorveth or Roche, and sets off
south. A concurrent plot of the game is Geralt's attempts to recover lost memories from his
previous life, learning more about his lover Yennefer, and the mythical Wild Hunt. The post credit
scene reveals a wood gathering peasant witnessing a Nilfgaardian invasion.

Release:
On 14 April 2011, CD Projekt Red announced during their CDP Days 2011 Spring Conference
that retail copies of the game would feature SecuRom digital rights management (DRM). However,
the protection would still allow for infinite installations on an infinite number of PCs, with the
ability to play on up to five PCs at any one time. It was confirmed that the game would feature no
censorship between regions. The Witcher 2 was also distributed through several digital distribution
services such as Steam and CD Projekt Red's own service GOG.com. The version sold on
GOG.com was the only version that did not have any DRM at release.

On 3 May 2011, Namco Bandai confirmed that the Australian release of the game would be
modified to meet the MA15+ rating. The edit specifically relates to a side quest in which Geralt is
offered sex as a reward for completing the quest. The Australian version sees Geralt decline the
offer automatically. Three weeks prior to this announcement, the game was removed from the
Australian Steam store, causing outrage amongst the Australian gaming community. Additionally,
CD Projekt Red's digital distribution service GOG.com announced that the price of the Australian
version would be increased due to licensing issues, but that customers could still pre-order the
game for its original price 17 hours before the change.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was released for PC on 17 May 2011 at retail stores and digital
distribution services such as GOG and Steam. UK supermarket chain Tesco released the console
version of the game on Friday 13 April 2012 – four days ahead of the scheduled release date – and
were asked to pull the game off the shelves until the original release date.[19]

Reception:

13
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings received generally favourable reviews. It has won over 50
awards for best graphics, best adaptation or use of a license, best story, best PC game, best RPG,
and Game of the Year.

Critics praised combat mechanics, customization, graphics, environments, immersion, and

storytelling. PC Gamer felt that combat mechanics and the game's ending were the weaker point
of the game. 1UP's Tom Chick gave the game a glowing 'A' rating and cited its "rich graphics that
don't have to be flashy, complex challenging combat, and superlative low-fantasy writing". The
game garnered a number of perfect scores, with GamePro saying that "The Witcher 2 embodies
everything that's good about PC development, and everything that makes it, in my mind, the best
platform out there." Game Informer gave the game a "platinum score" and mentioned that "the
brilliant dark fantasy adventure is just as good on console" as it was on PC.

A major source of contention about the game is the difficulty of the combat, especially during the
game's first few hours. Some sources such as Eurogamer have praised the difficulty of the
prologue, explaining "[the game] treats you not as a player... but as an adult, free to make your
own mistakes and suffer a plot in which not everyone gets what they deserve".[49]

The game was also criticized for what Rock, Paper, Shotgun characterized as gratuitous nudity,
especially in the topless scene of the character Maria Louisa La Valette, who is said to show
"brazen breasts" while being threatened with torture, her breasts sexualizing a scene that should
be gravely serious. Other critics felt the scene was simply being realistic, in that a woman in the
real world who is about to be tortured would probably have bare breasts.[51]

In June 2014, the game garnered mainstream media coverage when United States President Barack
Obama mentioned the video game in his speech in Poland. He said:

The last time I was here, [Polish Prime Minister] Donald [Tusk] gave me a gift, the video game
developed here in Poland that’s won fans the world over, The Witcher. I confess, I’m not very
good at video games, but I’ve been told that it is a great example of Poland’s place in the new
global economy. And it’s a tribute to the talents and work ethic of the Polish people as well as the
wise stewardship of Polish leaders like Prime Minister Tusk.

Sales:
The Witcher 2 had reportedly sold more than 940,000 copies by August 2011, a sales rate that CD
Projekt Red had projected. Of the 940,000 copies sold, 200,000 were online sales (digital sales).

Additional statistics for online sales were reported in November 2011. Direct2Drive, Impulse and
Gamersgate's combined sales were a total of 10,000 units. GOG sold 40,000 copies. Within the
same time period, 200,000 copies of The Witcher 2 were sold on Steam.

By May 2012, the game had sold 1.7 million copies. By February 2013, the combined sales of the
game and its predecessor exceeded

14
5 million. By March 2014, The Witcher series has sold 7 million copies of both games. By
September 2014, the series reached 8 million copies.

After The Witcher 2 CD Projekt wanted to develop an open-world game of a quality similar to
their other games, and the company wanted to add features to avoid criticism that it was Witcher
2.5. They wanted to push the game's graphics boundaries, releasing it only for the PC and eighth-
generation consoles. This triggered debate on the team, some of whom wanted to release the game
for older consoles to maximise profit.The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt took three-and-a-half years to
develop and cost over $81 million. After multiple delays, it was released in May 2015 to critical
praise. Wild Hunt was commercially successful, selling six million copies in its first six weeks and
giving the studio a profit of 236 million złoty ($62.5 million) in the first half of 2015. The team
released 16 free content downloads and two paid expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.

