While Songs of the Past will be the first expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt since 2016’s Blood and Wine, developer Fool’s Theory wants to continue the RPG’s tradition of having players’ choices carry over into the new story. In an interview with VideoGamesChronicle, creative vision director Karolina Kuzua-Rokosz has confirmed that the upcoming expansion’s story will have differences depending on whether or not the player has completed Blood and Wine.
She also confirmed that players will be able to skip both Heart of Stone and Blood and Wine and dive right into Songs of the Past after finishing the base game’s story. “From a practical side, people will be able to start Songs of the Past immediately after finishing the main story. So, you do not have to finish the expansions.
“However, when it comes to the timeline, those expansions were before, so we continue with the story that Geralt really wanted to retire, but then he cannot because his best friend asks him for this one last favor to accompany him.”
As for what kinds of changes players can expect depending on whether or not they’ve finished the other expansions, Kuzua-Rokosz teased some “consequences” as well as references to past events in dialogue.
“And then we, of course, continue the story depending on whether the player has finished the second expansion or not. We carry that in the story, in dialogue, consequences, and so on.” It is worth noting, ultimately, that “you do not have to finish previous expansions to start Songs of the Past.”
In another recent interview, Kuzia-Rokosz has also spoken about how the team is making Songs of the Past because of its belief that there are still stories left to tell in the world of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
“The core idea was presented to us by CD Projekt RED. It was a great opportunity to tell something new about already established characters and to show them from a different angle. What I mean is, this is still a fully-fledged expansion and a richer story first and foremost, but then we have Geralt’s best friend with us, who also faces some important stuff in his life, right?
“We always wanted to say more about the people who are important to Geralt. So, it isn’t like we wanted to strongly conclude something, more that we still believe that there is still more to say about Geralt.”
CD Projekt RED’s Paweł Sasko added that the story in Songs of the Past will also help players see a different side to Geralt’s long-time companion Dandelion. While the base game and previous expansions have largely focused on Geralt and Ciri, with Songs of the Past, the team hopes to give players a deeper look at the relationship between Geralt and Dandelion.
“He’s the one who is getting out of Geralt the things that he wouldn’t say. He’s sometimes the voice of reason. Sometimes he’s also a comic relief. But what’s important for us is to show the depth in this character and the friendship between them. And that was a little bit of a part that we never really had space to show in The Witcher 3 and in the expansions.”
Songs of the Past is coming to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2027 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
