The Witcher 3 Expansion Pass and New Story DLC Revealed
CD Projekt Red has officially announced two massive DLC expansions for the highly anticipated third and final installment of The Witcher video game franchise, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The new expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine, will offer over 30 hours of additional gameplay. In addition, both expansions will be available with The Witcher 3 Expansion Pass. The paid Expansion Pass for the game will be separate from the free DLC program, which will be available to anyone who buys the game later this year and is set to include 16 pieces of free DLC.
Per the announcement, the Hearts of Stone expansion will feature a new 10-hour plus adventure that will take the witcher Geralt of Rivia to the wild No Man’s Land and the village of Oxenfurt. Geralt will have to complete a contract from the enigmatic Man of Glass. Caught in a web of deceit, Geralt has to untangle the mystery to come out of it unscathed.
Blood & Wine will offer even more gameplay, more than 20 hours total. The expansion will introduce the all-new, in-game region of Toussaint, a land that has been untainted by war. Toussaint will feature an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and nightly rituals. However, all this revelry masks an ancient, bloody and grave secret.
Speaking on the announcement, CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski stated: “With the development of Wild Hunt coming to an end, the team has embarked upon the creation of two new really big adventures set in The Witcher universe. We remember the time when add-on disks truly expanded games by delivering meaningful content. As gamers, we’d like to bring that back. We’ve said in the past that if we ever decide to release paid content, it will be vast in size and represent real value for the money. Both our expansions offer more hours of gameplay than quite a few standalone games out there.”
He added: “While we’re offering the Expansion Pass now, we want to make one thing clear: don’t buy it if you have any doubts. Wait for reviews or play The Witcher and see if you like it first. As always, it’s your call.” It is a seemingly refreshing attitude for a developer for a major, anticipated game release to take.
The new expansions for The Witcher 3 will also feature new gear, enemies and characters and was developed by CD Projekt Red’s Warsaw and Cracow studios.
Hearts of Stone is due out in October. The Blood & Wine DLC expansion is expected for a first quarter 2016 release. They will be available for all three platforms for which The Witcher 3 is playable, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt hits the shelves on May 19.