15
 The Witcher 3:
Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a 2015 action
role-playing game developed and published
by CD Projekt. Based on The Witcher series
of fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej
Sapkowski, it is the sequel to the 2011 game
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Played
in an open world with a third-person
perspective, players control protagonist
Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter known as
a witcher, who is looking for his missing
adopted daughter on the run from the Wild
Hunt: an otherworldly force determined to
capture and use her powers. Players battle
the game's many dangers with weapons and
magic, interact with non-player characters,
and complete main-story and side quests to
acquire experience points and gold, which
are used to increase Geralt's abilities and
purchase equipment. Its central story has
several endings, determined by the player's
choices at certain points in the game.

Gameplay:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an action role-playing game with a third-person perspective. Players
control Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter known as a Witcher. Geralt walks, runs, rolls and dodges,
and (for the first time in the series) jumps, climbs and swims. He has a variety of weapons,
including bombs, a crossbow and two swords (one steel and one silver). The steel sword is used
primarily to kill humans while the silver sword is more effective against creatures and monsters.
Players can draw out, switch and sheathe their swords at will. There are two modes of melee attack;
light attacks are fast but weak, and heavy attacks are slow and strong. Players can block and
counter enemy attacks with their swords. Swords have limited endurance and require regular

16
repair. In addition to physical attacks, Geralt has five magical signs at his disposal: Aard, Axii,
Igni, Yrden and Quen. Aard prompts Geralt to unleash a telekinetic blast, Axii confuses enemies,
Igni burns them, Yrden slows them down and Quen offers players a temporary, protective shield.
The signs use stamina, and cannot be used indefinitely. Players can use mutagens to increase
Geralt's magic power. They lose health when they are attacked by enemies, although wearing
armour can help reduce health loss. Health can be restored with meditation or consumables, such
as food and potions. Players occasionally control Ciri, Geralt's adoptive daughter who can teleport
short distances. The game has responsive, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamic
environments. The day-night cycle influences some monsters (and their powers), as a werewolf
becomes powerful during the night of a full moon. Players can learn about their enemies and
prepare for combat by reading the in-game bestiary. When they kill an enemy, they can loot its
corpse for valuables. Geralt's witcher sense enables players to find objects of interest, including
items that can be collected or scavenged. Items are stored in the inventory, which can be expanded
by purchasing upgrades. Players can sell items to vendors or use them to craft potions and bombs.
They can visit blacksmiths to craft new weapons and armour with what they have gathered. The
price of an item and the cost of crafting it depend on a region's local economy.

The game focuses on narrative, and has a dialogue wheel which allows players to choose how to
respond to non-player characters. Geralt must make decisions which change the state of the world
and lead to 36 possible endings, affecting the lives of in-game characters. He can have a romantic
relationship with some of the game's female characters by completing certain quests. In addition
to the main quests, books offer more information on the game's world. Players can begin side
quests after visiting a town's noticeboard. These side missions include Witcher Contracts
(elaborate missions requiring players to hunt monsters) and Treasure Hunt quests, which reward
players with top-tier weapons or armour. Players earn experience points by completing missions.
When a player earns enough experience, Geralt's level increases and the player receives ability
points. These points may be used on four skill trees: combat, signs, alchemy and general. Combat
upgrades enhance Geralt's attacks and unlock new fighting techniques; signs upgrades enable him
to use magic more efficiently, and alchemy upgrades improve crafting abilities. General upgrades
have a variety of functions, from raising Geralt's vitality to increasing crossbow damage. The
game's open world is divided into several regions. Geralt can explore each region on foot or by
transportation, such as a boat. Roach, his horse, may be summoned at will. Players can kill enemies
with their sword while riding Roach, but an enemy presence may frighten the horse and unseat
Geralt. Points of interest may be found on the map, and players receive experience points after
completing mini-missions in these regions. Players can discover Places of Power for additional
ability points. Other activities include horse racing, boxing and card playing; the card-playing
mechanic was later expanded into a standalone game.

17
Setting:
The game is set in the Continent, a fantasy world surrounded by parallel dimensions and extra-
dimensional worlds. Humans, elves, dwarves, monsters and other creatures co-exist on the
Continent, but non-humans are often persecuted for their differences. The Continent is caught up
in a war between the empire of Nilfgaard led by Emperor Emhyr var Emreis (Charles Dance), who
invaded the Northern Kingdoms and Redania, ruled by King Radovid V. Several locations appear
in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, including the free city of Novigrad, the Redanian city of Oxenfurt,
the no man's land of Velen, the city of Vizima (former capital of the recently-conquered Temeria),
the Skellige islands (home to several Viking-like clans) and the witcher stronghold of Kaer
Morhen.

