We have new details on The Witcher 3, thanks to a fan who collected information and put it on their official forums.
User Shavod found some fans who played the game in advance, and vetted some details with information from other websites.
There will be a wide variety of additional weapons that you can pick up. This tier of weapons will require you be at a certain level. Weapons can degrade and be destroyed, including swords. You will need to visit a craftsman often to keep them in shape.
You will get the option to customize your HUD, tweaking things like toggling the minimap and different kinds of notifications. The in-game menu itself will give you access to all graphical settings.
There are either 4 or 5 skill trees, with 5 tiers each. Each of those tiers, in turn, has 5 skills. Each skill has 3 to 4 levels to unlock. It will not be possible to unlock everything, so choose your skills deliberately.
You will have to activate a skill after unlocking it, by placing it in a separate tree. Each tree has only so many slots, but as you progress more get added in. Skills affect how Geralt fights, and when you activate skills in the same category, they increase in effect. You can use this to your advantage by choosing certain skillsets to handle difficult enemies. There are also four slots for mutagens, which augment your abilities further.
You can pick up temporary companions, who use different fighting styles. These companions will be useful in battle.
The game will not be a walk in the park. Players claim that even on easy, you need to be careful if you want to survive.
Enemy AI is very good. Enemies will parry crossbow bolts with shields. Groups of enemies, like wolves and bandits, will spread around to cut off your escape routes, and individual enemies will even offer themselves up as bait for your traps. They will become disorganized if you take out their leader.
NPCs will be diverse, and each hut will look different from the inside.
The Witcher 3 will be released on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 19, 2015.