The Witcher Enhanced Edition dated

By Robert Purchese Published 20 June, 2008

Revamped RPG due in September.

Polish developer CD Projekt has finally set a new date for its Enhanced Edition of The Witcher.

This disappeared from sight after missing its initial May forecast. The studio has finally come clean and admitted it needs more time to get it polished up.

The Witcher Enhanced Edition promises to be a "completely polished product". Loading times will be drastically reduced, stability bolstered on all sorts of PC configurations, and hordes of bugs swatted.

On top of this CD Projekt will be re-doing the English version to expand the amount of text as it suffered beside other European offerings. Also, the German game will have many of its voices re-recorded.

And there's more: 50 extra supporting-cast models; around 100 added animations spread across hero Geralt and computer-characters; reworked facial animation and lip-syncing; and a re-designed user interface and inventory system.

To entice you further, CD Project is making-up an exclusive bundle containing a game editor and two mini-adventures, a making-of DVD, a CD of game music, a CD of music inspired by the game, and a making-of DVD.

When this version was originally announced there was talk of the bundle also containing an official guide and a 50-page story by Andrzej Sapkowksi who wrote the novels the game is based on. No sign of those so far.

Incidentally, those of you who are registered owners of The Witcher already will be able to download all of the updates and extra content for free.

Head over to our review of The Witcher to see what it is all about.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • QPRHOOPS81 #1 4 years ago

    Really loved this game. Yeah it had its problems but not been that sucked into a game since Champ Manager 97/98 back in the day. Just got Mass Effect and hoping that will have the same sort of pull.

  • Turambar #2 4 years ago

    Ahh an excuse to collect those cards that i missed.

  • anomagnus #3 4 years ago

    if you haven't played this game, you haven't played an rpg

    even the non enhanced version was simply stunning, and i cant wait until everything is fixed

    the only game were choices had genuine impacts. i was still paying for letting those damn elves take their supplies in chapter one, hours later.

  • Farfarer #4 4 years ago

    Woohoo :)

    Will be picking this one up. Been waiting for the enhanced version for what seems like ages now.

  • butler` #5 4 years ago

    They are tightening up on pretty much everything i moaned about in my review, win!

  • Salt_The_Fries #6 4 years ago

    It's one of very few things that made me proud being Polish. It was one of the best RPGs I've ever played, next to SW: KOTOR or Planescape Torment. Games like The Witcher really make games like Neverwinter Nights 2 look extremely bad, dated, and childish.

  • dudefella #7 4 years ago

    I've been holding off on buying The Witcher because of this. Looking forward to it!

  • FixedInfinity #8 4 years ago

    Absolute excellent game. Will be looking forward to playing through this again. :)

  • DuTraveller #9 4 years ago

    I loved this game...! I will wait to buy this one.. Neverwinter 2 was indeed a bad one!

  • WJF #10 4 years ago

    Playing this at the moment. Great game so far. The mission structure is extremely good - weaving in and out. Never lost for something to do.

    Sounds like this upgrade will fix all my minor grips, too. Score!

  • Saltefanden #11 4 years ago

    So basically a new game then.

  • Gaol #12 4 years ago

    The article title is 'Ehanced Edition dated' but I don't see a date.

  • JediMasterMalik #13 4 years ago

    Brilliant game, this will surely fix a lot of it's problems.

  • Barkotron #14 4 years ago

    Brilliant! TWO "Making Of.." DVDs in the one package?

    I was probably going to buy it again anyway, but that really has sealed the deal :p

    Definitely looking forward to this though - I've been holding off playing the original again (first playthrough stalled somewhere in chapter 3 due to inability to play for various reasons) until this comes out.

  • QPRHOOPS81 #15 4 years ago

    after playing this i picked up the book, its pretty good (3 pounds off ebay). Its called the last wish and is (among others) what the game was based from.

  • Sar #16 4 years ago

    Gaol- September.

  • QPRHOOPS81 #17 4 years ago


    [link url=htt p://shop.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/8635246.product
    ]http://sh op.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/863524...[/link]

    Under a tenner with free delivery. You can update it for free as well when the ultimate version is released.