The main character is the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia (Doug Cockle), a monster hunter trained since
childhood in combat, tracking, alchemy and magic, and made stronger, faster and resistant to
toxins by mutagens. He is aided by his lover, the powerful sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg
(Denise Gough), his former love interest Triss Merigold (Jaimi Barbakoff), the bard Dandelion
(John Schwab), the dwarf warrior Zoltan Chivay (Alexander Morton), and Geralt's Witcher mentor
Vesemir (William Roberts). Geralt is spurred into action by the reappearance of his and Yennefer's
adopted daughter, Ciri (Jo Wyatt). Ciri is a Source, born with innate (and potentially vast) magical
abilities; after the apparent death of her parents, she was trained as a witcher while Yennefer taught
her magic. She is unaware that the Emperor is her biological father; he sired her under an assumed
name while he was subject to a curse. Ciri disappeared years before to escape the Wild Hunt, a
group of spectral warriors led by the King of the Wild Hunt: the elf Eredin, from a parallel
dimension.

18
Plot:
Geralt rejoins his long-lost lover, Yennefer, in the town of White Orchard. Yennefer tells him that
Emperor Emhyr has summoned him to the city of Vizima. Emhyr tasks Geralt with finding Ciri,
who has recently been seen in several places. Ciri is a Child of the Elder Blood, the last heir to an
ancient elfish bloodline with the power to manipulate space and time. Geralt first hears that Ciri
was in Velen at Crow's Perch, the Bloody Baron's fort. The baron refuses to help, but Geralt's
acquaintance, the sorceress Keira Metz, tells him that an elfish mage was looking for Ciri. Keira
directs Geralt to the Crones of Crookback Bog: malicious, ancient spirits living near Velen. The
Crones say that they captured Ciri for the Wild Hunt before she escaped and have enslaved Anna,
the baron's missing wife. Geralt returns to the baron, who tells him that Ciri went to Novigrad.

He discovers that the Church of the Eternal Fire, a militant religious organization, is purging mages
in Novigrad. Meeting his former lover, Triss Merigold, Geralt learns that Ciri had contacted his
friend Dandelion. Geralt navigates Novigrad's criminal underworld to rescue Dandelion, and
learns that Ciri teleported to the Skellige archipelago. In Novigrad, Geralt may help Triss to free
fugitive mages. He sails to Skellige and rejoins Yennefer, who has been investigating a magical
explosion linked to Ciri. They track Ciri to the island of Lofoten, which has been attacked by the
Wild Hunt. Geralt and Yennefer realise that Uma, a deformed, cursed creature at Crow's Perch,
was present after Ciri's escape. Before leaving Skellige, Geralt can help determine who will rule
Skellige after the king's death. Yennefer severs the magical bond between her and Geralt, giving
him the option of affirming his love for her or ending their relationship.

They bring Uma to the witcher school of Kaer Morhen, where Yennefer removes his curse and
transforms him into Avallac'h. He reveals that he teleported Ciri to the Isle of Mists to save her
from the Lofoten attack. Geralt travels to the island and finds Ciri in a deathlike state, until she is
awakened by Avallac'h's magic. She says that Eredin's (the King of the Wild Hunt) homeworld is
being destroyed by the White Frost, and he wants Ciri's power to conquer the Continent. Ciri and
Geralt teleport to Kaer Morhen, pursued by the Wild Hunt. After a brief reunion with Yennefer,
Triss and Vesemir (their witcher mentor), the Hunt attacks. Vesemir is killed protecting Ciri; her
distress unleashes her Elder power, and Eredin and the Hunt retreat. Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, Ciri,
and their allies conduct a funeral for Vesemir. Ciri and Geralt travel to Novigrad and help Triss
and Yennefer reform the Lodge of Sorceresses to aid their fight.

They learn about the Sunstone, a relic which can lure Eredin out and bind him to a location. On
the Skelligan island of Undvik, Avallac'h uses the Sunstone to draw out the Hunt and their fleet.
Geralt, Ciri, their allies and the Nilfgaardian fleet battle the Hunt, and Geralt defeats Eredin in
combat. As the White Frost descends on Skellige, Ciri insists that she must confront it with her
Elder Blood before it consumes all life on every world. She enters a portal and defeats the White
Frost, ending the threat. The game ending varies, depending on previous choices. If Ciri is alive,
Geralt can retire with Yennefer or Triss or remain a lone witcher. If Geralt helps Nilfgaard win the
war and brings Ciri to meet the emperor, she will become empress; if Ciri does not meet the
emperor, Geralt fakes her death and she becomes a witcher. If Ciri dies fighting the White Frost,
Geralt hunts down her stolen medallion as a keepsake; surrounded by monsters when he finds it,
his fate is unknown.

