The Witcher to be re-released

By Robert Purchese Published 19 February, 2008

Completely polished this time.

CD Projekt has revealed plans to re-release PC role-playing game The Witcher in May.

It will come in an Enhanced Edition that claims to be completely polished and address all of the complaints you had with the original release last October.

Those of you who bought it back then will be able to download the changes in an update, but those of you splashing out for the first time will be treated to a lavish bundle of goodies at regular game price.

The Enhanced Edition package has a game editor and two new mini-adventures, a making-of DVD, a CD of game music, a CD of music inspired by the game, an enormous instruction booklet, an official guide and a 50-page story by Andrzej Sapkowksi - author of the inspirational Witcher novels.

"The Witcher Enhanced Edition will be a completely polished product, something rarely found on the PC market," said Maciej Szczesnik, project manager for the game. "Of course, it would have been best if the original edition could look that way,"

Loading times will be reduced by 80 per cent, stability improved across different PC configurations, and an "array" of smaller fixes made to the combat system.

The English version will be re-done to increase the amount of text in it, because it had significantly less than other languages, and the German offering will have many of its voices re-recorded.

CD Projekt is also adding more than 50 new supporting character models to keep things varied, as well as re-designing the inventory panel and elements of the game screen.

Over 100 animations are being added to both Geralt and non-player characters to make it all a bit more believable, which means re-doing the facial animation and lip-sync systems as well.

This will all be complemented by lots of less drastic changes to tidy up some odds and ends.

Despite the rather long list of changes, The Witcher still managed to review well last October. We gave it 7/10 for its well crafted story that tackles all sorts of issues from religious fanaticism to sexual promiscuity.

Pop over to our The Witcher review to see what it's all about.

The Witcher Enhanced Edition is aiming for a 6th May release in Eastern Europe, and CD Projekt is confident it can make that a worldwide date - or be as close to it as possible.

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 (39) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • fiery_jackass #1 4 years ago

    *sorted!*
    Edited by 2 at 19/02/08 @ 12:12

  • Clive_Dunn #2 4 years ago

    /reads first paragraph

    Pauses for 45 seconds whilst loading

    /continues to second paragraph, gets halfway though...loads again doh.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #3 4 years ago

    complEmented

    Whoops. Well spotted.

  • TuftyMcTavish #4 4 years ago

    I've been meaning to pick this up. Bonus!

  • hiddenranbir #5 4 years ago

    Game deserves it. Hopefully we get enough from the free updates.

  • MouzerMalti #6 4 years ago

    I had borrowed the game from a friend and was discouraged by the numerous crashes I used to have.

    Now that the real FINAL version is about to be introduced, I think I'll give it a shot... :)

  • QPRHOOPS81 #7 4 years ago

    i got this game (15 quid bargain) last week. Loading times arent to bad (though im using 1.3 patch not the original). Would be good to have more dialogue though. Im really enjoying it at the moment and am on the second section. Will be cool if they give all the fixes/updates away for free though i bet not everything will be given away.

  • SentientNr6 #8 4 years ago

    Enjoying the raw version. I am halfway through act II and it keeps getting better.
    I reread the review on eurogamer and can't help but wonder how far the reviewer played.
    eg. Combat This is indeed weird the first hours but it grows on you. Now I can actually experiment and get better at it. You learn to use different tactics for different enemies. I don't see which RPG does a better job actually.
    Rigid Dialogue. I kinda like this. Hey you're playing Geralt not a politically correct dogoodie. This makes for some funnier dialogues than standard RPG issue.

    I forgot to mention that loading times are also ok on my system. Probably one of the patches fixed this.
    Edited by 1 at 19/02/08 @ 12:44

  • Machetazo #9 4 years ago

    WILL be buying.

  • orakio #10 4 years ago

    Let's hope EG will give it a re-review as well then!

  • JediMasterMalik #11 4 years ago

    This will improve the game no end, I suppose this is in response to fans, as a lot of the complaints are similar, and seem to be fixed for this release. I adored the game and thought it was one of the best RPGs in a very long time. This will definitely make me go back to it.

  • tapper #12 4 years ago

    Will re-buy.

  • zoidberg #13 4 years ago

    re-buy a MUST.

  • sharpfish #14 4 years ago

    hmmm... the problem now is witcher one to buy....

  • MrBeens #15 4 years ago

    No need to rebuy - all the additions that are being made are being released for free as a patch.

  • ZuluHero #16 4 years ago

    how many times do i have to click to win in this version? is it more or less? I certainly won't be re-buying this.
    Edited by 1 at 19/02/08 @ 13:33

  • JediMasterMalik #17 4 years ago

    Stupidest comment ever. The same idiotic insult could apply to almost any PC game. Shockingly, many PC games use the mouse. Confusing, I know.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #18 4 years ago

    The subtitle there should have been "Polish"ed.

