In the statement making the announcement, the studio and publisher reveal that the decision to delay the game was made due to the busy game release schedule for February. The studio has also stated that it can take this time to give The Thaumaturge some additional polish.

“We’re happy to share that the game is now complete, and numerous reviewers already have it in their hands,” 11 bit studios and Fool’s Theory said in a statement. “At the same time, taking February’s busy launch period into account and the opening for a better release window, we’ve decided to take this opportunity to give The Thaumaturge more breathing room so it receives the attention we believe it deserves.”

“We want you to have enough time to enjoy the game in full, and we feel that the current release window is not the perfect moment for it. With that in mind, we are moving the launch date to March 4, 2024. The additional time we’re getting will be used to polish the game further so that your journey through the streets of 1905 Warsaw is even more enjoyable.”

The Thaumaturge was originally unveiled back in March 2023. The takes place in the rather unique setting of 1905 Warsaw, and is an RPG that focuses primarily on its narrative. The game is set to have a unique take on character development features, combat, and investigation mechanics.

There will also be supernatural aspects to the game’s story and setting through the presence of beings known as Salutors. Perceived only by the eponymous Thaumaturges, these beings can be tapped into for their unique abilities.

The Thaumaturge is set for release on PC. PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions are also in development, but remain undated.

The Thaumaturge takes place in Warsaw during the early 20th century, after it has been annexed by the Russian Empire. Players will be forced to make morally-ambiguous choices as they play through the story.

The game also features an undercurrent of supernatural aspeccts through the presence of beings called Salutors. These beings can only be percieved by the eponymous Thaumaturges, who can also use their unique abilities.

Alongside with helping out with the general narrative-heavy gameplay of The Thaumaturge, these Salutors will also be useful in the game’s turn-based combat, allowing players to use powerful abilities against the dangerous encounters.

The Thaumaturge doesn’t yet have a release date, but its announcement trailer indicates that it will only be available on PC at launch.

There’s also The Witcher Remake, formerly Project Canis Majoris. It’s also developed on Unreal Engine 5 by Fool’s Theory, a third-party studio formed by ex-Witcher developers. Unlike the original release, it will be an open-world title.

However, it may be a while before it sees release. During CD Projekt Group’s Q3 2022 earnings call, president and joint CEO Adam Kiciński confirmed that The Witcher Remake would launch after Polaris.

“Coming back to The Witcher Remake and when it will come. Yes, it will come after Polaris, which is a consequence of how we think about this project. I think The Witcher Remake will be based in big part on technologies from Polaris, so it will be developed partially in parallel to Polaris. But once Polaris is launched, everything for Polaris will be then in the final shape, and it will be partially reused in the remake.”

If the remake is already adapting tools used in Polaris, then the gap between releases may not be too long. Time will ultimately tell, so stay tuned for more details.

In its latest quarterly fiscal report, CD Projekt RED has a slide dedicated to the remake, and though it doesn’t reveal a lot of details, it does call the game “a modern reimagining” of the 2007 action RPG, and refers to it as a “story-driven, single player open-world RPG.” That’s significant because the original The Witcher was not an open world game- the series didn’t adopt the open world structure until 2015’s The Witcher 3.

In addition to The Witcher Remake, CD Projekt RED has a number of other Witcher projects in the works, including a new mainline trilogy of games, while The Molasses Flood is also working on “an innovative take” on the universe with Project Sirius.

December 14 will also see the launch of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

The remake is currently in the early stages of development. While Fool’s Theory, a third-party studio led by ex-Witcher developers, is the lead developer, CD Projekt RED is providing, “full creative supervision.” Of course, as the developer notes, it will be a while before it can share more.

“It’s still early, and we want to ensure that the game is created with the utmost care and attention to detail. Therefore, while we’re excited to share the news with you, we want to ask you for patience as it will be a while until we start talking about this project in detail.”

CD Projekt RED studio head Adam Badowski said, “The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD Projekt RED. It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and remaking the game for the next generation of gamers to experience it feels just as big, if not bigger.

“Collaborating with Fool’s Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games. They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games. And although it will take some time before we’re ready to share more about and from the game, I know it’ll be worth the wait.”

The Witcher remake is one of many titles in development for the franchise. CD Projekt RED is also developing Project Polaris, the first title in a new Witcher trilogy. Over 150 developers are working on it, and after it releases, the next two titles will launch within six years. Project Polaris is currently in pre-production on Unreal Engine 5 with no release window announced.