19
Development:
Although the game was planned to begin production in 2008, CD Projekt Red's preoccupation with
Rise of the White Wolf pushed it back to 2011. The company developed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
with a self-funded budget of US$81 million over three-and-a-half years. The project began with
150 employees, eventually growing to over 250 in-house staff. Fifteen hundred people were
involved in the production globally. While the game is based on Sapkowski's novels, his
involvement with the game was limited to the creation of its in-game map. It was localised in 15
languages, with a total of 500 voice actors. The game was scripted concurrently in Polish and
English to alleviate difficulty in localisation. According to Side (the company which handled voice
casting and recording), the 450,000-word script had 950 speaking roles. The voices were recorded
from late 2012 to early 2015. CD Projekt Red wanted The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to be free of any
digital rights management (DRM) due to the developer's unsuccessful control of piracy with its
predecessor, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, whose DRM also made it run slowly.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was created with the REDengine 3, CD Projekt Red's proprietary game
engine designed for nonlinear role-playing video games set in open world environments, aided by
the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles and prepared for use in October 2014. The first play-
through indicated to the developers that the open world, despite its content and generation around
the quests, seemed empty. As a solution, they added points of interest. The game had 5,000 bugs
that December, which (with a launch date of February 2015) necessitated its postponement. Like
the previous two Witcher games, players are given a complex story with multiple choices and
consequences. Unlike other game engines, REDengine 3 permits a complex storyline without
sacrificing virtual world design. The user interface was made more intuitive with grid-based
solutions. The camera system was improved to use long shots for battles with multiple enemies
and close-ups for more-intimate confrontations. More animations were used for combat sequences
than in The Witcher 2, with each lasting less than one second for quick succession. Game director
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and senior game designer Damien Monnier cited Dark Souls and Demon's
Souls as influences on Wild Hunt's combat system, and level designer Miles Tost and senior
environment artist Jonas Mattsson cited The Legend of Zelda series and Red Dead Redemption as
influencing the game's level designs and environments.

Months before its release date, the game's economy, crafting, and inventory systems were
incomplete and apparently unable to meet the deadline. Senior gameplay designer Matthew
Steinke thought of a remedy and drew up a system context diagram. To allocate prices, Steinke
wrote a formula based on rate of damage, defence, or healing. Polynomial least squares were used
to determine its efficacy, and it was found to eliminate bugs from the system and reduce loading
times. Each character was given a unique personality to contrast the fetch-quest system typically
used in video games. It was decided early that the writing would be witty, with metaphors and
implied meanings. Dialogue was limited to 15 lines, with occasional exceptions, to retain content
originality. Player options were written as morally ambiguous, reflecting real life and Andrzej
Sapkowski's original Witcher series. Alcoholism, abuse and sexuality, depicted as normal parts of
the medieval world, were incorporated into the story for authenticity. Areas of the open world were
based on Poland, Amsterdam, and Scandinavia. Objects were modelled by hand.

20
Storylines such as Yennefer imprisoning Geralt on an island and Geralt's covert recruitment to the
Wild Hunt were discarded to make the game smaller and avoid splitting it into two parts. The card
game Gwent was preceded by other mini-game proposals, including a drinking game, knife
throwing, and ice skating. A re-enactment of the Battle of Grunwald was recorded for the sounds
of battle, marching, blacksmithing, and the firing of arrows. Recording the knights' voices for post-
processing, the speakers wore helmets for an authentic sound. Marcin Przybyłowicz was the
game's music director and composer, with additional music contributed by Polish folk band
Percival. According to Przybyłowicz, working with Percival was a challenge; he expected an
academic approach before learning that most of the group were not formally trained, and much of
the music was improvised. Multi-instrumentalist Robert Jaworski of the folk band Żywiołak
recorded lute, Renaissance fiddle, bowed gusle, and hurdy-gurdy sections. The score was
performed in Frankfurt an der Oder by the Brandenburg State Orchestra, conducted by Bernd Ruf.

Reception:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received universal acclaim, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
Critics agreed that it was an ambitious action role-playing game which was grand in scale, but
marred by technical difficulties and a lack of innovation. GameSpot and Eurogamer gave the game
their highest rating. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been considered one of the greatest video games
of all time. The game world received widespread praise from critics. Kimberly Wallace of Game
Informer called it "immersive", and was impressed by its attention to detail. Destructoid's Chris
Carter praised its size, which he found enormous and would take players hours to explore. Jonathon
Leack, writing for Game Revolution, praised the game's effective use of its large world. Leack
wrote that every region had quests and activities for players to try, although he thought that much
was filler which extended its length. Tom Senior of GamesRadar praised the open world's variety,
describing it as an "exciting realization of the Ronin fantasy". GameTrailers' Daniel Bloodworth
praised the game for encouraging exploration; many quests would only become available to
players after they met non-playable characters in different parts of the world. Vince Ingenito of
IGN and Shaun Prescott of PC Gamer were impressed by the game's scenery and its day-night
cycle, with Ingenito saying that it highlighted the game world's authenticity.

Its narrative also received critical acclaim. Carter praised the game's cast of characters, which he
called unique and interesting. He considered the narrative more involving, with players witnessing
key events and making consequential choices. Wallace praised the game's dialogue and its side-
quests; each was similar to a short story, and player decisions in the quests would influence the
state of the world. She liked the game's main quest, which added more character to Geralt, and
said that the romance options were a significant improvement over its predecessors. However, she
was disappointed with the quality of the game's endings. Kevin Van Ord of GameSpot echoed
Wallace, noting that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's story had more characterisation for Geralt than
the previous games. He welcomed the change, since it gave players emotional connections to the
in-game characters. Senior enjoyed the game's side-quests, calling them "a compilation of dark
fantasy short stories" which overshadowed the main quests. Ingenito was disappointed with the
game's main story, saying that there was too much padding and too many dull quests. PC Gamer's
Shaun Prescott agreed, saying that the narrative would have felt rote if the side content was not
engaging. Van Ord, Wallace and Brett Phipps of VideoGamer.com praised the voice acting, with

21
Wallace calling it the series' best. Arthur Gies from Polygon criticized that some of the female
characters are overly sexualized and that there are no people of colour in the main game.

