Proof of an under-wraps third enlargement for The Witcher 3 continues to mount, with one report now pointing to a potential ‘Dune-style’ location for the brand new journey.
Phrase of a recent DLC for the beloved 2015 blockbuster RPG started effervescent up in earnest final month, fuelled by a set of experiences from insiders and obvious teases by developer CD Projekt that it had one thing secret within the works.
Now, a report by IGN Poland has stated its native sources have been conscious of potential plans for a number of years, and that — initially a minimum of — its builders had expressed a eager curiosity in exploring Zerrikania, an unique desert area to the far east of The Witcher 3’s present map.
Whereas IGN Poland cautions that this data dates again a number of years, it additionally goes on to listing a string of the reason why Zerrikania makes quite a lot of sense for the enlargement, attributable to varied hints at a Zerrikanian Manticore Faculty in earlier enlargement Blood and Wine, and references to the area made by different characters. The identical faculty can be part of The Witcher’s tabletop RPG — as seen within the art work above.
Individually, a Eurogamer report has given a extra black-and-white motive why this enlargement is probably going actual and anticipated to launch in 2026: as a result of there’s at the moment a spot in CD Projekt’s worker incentive program goal indicative of the corporate launching one thing anticipated to earn vital cash.
As Eurogamer notes, CD Projekt would not actually have anything anticipated to suit the invoice, with The Witcher 4 not set for launch till 2027 on the earliest, and Cyberpunk 2 after that. Work on a brand new IP can be ongoing, however even additional off.
There is a risk nonetheless that this might relate to another, smaller Witcher spinoff, however with all of the smoke round a Witcher 3 enlargement now rising, every part appears to be pointing in the identical path.
As “full manufacturing” on The Witcher 4 continues, CD Projekt has cautioned followers to not anticipate its launch in 2026, as the corporate plans an bold six-year roadmap wherein it’ll additionally launch The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6. Earlier than all of that, there is a window this 12 months for much more Witcher, and a recent slice of content material that would doubtlessly assist bridge the hole.
A brand new DLC looks like a wise concept to reawaken lapsed curiosity forward of the collection’ subsequent chapter, by way of further content material bought to The Witcher 3’s present viewers of greater than 60 million gamers. This content material could possibly be used as a motive to promote the sport anew, to carry recent followers to the decade-old role-player, and doubtlessly arrange plot factors to be expanded upon within the franchise’s eventual sequels.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You may attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