Project Sirius, an “innovative take on The Witcher universe” by The Molasses Flood, is also in the works. It’s in pre-production with over 60 developers involved and CD Projekt RED providing support.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"Our work on Seven hasn’t finished on the release day, we’ve been patching and fixing any reported issues, and when we were finished with the most burning issues we have started tweaking the game according to community suggestions."

Have you taken this as an opportunity to maybe work on things that you would have liked to see improved in the original release?

Yes – our work on Seven hasn’t finished on the release day, we’ve been patching and fixing any reported issues, and when we were finished with the most burning issues we have started tweaking the game according to community suggestions. Experience gathered during this process helped us establish a direction which led into creating the Enhanced Edition.

What are the most significant improvements players can see in the enhanced edition?

The most important part of the Enhanced Edition is DLC named Drowned Past, bringing new storyline with underwater locations, quests, characters, etc., which results in 7 additional hours of gameplay. Some of the other improvements may be described as under-the-hood making the gameplay more smooth experience.

Can you speak to us a bit about the made to the game’s combat- particularly what new skills we can expect to see?

Enhanced Edition bring one especially powerful skill called Doppelganger – which enables player to ‘clone’ himself for a specified period of time. This second character can be controlled and used for offensive or defensive purposes. There are also new weapon types that diversify your combat tactics: flamethrower, energy bow and sword with shield.

Given your continued interest in Seven, can we maybe take that as indication that you have future plans for this property- beyond an enhanced edition, that is?

We see a big potential with many possible scenarios happening in the universe we’ve created in Seven, however we have just released the Enhanced Edition, after more than a year of development, so it’s definitely to early for us to disclose any detailed plans.

"We’re not saying that the game won’t be launching on these platforms but we’re not promising anything right now."

Do you have any plans to release the enhanced edition on other platforms?

Originally Seven: The Days Long Gone was released only on PC, and now with Enhanced Edition we’re adding PS4. We’ll see how it performs on Sony’s console before making another commitment.

Is there any specific reason why the game hasn’t launched on the Xbox One and Switch?

We’re not saying that the game won’t be launching on these platforms but we’re not promising anything right now. Regarding Switch in particular – porting a big, open-world 3D game to a mobile device would definitely be a complex task.

Next gen is coming sooner or later. From a development perspective, what is your biggest expectation from PS5 and Xbox Scarlett?

It would be great to have a console powerful enough to run every game in 4k/ 60fps, however I wouldn’t take it for granted in this generation. From the hardware perspective SSD seems to be the most obvious improvement that developers are waiting for.

What is your take on Sony’s reluctant policy on cross-play with Xbox and Nintendo?

Cross-play is definitely a winning scenario for everyone. This year we’ve seen a breakthrough among platform holders and several titles already offer cross-play between Xbox and PS4. I think we’ll see more and more games that benefit from such possibility.

Do you think cross platform will be one of the defining features of next-gen consoles?

Yes, I think so, as well as the cross-generational play, especially in case of PlayStation, because of the huge base of PS4 consoles present on the market.

"We see a big potential with many possible scenarios happening in the universe we’ve created in Seven, however we have just released the Enhanced Edition, after more than a year of development, so it’s definitely to early for us to disclose any detailed plans."

What is your take on the ongoing drama of loot boxes and microtransactions?

Most of the time gaming industry is doing fine without government intervention, in this case however we’re talking about protecting underage audiences. If we really need regulations they should be smart and responsible.

What is your position regarding the on going platform war between Steam and Epic Games?

Epic Store seems to be first serious competitor since Steam took the throne of PC gaming distribution long time ago. As a result we saw Valve adding revenue share tiers for the developers for the first time ever. Is Epic Games Store the competitor we all needed? Only time will tell.

Do you have any plans to launch on Stadia?

Of course we’re considering Stadia as a distribution platform for our titles, however I can’t disclose any details right now.

Do you think Google’s Stadia has a future, especially given the infrastructural issues?

I think cloud gaming in general has a future, whether it’s Stadia or other platform. Google claims that it has the required technology and in most cases they don’t speak idle words.

What are your thoughts on Stadia’s specs?

They look really good on paper – like a high-end gaming PC, definitely outperforming current gen consoles. We’ll see how it will perform in real life though.