We have some new details for The Witcher 3, coming from two interviews fresh off of SDCC.
First, we have information from the voice actor for Geralt of Rivia, Doug Cockle.
Doug revealed he had no prior knowledge of The Witcher books prior to applying for the role, and learned all about while working on the game. He claims they have logged over 150 hours voice recording for Witcher 3, and yes, they are not done.
Doug has also not played any of the games himself, but is intimately familiar with the stories anyway because of his work. He got a console to play this time around, so he has no intention to miss out this time.
Doug touts what he knows about the improvements coming from The Witcher 2 to The Witcher 3. The number of enemies that can appear on screen went up. Furthermore, you can see small details such as water coming off horse's hooves as it steps up from a puddle.
The Witcher 3 is pushing boundaries for mature content in games, something that's been missing in it for a while. Finally, Doug says Witcher 3 is going to allow fans to come in and do what he wants to do.
And now, details from the second interview with CD Projekt RED senior gameplay designer Damien Monnier.
The E3 20 minute presentation showed Geralt fighting a griffin, and demonstrated how you go about hunting down monsters. They have since revealed a longer version of that trailer, revealing even more mechanics, more monsters, and more of everything else.
The crowd’s favorite part of the extended trailer is the dismemberment. Factors like your weapon, skill level, etc, determine exactly what violence you employ (taking a limb, decapitate, etc). You can also explore the environment in unique ways, such as climbing mountains and diving off cliffs into the sea.
Damien assures fans that all versions of the game will have exactly the same amount of content. Regarding that content, they have been happy with the quality they’ve reached, but want to make it really awesome.
Damien then describes their objective to make this the best RPG ever, but this comes with a tone of finality, as he describes it as Geralt’s last game.
The Witcher 3 is slated for a February 24 release in 2015 for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.