Witcher 3 Songs of the Past: Why the Expansion Exists 11 Years Later and the Tech Problem That Almost Killed It

The team behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered and the Songs of the Past expansion has finally explained why a new expansion exists 11 years later: they felt a chapter of Wild Hunt's story was missing, and it belonged to Dandelion. They also revealed a major technical hurdle that almost killed the entire project, and it turns out the remaster is the reason the expansion could be made at all.

There is plenty to get through, from the Switch 2 version to the chain weapon that sat on a shelf for over a decade, so let's start with the console news.

The Witcher 3 Remastered on Switch 2 brings gyro and mouse support

CD Projekt Red gave another look at The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered running on Switch 2. If you own the game on Switch 1, you get a free upgrade to the Switch 2 version. They also confirmed that Songs of the Past would release on Switch 2 at a later date. Alongside that, they released an entire press briefing on the Switch 2 version, and it looks really great.

I played the original Switch version of The Witcher 3 and all of its expansions at a painstaking 30 FPS, and sometimes it dropped lower than that. I have no idea how they got that game to work on Switch 1, but they managed it. The Switch 2 version certainly looks really good. I think it caps out at 40 FPS in docked mode and 30 FPS in handheld.

There is gyro support, mouse support with the Switch 2 Joy-Cons, and the other graphical upgrades and improvements that the Remastered edition brings. I don't know whether we will get console mods; let's be real, that is probably not going to happen. Still, if you are a Switch 2 player who likes gaming on the go, this is great news for you.

Songs of the Past completes Wild Hunt's story rather than bridging to The Witcher 4

Next up are the developer interviews, from TechRadar and a couple of other outlets, including the BBC. Before Gamescom, we all thought Songs of the Past would essentially bridge the gap between The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 4. However, the CEO of Fool's Theory, who is also the Songs of the Past game director and one of the original quest designers on The Witcher 3, told TechRadar that rather than serving as a bridge to the sequel, the expansion completes Wild Hunt's own story by delivering a chapter the team felt was missing.

The senior quest designer put it bluntly: it felt like a chapter was missing. She went on to say that it doesn't matter whether the expansion arrives 11 years later or 100 years later; what matters is that the story being told is complete. They framed it as one more thing the team wanted to tell, and Dandelion's story was that thing.

The CEO also acknowledged how it looks from the outside, openly saying that a game that is 11 years old getting a new expansion is odd. In a separate interview with the BBC, the team admitted that after Blood and Wine the project felt like a farewell to Geralt, and it only moved forward because they found a compelling untold story about Dandelion.

I really respect that. Dandelion is "Geralt's boy," so if you are closing the chapter on The Witcher 3 and starting anew with The Witcher 4, not having one last ride with Dandelion would seem a little weird. I actually prefer this to something that just bridges the gap. As much as I want to see more Ciri, we are going to be getting a lot of Ciri coming up. So it makes sense for this to be a Geralt and Dandelion story that officially closes the chapter, at least until The Witcher 4 trilogy has come and gone.

Dandelion is more than comic relief, and the team went back to the novels

So why Dandelion? The CEO said the team always wanted to give him the proper spotlight he deserved, and there was no room in the base game to do him justice. He also pushed back on the idea that Dandelion is just comic relief, calling that a misconception. He pointed out that Dandelion is deep and intelligent, that he used to be a professor at Oxenfurt Academy, and that he writes beautiful poetry.

The goal is to show players what sits behind the mask: where Dandelion came from, what his family is about, and what the world he grew up in is actually like. Dandelion in the base game is a little different from the books, which treat him with far more weight than the games ever did. CDPR confirmed the team went back to the original novels for source material, specifically to build something that could excite fans and excite themselves, because apparently that was a difficult question when the game was first pitched.

A request from his best friend pulls Geralt out of retirement

The team then explained one of the real design hurdles: figuring out what would drag Geralt out of retirement. It had to be important enough to justify a full length expansion, and once they identified that, everything else clicked into place.

