The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past’s First Gameplay Demo Showcases Geralt’s New Weapon and Deadly Enemies
Developing story first seen 5 hours ago
Polygon has published its first hands-on preview of Songs of the Past, the upcoming expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, following an hour-long gameplay demo shown at Gamescom. The new coverage confirms the expansion will be set in a region called Letten and reveals a release window: 2027, with wishlisting now open. Eleven years after the base game's release, the RPG remains hugely popular, and the expansion follows the format of the acclaimed Blood and Wine add-on, offering fresh quests and enemies alongside a story centred on the backstory of fan-favourite bard Dandelion, all while retaining Geralt's familiar dry humour.
In the demo, Geralt retrieves Dandelion's stolen lute from a man at a dock and, after visiting the bard's childhood home and meeting his cousin Lilla, uncovers a deeper mystery leading into the "garden of thorns". There he faces two new enemy types, the acid-spitting Thornbloom and hornet-shielded Swarmion, using a new chain weapon that can pull foes in for brutal finishing moves, before a boss fight against an undead knight. The preview also suggests Lilla could become a new romance option alongside Yen and Triss.
- Songs of the Past set in new region Letten, releasing 2027
- New chain weapon and enemies Thornbloom and Swarmion revealed
- Lilla, Dandelion's cousin, may be a new romance option
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Geralt of Rivia is the central character of The Witcher games, a mutant monster hunter based on novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, released in 2015, is widely regarded as one of the best role-playing games ever made and still has a large, active player base more than a decade later. Songs of the Past is a newly announced expansion for the game, following in the footsteps of Blood and Wine, an earlier add-on praised for adding a substantial new area and storyline rather than a small bolt-on.
The new expansion focuses on Dandelion, a bard and one of Geralt's closest friends throughout the series, known for his wit and storytelling. Songs of the Past is built around exploring his backstory, introducing new characters connected to him, along with new locations, enemies and combat options for players to experience. It is being developed by CD Projekt Red, the Polish studio behind the original game.
Gamescom, where this expansion was previewed, is one of the world's largest video game trade events, held annually in Germany, where publishers and developers regularly unveil new titles and updates to press and the public. Coverage from outlets attending the show, such as this preview, gives early audiences a first look at unreleased content well before launch.
Full account
CD Projekt Red and co-developer Fool's Theory have shown the first gameplay footage of Songs of the Past, the forthcoming expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, at Gamescom. Arriving some eleven years after the base game's original release, the expansion is due out in 2027 and can already be wishlisted. It takes Geralt to Letten, a quiet, pastoral corner of the Continent far removed from the wars and politics that dominate the main story, and centres on a deeper exploration of Dandelion, the witcher's long-time bard companion, whose family and childhood home take centre stage.
Accounts of exactly how the plot kicks off vary slightly between previews. One version has Geralt recovering Dandelion's stolen lute from a man at a dockside before travelling to the bard's family estate, where he meets his cousin, Lilla, and begins to sense that something is badly wrong. Another describes the story beginning with Dandelion going missing shortly after Geralt's arrival in Letten, turning what should be a simple search into altogether more dangerous work. Either way, demo attendees agreed that Geralt spends time getting to know Dandelion's extended family, including Lilla and a grandmother figure, and that the writing, humour and cutscene direction remain distinctly true to the series' style. Geralt and Lilla go on to investigate a strange, overgrown location known as the garden of thorns, or mysterious grove, whose unnatural, maze-like design conceals hostile creatures.
Combat has also been expanded for the new content. Geralt gains a new chain-based weapon capable of yanking enemies towards him from a distance, which proves particularly useful against two newly revealed monsters: the Thornbloom, a tall plant-like creature that attacks with ranged acid, and the Swarmion, a ghoulish humanoid shielded by a swarm of hornets that the chain can strip away to open up finishing moves, including a particularly brutal decapitation. The demo also featured a boss encounter with an undead knight, with fights woven between stretches of exploration through the thorn garden. Overall, previewers described the moment-to-moment gameplay as very much in keeping with the structure CD Projekt Red established with the Blood and Wine expansion: a new region, fresh quests, new adversaries and a mix of familiar and new faces.
Several outlets also picked up on hints of a new romance option in Lilla, Dandelion's cousin, after journalists spotted dialogue choices during an emotional moment in the demo, including the option to comfort her with a hug. When pressed directly on whether Lilla would be a romanceable character, Fool's Theory chief executive Jakub Rokosz declined to confirm or deny it, saying the studio wanted players to discover such things for themselves, while a CD Projekt Red content strategist speaking separately said only that more romance options for Geralt were coming. On the story's origins, Rokosz and CD Projekt Red senior quest designer Despoina Anetaki explained that Songs of the Past is an original tale, not adapted from Andrzej Sapkowski's novels, though it draws on the books' portrayal of Geralt and Dandelion's friendship, a relationship the base game had little room to develop alongside Geralt's search for Ciri. The story was reportedly conceived years ago within CD Projekt Red by writers Ola Motyka and Philip Weber before being shelved and later revived once Fool's Theory, the Polish studio behind The Thaumaturge, was brought on to help develop it further.
Where outlets differ
Sources disagree on the inciting incident: one describes Geralt retrieving Dandelion's stolen lute before travelling to the family estate, while another says the plot begins with Dandelion going missing outright.
Reported demo length varies (roughly an hour versus around 45 minutes), suggesting outlets may have seen slightly different cuts or sessions.
Coverage emphasis differs sharply by outlet: one focuses heavily on new combat mechanics, weapons and monsters; another leads entirely with the possible Lilla romance angle and quotes from CDPR/Fool's Theory staff dodging the question; a third focuses on the writing process, the expansion's original (non-book-based) story, and interviews about its long development history.
Only one source explicitly frames Lilla's romance potential as near-confirmed based on developer banter and a livestream comment, while the official response from Fool's Theory's CEO was a deliberately noncommittal non-denial.
More coverage
- Eurogamer — It sure seems like The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past is introducing at least one new romanceable character for Geralt to woo
- Eurogamer — The story for Witcher 3: Songs of the Past was actually written "years ago", according to Fool's Theory CEO
- GamesRadar+ — The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past takes the best of CDPR's RPG and pushes it further in Geralt's new final chapter
- GamesRadar+ — The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past is set in Dandelion's home of Letten, a "fully realized open world" with quests and NPCs "that live up to our signature mature story," CDPR confirms
- GameSpot — Witcher 3 Songs Of The Past Expansion Fixes A Major Issue With The Original Game