The game's combat had a generally-positive reception. Bloodworth found Geralt more mobile and
agile with the new climbing and swimming mechanic. Carter said that it was significantly
streamlined and its predecessors' strategic elements removed, but appreciated its action. Wallace
wrote that with a simplified alchemy system, a decent user interface and diverse difficulty settings
the combat was more accessible, although she disliked the disruptive weapon-degradation system
and unrefined crossbow shooting mechanic. Leack thought the system lacked complexity and
criticised its lack of polish, caused by the unreliable lock-on system, camera issues and
excessively-long combat animation. Senior noted that some gameplay mechanics, such as rolling
and dodging, were inconsistent and made the system feel unfair. Ingenito praised the combat,
describing its fluidity as a significant improvement over its predecessors.

Other gameplay aspects received mixed reviews. Van Ord praised the game's customisation and
upgrade system (which offered players a sense of progression), since it hardened as the story
unfolded. Ingenito called its upgrade system deep and flexible, since players have considerable
freedom when customising Geralt's skills. Leack disliked the upgrade system, calling it
"unexciting".Carter was disappointed with the Witcher Senses (which he found repetitive), but
Senior considered them superior to objective markers—the norm for role-playing games. Prescott
disliked the user interface for its clumsiness and tedium. Senior found the Gwent card game an
addictive minigame.

The game was criticised for its technical issues. Carter called its climbing animations stiff, noting
that some gameplay bugs would hinder player progress. According to Wallace, the game's load
times were too long. Leack noted that the game had a graphic downgrade, and the actual game did
not look as good as the 2013 demonstration. Senior, Phipps and Ingenito noted frame rate issues;
although Ingenito thought it did not impact the gameplay, Phipps called it a persistent problem
which overshadowed many of the game's achievements.

Sales:
Before its release, over 1.5 million people pre-ordered the game. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt debuted atop
the UK software sales chart in its first week, when it earned 600 percent more than predecessor The Witcher
2: Assassins of Kings. It was the best-selling video game of the year in the UK, breaking the record held by
Battlefield Hardline. It debuted atop the Japanese video-game sales charts, selling 67,385 copies in its first
week. Four million copies of the game were sold in its first two weeks of release. By June 2015, over
690,000 players had activated the game through GOG Galaxy. The game sold over six million copies in the
next six weeks, and the studio made a profit of $63.3 million in the first half of 2015. In March 2016, CD
Projekt Red reported that the game had shipped nearly 10 million copies worldwide. By the end of 2017,
the series as a whole had sold over 33 million.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received pre-release awards at E3 in 2013 and 2014. It was voted the
best role-playing game at the IGN Best of E3 Awards in 2013 and 2014. It won IGN's E3 People's
Choice Award in 2013 and 2014, GameSpot's E3 People's Choice Award in 2014, and the Most
Wanted Award at the 31st and 32nd Golden Joystick Awards. It was the Most Anticipated Game

22
at the Game Awards 2014 in Las Vegas. At release it received over 250 "game of the year" titles,
the most awarded at the time. By August 2016, it had received over 800 awards.

Its accolades are from several events, including the Golden Joystick Awards, The Game
Awards,[119] D.I.C.E. Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, SXSW Gaming Awards and the
National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards. The Witcher 3 was
recognized as game of the year by IGN, GameSpot, Game Informer and other gaming publications.
The game received a Golden Joystick Award for Best Storytelling, Best Visual Design and Best
Gaming Moment, and the Game Awards for Best Role-Playing Game and Studio of the Year for
CD Projekt Red. It won Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Outstanding Technical
Achievement and Outstanding Achievement in Story at the D.I.C.E. Awards, and won the Game
of the Year and Best Technology awards at the 16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

23
 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone is the first expansion pack for the 2015 video game
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Developed by CD Projekt Red, Hearts of Stone was released for
Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 13 October 2015. The expansion follows
Geralt of Rivia coming in contact with a mysterious man known as Gaunter O'Dimm, and his
connections to Olgierd von Everec, a cursed nobleman.