  • BastoJ #19 4 years ago

    Awesome, really enjoying the game so far, hopefully this will improve it even better. Has to be one of the best PC games of 2007.

  • ZuluHero #20 4 years ago

    Stupidest comment ever. The same idiotic insult could apply to almost any PC game. Shockingly, many PC games use the mouse. Confusing, I know.

    Well, I usually use keys as well... but that’s beside the point, as I wasn't insulting it, just merely making an observation. You have to admit there was a lot of (excess) clicking used in combat. And anyway, I wouldn't say it was the stupidest comment ever (maybe forth or fifth) but not THE stupidest comment ever in the existence of stupid comments.

    Perhaps you should read EG more? ;)

    EDIT:spelling :)
    Edited by 1 at 19/02/08 @ 13:55

  • Evolution #21 4 years ago

    By the same logic you could argue there is excessive clicking in Call of Duty...
    Edited by 1 at 19/02/08 @ 14:07

  • subtlesnake #22 4 years ago

    You only had to click once between each combo, so I wouldn't say it involved more clicking than your typical FPS.

  • mkreku #23 4 years ago

    Huh? I thought it was pretty great the first time..

  • ZuluHero #24 4 years ago

    I guess it IS just me then. :)

    There probably was an auto-attack option so you didn't have to click every time for your bog-standard attack? Leaving you free to counter attacks with the mouse and use magic using hotkeys?

    Oh and because WASD was a joke, clicking was really the only viable option for moving.. so i guess that emphasised it a little...

    The FPS comparison isn't really that accurate... unless you just stand there like a lemon when an NPC attacks and you just single-click the mouse?

    There was a brilliantly funny review by zero punctuation on elitist magazine hi-lighting the same flaws that I got hung up on, but I cant post the link as the site seems to be down :(

    I didn’t think it was a bad game by any means, I just don’t think it was the holy grail of PC RPGs that everyone seems to think it is. :)



  • Evolution #25 4 years ago

    I use sniper rifles =)

  • tobs #26 4 years ago

    Agree Zulu, it is clickorama.

  • BastoJ #27 4 years ago

    WASD was hard odd to use at first but after an hour or so I found it easy to move around. I thought clicking was well used and while it had flaws it was a great game.

    I certainly didn't think I was over clicking, but then again I am a big plot fan so I spent a lot of time investigating various plot angles, talking to people rather than just moving from enemy to enemy.

  • hjarg #28 4 years ago

    I ditched the mouse-movement for wasd, because it actually felt more natural.. after getting used to it for a while though.

    But about clickfest- come on, diablo is a clickfest. Here, you click, wait Geralt do his magic, then click again- about 1 time per second, sometimes you have to wait even more. It aint that bad, you know.

  • FlamingCarrot #29 4 years ago

    On Act V and i still love it. These enhancements are hopefully going to make it even more enjoyable.

  • ZuluHero #30 4 years ago

    ahh its up - this might give you guys a laugh:

    [link url=http:/ /www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunct uation/2831-Zero-Punctuation-The-Witcher
    ]http://ww w.escapistmagazine.com/articles...[/link]

    :)

  • SentientNr6 #31 4 years ago

    how many times do i have to click to win in this version

    Well if you play to win you're missing something

  • fiery_jackass #32 4 years ago

    heh, I'd been trying to get to Yahtzee's review for the same purpose, Zulu.

    He's the only reviewer I've properly cared about since Digitiser

  • BastoJ #33 4 years ago

    I saw the ZeroPunctuation review a while a go, very funny, not very true but still made me laugh.

  • darc #34 4 years ago

    Great, they waited until I got through what I pray is the worst of the game (Acts 1 and 2) before improving. The impending patch is a nice excuse to put off finishing this a bit longer; just wish it wasn't hogging up 9G of HDD. Now I'm into Act 3 and I see some signs of hope for this game (just enough to belabor the misery really) but I still think the zeropunctuation review is on the money.

  • Kostabi #35 4 years ago

    I was going to pick this up next weekend but I'll hold fire until May.

    It'll give me a chance to complete the million other RPGs I've started but not finished...

  • AceCrikey #36 4 years ago

    Excellent news, not got round to picking this up yet. More of a reason to now!

  • joeri_83 #37 4 years ago

    Interesting. If the changes are as thorough as they appear, a re-review might perhaps be in order? I would certainly consider picking the game up.

  • VMerken #38 4 years ago

    "Those of you who bought it back then will be able to download the changes in an update,"

    CUSTOMER SERVICE.
    Edited by 1 at 19/02/08 @ 21:10

  • john_silence #39 4 years ago

    Man I love these guys. I currently play it from Metaboli, but I might well buy this enhanced version for the extras.