    Go get it Bargain Hunters!

  • Haloboy #18 4 years ago

    "if you haven't played this game, you haven't played an rpg"

    Well said that man. The Witcher is easily my fave game of the last few years RPG wise, and to think such a great game can be made even better is something I'm still struggling to compute. I like many like me halted playing part way through, and the game is simply sat there waiting for the new additions to continue the gaming love as before. September really can't come soon enough.

  • sirtacos #19 4 years ago

    I liked the demo despite its glaring flaws, and knowing that those flaws will be reduced and the story slightly improved is enticing enough. When it comes out, I'll buy it.

  • kangarootoo #20 4 years ago

    I'd like to be cynical about this, with talk of "enhanced meaning finished" and so on, but its actually rather good news.

    Witcher had great promise and this version sounds like it gets closert to realising it, which is ace.

  • Dusk777 #21 4 years ago

    I have been holding off for this version too! The book " The Last Wish" is amazing, although unfortunately only a book of stories about Geralt. The first actual novel about Geralt "The blood of the elves" is being translated and should be out in September, what a coincidence that seems to be about the same time as the new enhanced game! I really cant wait to get this on my beastly PC! xD

  • Sar #22 4 years ago

    On the front page, as the subtitle beneath the link to this article.

    Also, here.
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/08 @ 20:36

  • Sar #23 4 years ago

    Also, if you follow the "come clean" link, you'll see it's due out the first 2 weeks of September.

  • MouzerMalti #24 4 years ago

    awesome :D

  • evak #25 4 years ago

    I loved the original Witcher game. But to be honest, I am really wanting a new game to play, not the old game regurgitated with a few tasty tweaks here and there. Was easily the best RPG in recent years, but like most story driven games, there isn't much incentive to play the game through a second time.

    Hopefully a new game or at least some lengthy adventures are in the works.

  • qoobah #26 4 years ago

    Well thats good news, however I can't shake the feeling that these are the fixes that should have made it into the final game in the first place. Better late than never I guess?

    However, tbh, the game itself wasn't such a 'woah!' experience for me. Sure it was a very good game, but there were tons of little (and not-so-little) things that got on my nerves, starting with rather stupid card collecting, anti-immersive combat, MMO-style quests etc. Most of these things were minor annoyances that I could easily forget about, but the most dissapointing thing for me was, that if you knew the books, then you basically knew two thirds of the dialogue, plot twists and themes that were in the game. Seemed like CD Projekt RED had shortages in creative departament, which is a pity, since Sapkowski created such a rich and coherent world in his books (well maybe bar two last saga titles, which were way over the top with mysticism to my liking).

    Meh, anyway, I'm ranting on a perfectly good game. While it was very good, it wasn't awsome for me. Maybe I had too high expectations, since like I said, I'm a fan of (most of the) books, but I had tons more fun storywise with Mass Effect than with The Witcher. Maybe with most of the technical issues fixed now I will get an incentive to replay the game and the story will seem better?

    EDIT: spleing
    Edited by 1 at 22/06/08 @ 09:20

  • Sevens #27 4 years ago

    Any word on (a) console version(s)?

    "Incidentally, those of you who are registered owners of The Witcher already will be able to download all of the updates and extra content for free."

    That's pretty good.

  • dsmx #28 4 years ago

    The question does arise will eurogamer re-review this game as it sounds that they're significantly changing the game experience.

  • VMerken #29 4 years ago

    Yusssssssssssss

  • kangarootoo #30 4 years ago

    "The question does arise will eurogamer re-review this game as it sounds that they're significantly changing the game experience."

    Yeah, go on EG. It would make sense to do a quick single page revisit. You don't even have to give it a score.

    Could become the basis os a new featurette type thing along the lines of "This game was a bit rough when it came out, but 6 months later its been patched up to the Y-fronts, so we 'ave another look and tell you what we think", though I would suggest you come up with a snappier title than that.

  • Maximilian #31 4 years ago

    This game totally passed me by. Heard it was great but very flawed.

    Anyway, I'm sold on this enhanced edition & will definitely be buying.