Plot:
Geralt takes up a contract sent out by a noble named Olgierd von Everec, who tasks him with
eliminating a giant toad monster in the sewers of Oxenfurt. While hunting the monster, Geralt runs
into Shani, a medic and an old acquaintance of his, whom he has the option of romancing. Geralt
then kills the toad monster, only to find it was actually a cursed Ofieri prince. The prince's guards
capture Geralt with the intention of executing him. While awaiting his execution en route to Ofier,
Geralt is approached by the mysterious Gaunter O'Dimm. O'Dimm helps Geralt escape, but in
return Geralt must help O'Dimm recover a debt from von Everec, who had set up Geralt knowing
the toad monster was an Ofieri prince. O'Dimm brands Geralt and tells him that according to terms
of his contract with von Everec, he must fulfill three of von Everec's wishes. Geralt confronts von
Everec and discovers that von Everec had obtained immortality at the cost of his emotions, giving
him a "Heart of Stone." He admits to cursing the Ofieri prince since he was arranged to marry his
true love, Iris, and that he wished for immortality in order to be with her. He then tells Geralt his
three wishes: to entertain his brother Vlodimir for one night, to get revenge on the Borsodi family
by obtaining Maximilian Borsodi's house, and to obtain the violet rose he had given to Iris.
O'Dimm tells Geralt that the three tasks are meant to be impossible, as Maximilian Borsodi's house
is kept in a highly secure vault and both Vlodimir and Iris have been dead for years, but in spite of
that, he agrees to assist Geralt.

With O'Dimm's help, Geralt allows Vlodimir's spirit to possess his body for one night, allowing
him to attend a wedding party and fulfilling the first wish. O'Dimm banishes Vlodimir when the
task is done, implying that he has powerful magic. Geralt then participates in a heist to steal

24
Maximilian Borsodi's house from its vault, and finds that it contains a will that would grant the
entire Borsodi fortune to charity, fulfilling von Everec's revenge and second wish. To obtain Iris'
rose, Geralt enlists the help of two demonic entities that resemble a cat and a dog to gain access to
a supernatural realm where he witnesses von Everec and Iris' past. There, he learns that due to his
"Heart of Stone," von Everec could not truly love Iris and she died neglected and unhappy. Geralt,
based on the player's choice, can either obtain the rose from Iris' spirit in order to free her from
being "pinned" into the world or let the rose remain with her. Either way, Geralt fulfills von
Everec's last wish and goes to meet with him. Along the way, he learns that O'Dimm is in fact an
ancient satanic entity of pure evil that relishes tricking people into trading away their souls in
return for granting wishes that, unknown to the recipients, contain harmful side effects. When
Geralt meets with von Everec, the three wishes are fulfilled and O'Dimm arrives to collect von
Everec's soul.

At this point, Geralt has the option of allowing O'Dimm to take von Everec's soul or intervening
to save von Everec. If Geralt does nothing, O'Dimm kills von Everec, takes his soul, and rewards
Geralt with one wish. If Geralt intervenes, he challenges O'Dimm by wagering his own soul to
save von Everec. After Geralt solves O'Dimm's riddle, O'Dimm is forced to release both Geralt
and von Everec from their pacts. Von Everec, now mortal again, regains his emotions and
immediately feels regret for his past actions and mistakes. He gives Geralt his family sword, and
promises to start a new life free from O'Dimm's control.

Release:
On 7 April 2015, CD Projekt announced two expansion packs for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—the
first expansion being Hearts of Stone and the second being Blood and Wine. Hearts of Stone was
released on 13 October 2015.

Reception:
Hearts of Stone received positive reviews from critics, with all three platforms garnering
"generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. The game
scored a 9/10 from reviewers at both IGN and GameSpot.

25
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine is the second and final expansion pack for the 2015
video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Developed by CD Projekt Red, Blood and Wine was
released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 31 May 2016. The expansion
follows Geralt of Rivia as he travels to Toussaint, a duchy untouched by the war taking place in
the base game, as he hopes to track down a mysterious beast terrorizing the region. The expansion
received universal acclaim from critics, winning a number of awards.

Plot:
Set after the events of the base game, Geralt is offered a contract by Duchess Anna Henrietta, the
ruler of Toussaint, a vassal duchy under the Nilfgaardian Empire famous for its vineyards and
wine exports. Two knights of Toussaint had been murdered in strange circumstances, and Geralt
is tasked with finding and killing the monster responsible.

Upon his arrival in Toussaint, Geralt investigates the murder of a third knight. With the help of
Henrietta and Captain Damien de la Tour, the knight heading the investigations, Geralt discovers
clues that suggest the knights were killed for violating the five virtues that all knights of Toussaint
swear to uphold, and that a fourth knight may be in danger. Geralt and the duchess then race to
find the knight. Geralt arrives just in time to see the Beast killing the fourth knight, who had
accompanied Geralt to Toussaint. Geralt chases the Beast, eventually cornering and battling him
in a warehouse. Before either can kill the other, Regis, a higher vampire and friend of Geralt,
intervenes and convinces the Beast to leave. Regis, who Geralt believed to be long dead from their
past incursion, explains that the Beast is another higher vampire named Dettlaff. Regis was revived
by Dettlaff after his supposed execution, resulting in the fact that Regis is bonded to Dettlaff by
blood according to their vampiric code.