The VP story director has separately said the team thought through Geralt's ending in Blood and Wine and landed on the idea that Geralt would not turn down a request from his best friend. That is the entire hook of the story. Geralt travels to the new region after Dandelion disappears, which pulls him into the history of Dandelion's family and the curse surrounding one of Dandelion's ancestors. "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in, baby."

This expansion is centred on Geralt and Dandelion, full stop. As interesting as another ride with Ciri and Geralt together would be, there is going to be a lot of story that could be told in The Witcher 4. Will Geralt appear? I believe he is going to. So giving us a story with Geralt and Dandelion just makes sense.

Dense forests and a huge lake broke the engine until the remaster arrived

There was also a technical hurdle that almost killed the expansion. In an interview, the CEO of Fool's Theory said the team had a specific vision for Songs of the Past and its region, but that concept had a bunch of technical challenges that were impossible to realise without the remaster's changes. He described it as the conditions having to grow for the remaster to appear on their horizon: two projects meshed together to make one reality.

In another BBC interview, he made the same point in a different way, and his example is almost as funny as it is basic. The region's lush vegetation, the small bushes and the dense forest, broke the game during early prototyping. In his words: "It was impossible to ride with a horse through it." They had to rebuild the horse handling so movement felt organic before the region was even traversable.

There was a second problem, too. The region has a large lake in the middle of the map that opens a clear line to the horizon, and having that much open space, with fishermen visible on the water, pushed the engine in ways it was never built to handle. The remaster's optimisation work is what made it run. So the reason this expansion didn't happen in 2017 or 2020 is that the world they wanted to build physically would not run in the engine they had.

Why this proves CDPR was right to move to Unreal Engine

This takes us back to the REDengine having to be completely hacked and overhauled every single time the team wanted to do anything. It is no wonder they switched to Unreal. A proprietary engine that constantly needs upgrades, all done in house, takes a lot of time and money. By moving to Unreal Engine, they can port over the technology they want, develop new technologies for it, and have the support of Epic Games to help them with the engine. It only made sense to make the switch.

I understand Unreal Engine has a reputation for its problems. But look at the position CDPR was in. Cyberpunk 2077 was a massive technical hurdle and launched with a ton of technical issues, which was probably very costly for them and took a lot of development time away from actually making games. That is why they decided to switch, and this remaster and expansion further prove the reasoning behind it.

The chain weapon was planned for the original Witcher 3 and is exclusive to the expansion

Geralt's new tool in this expansion is the chain. The CEO of Fool's Theory confirmed that the chain weapon was actually planned during the original development of The Witcher 3 and couldn't be built at the time. He said it was impossible then for various technological reasons and challenges, and that this is exactly what he meant about things needing to click together, because the remaster let them finally address those specific issues, the same kind of issues the new region had. The idea sat on a shelf for over a decade because the tech just wasn't there.

One thing I have seen people ask is whether the chain launches with the Remastered version. It definitively will not. It is exclusive to the expansion, so you need Songs of the Past to use it. Realistically, if you are following details like these, you have probably already played the base game and are going to get the expansion anyway.

Songs of the Past is on par with Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone

On size and scope, the team has avoided giving hour counts, but they confirmed the expansion is on par with Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone, and the region is roughly the size of Blood and Wine's map. They have outright said this won't be small. They use the word expansion for a reason: to me, expansion means big and DLC means small.

Realistically, I am expecting probably around 30 to 40 hours for the entire expansion, but it could easily be a lot more depending on how much detail and how many side activities there are. I want Fool's Theory to cook up a feast. I personally want this to win game of the year, and I am already rooting for it. Even a nomination would be cool, but imagine a game that is 11 years old winning another game of the year award 11 or 12 years later.

My plan is to play the remaster on every platform

The hype for this expansion and the remaster update is so real. My plan is to play it on everything. I am going to test it on my PS5 Pro, and I might play the whole thing there. I am going to play it on PC and move my save between the two, and I will probably try it on my Switch too, just to test it out.

I am pretty sure there is cross save between all of the platforms. I can't remember for certain, but I am pretty sure there will be.

Do you prefer Songs of the Past as a final Geralt and Dandelion story, or were you hoping it would bridge the gap to The Witcher 4?