26
Geralt joins forces with Regis to find out why Dettlaff is committing murders despite being
indifferent towards human affairs, according to Regis. They brew a potion that enables Geralt to
see certain visions of Dettlaff's memories, pointing them in the direction of a bootblack. Obtaining
clues from the bootblack, Geralt and Regis discover Dettlaff's hideout, and Geralt finds evidence
that Dettlaff is being blackmailed into the killings. Rhenawedd, Dettlaff's human lover, has been
kidnapped and the kidnappers are forcing Dettlaff to murder the knights. Regis stays behind to
wait for Dettlaff to return, while Geralt reports to Henrietta and de la Tour. From the wine stain on
one of the pieces of paper the kidnappers sent Dettlaff naming his victims, Henrietta is able to
identify the wine as one reserved solely for the ducal table. Geralt, Henrietta, and de la Tour visit
the ducal winery, and its maker confesses to selling a barrel of the wine to a mysterious buyer.
Learning that the buyer has arranged for another barrel, Geralt and de la Tour mount an ambush
on the collection party. Geralt interrogates a captured member of the party, who divulges the
identity of the mysterious buyer as the Cintrian.

Geralt and Henrietta go undercover at a soirée where The Cintrian was due to attend. Geralt
discovers an attempt by the Cintrian to steal a jewel that was foiled. The owner of the residence
hosting the soirée, Orianna, admits to catching The Cintrian red-handed and struggling with him,
eventually throwing him out of a window and killing him. Henrietta identifies the jewel as a family
heirloom, lost many years ago; Orianna reveals she bought it off a young woman. Geralt also
recovers the knife The Cintrian used to attack Orianna, which Henrietta identifies as one belonging
to the lord of a castle nearby. Geralt points out to Henrietta that the wine and jewel are both tied
to the duchess intimately, leading to an attempt on her life, but Henrietta floats an alternative
theory. She speculates that her long lost sister Syanna may be involved. Syanna had been exiled
for supposedly being afflicted by the Curse of the Black Sun, a curse for girls born at the same
time as a solar eclipse. Henrietta tasks Geralt to investigate the castle and find Syanna if she is
there, and return her unharmed. Regis unexpectedly shows up with Dettlaff in tow, announcing
their intent to assist Geralt with finding the blackmailer.

De la Tour's men assault the castle while Geralt sneaks in through the back, fighting his way to the
keep. Halfway through, he is joined by Regis and Dettlaff, the latter of whom is eager to recover
Rhenawedd. Inside, they find Rhenawedd, but no sign of another woman. Geralt deduces that
Syanna and Rhenawedd are the same person, who faked her own kidnapping and was also behind
the sale of the ducal wine and the attempted theft of the jewel. Feeling betrayed, Dettlaff leaves in
a rage, threatening to destroy Beauclair, the capital city of Toussaint, unless Syanna agrees to meet
him for an explanation within three days. Geralt explains to Henrietta that Syanna was behind it
all, but the duchess refuses to believe it. Upon learning that Dettlaff is the Beast, she demands
Geralt track him down and kill him, while also refusing to bow to Dettlaff's threat.

Geralt has no luck locating Dettlaff in the next three days. While he and Regis report to the duchess,
news reaches them of lesser vampires attacking the city. Geralt and Regis have two choices: free
Syanna so she can talk to Dettlaff, or find the Unseen Elder who can force Dettlaff to appear before
Geralt. If Geralt chooses to free Syanna, he and Regis find de la Tour in the city and convince him
to tell them where Syanna is imprisoned. Geralt and Regis make their way to the palace's playroom,
where they find an enchanted fairy tale book where the sisters used to play together as children.
Geralt enters the book's world, named the Land of a Thousand Fables, locates Syanna, and returns
with her to the real world. While in the Land of a Thousand Fables, Geralt has the option to retrieve

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a ribbon for Syanna. While there, Syanna also explains to Geralt her reason for murdering the
knights – they were the ones who exiled her under orders, some of whom who also abused her
during the journey. If Geralt opts to find the Unseen Elder, he talks to Orianna, who offers to tell
him the way if he slays a vampire targeting an orphanage under her patronage. Geralt slays the
vampire, but also learns that Orianna is a higher vampire with a taste for the blood of the young
children in the orphanage. Since Beauclair is under attack, Geralt leaves Orianna, but threatens her
that one day he will come for her and kill her. Geralt and Regis make their way to the Unseen
Elder's lair, where after some difficulty they persuade the Unseen Elder to recall Dettlaff.

At this point several endings are possible. If Geralt opts to release Syanna from the fairy tale world,
Geralt, Regis and Syanna meet Dettlaff in Tesham Mutna. If Geralt retrieves the ribbon for Syanna,
then it saves her from Dettlaff's killing blow. Then Geralt fights Dettlaff, with the help of Regis.
Dettlaff subdues Regis before turning on Geralt, and the two fight. Geralt defeats Dettlaff after an
exhausting battle. Since only a higher vampire can truly kill another higher vampire, Regis
reluctantly kills Dettlaff. Geralt is to be awarded with Toussaint's highest honor for slaying the
Beast. Before he attends the ceremony, Geralt can choose to join Regis in uncovering the identity
of Syanna's would-be fifth victim. They revisit the bootblack, who points them in the direction of
beggars paid to deliver the messages naming the victims to Dettlaff. Geralt and Regis obtain the
fifth scroll from the beggars, revealing the intended victim to be Henrietta. The duchess' death
would have fulfilled the last virtue, compassion, as the duchess has been seen to be ruthless and
harsh in her punishments. Geralt can then choose to confront an incarcerated Syanna with the
knowledge. Geralt attends the award ceremony, and stays by the duchess' side while she judges
Syanna for her crimes. If Geralt chooses not to investigate into the fifth victim, or if he investigates
it and then confronts Syanna in an admonishing manner, Syanna stabs Henrietta with a hairpin and
is in turn shot by de la Tour's crossbow. With no living heirs to the dukedom, Toussaint falls into
a state of chaos. If Geralt asks Syanna to consider forgiving her sister, which is only possible if
Geralt read a governess' diary before entering the fairy tale world, the two sisters resolve their
differences, and Toussaint celebrates.

A third ending results if Geralt did not retrieve the magical ribbon for Syanna in the fairy tale
world. Dettlaff confronts Syanna, and kills her. Geralt can choose to let him go, or kill him with
the help of Regis. Whichever his decision, Geralt is thrown into prison for failing to save Syanna.
Geralt would have languished in prison or been executed had it not been for Dandelion persuading
the duchess to pardon him. Geralt meets with Regis, and can choose to look into the fifth victim.
He uncovers that the fifth victim was to be the duchess herself, and goes to the ducal crypt where
the duchess grieves, accompanied by Dandelion. The duchess refuses to believe Geralt and forbids
him from seeing her ever again.

If Geralt opts for the Unseen Elder path, then the elder vampire would force Dettlaff to meet Geralt
and Regis in Tesham Mutna. Dettlaff, enraged, attacks both of them, but Geralt and Regis gain the
upper hand and kill him. The ending is the same as if Geralt hadn't looked into who was to be the
fifth victim, with Syanna killing Anna and being killed in turn.

Geralt drinks with Regis, reflecting on their journey and the events they have witnessed and
sometimes had a hand in. They agree they deserve some rest after all that has transpired. If Dettlaff
was killed, Regis is attacked by vampires and labeled a traitor for helping defeat Dettlaff. Regis

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tells Geralt that he shall venture south and settle in the city of Nilfgaard. Geralt then returns home
to the vineyard estate that formed part of his payment to find a surprise visitor. Depending on the
choices and endings from the base game, the visitor may be either Ciri, Yennefer, Triss, or
Dandelion.

Release:
On 7 April 2015, CD Projekt announced two expansion packs for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—the
first expansion being Hearts of Stone and the second being Blood and Wine. Blood and Wine was
released on 31 May 2016.

Reception:
Blood and Wine received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website,
Metacritic. Many reviewers praised the way CD Projekt Red ended the storyline of the character
Geralt of Rivia and the size of the expansion, with some saying it could be a new project. In a PC
Gamer review by Tom Senior, he praised the developers for making such an in-depth expansion,
and if they kept getting released, he'd still be playing The Witcher in 2020. Senior commended the
farewell to the series. The Escapist writer Steven Bogos states it is overall a good expansion but
it's not the adventurous "save the world" storyline like the previous Witcher titles. He added that
the farewell to Geralt of Rivia will leave a smile on your face. Richard Cobbett for Rock, Paper,
Shotgun claimed the game wasn't CD Projekt Red's best work. He said it had a good story but not
as good as Hearts of Stone's. On the contrary to Cobbett's review, Chris Carter for Destructoid
believed Blood and Wine was better than Hearts of Stone due to the latter feeling like a "polished,
elongated quest". He said Blood and Wine was expansive enough that it could be considered a new
project. "Blood and Wine is sometimes as thematically dark as its predecessors", Kevin VanOrd
said in a GameSpot review, although when compared to other aspects of The Witcher 3, it is less
grim. Leif Johnson for IGN had initial doubts due to the slow start but started to "love it" within
the first few hours of gameplay. Shacknews writer Josh Hawkins noted they experienced a few
problems and bugs in the expansion but there wasn't much he didn't like. He added onto this by
saying it was, overall, a good addition to the series. Similar to Hawkins, Mike Williams for
USgamer said it was a good expansion overall and the farewell to Geralt of Rivia was a success.

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Conclusion:

In the end, I hope I made it clear why I chose to write about CD

Projekt and their video game series, The Witcher, after seeing
everything that they have done with so little resources and
experience.
A company can not simply develop a video game and be as
successful as CD Projekt was without having their knowledge,
patience and creativity.

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 Bibliography:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_Projekt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher_(video_game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher_2:_Assassins_
of_Kings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher_3:_Wild_Hunt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher_3:_Wild_Hunt
_%E2%80%93_Hearts_of_Stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher_3:_Wild_Hunt
_%E2%80%93_Blood_and_Wine

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