The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt will presumably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 hours worth of gameplay, but that hasn’t stopped developer CD Projekt RED from working on additional content for the game.
The game is due for release on May 19 across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, and with development of the primary game coming to an end, the studio has begun to lay the seeds for future paid content.
This comes in the form of two expansion packs that extend the game by another 30 hours. The first expansion, Hearts of Stone, will be roughly 10 hours in length, and will have protagonist Geralt of Rivia working for a mysterious ‘Man of Glass’ on a contract that will take him into two new areas called No Man’s Land and Oxenfurt. “Caught in a thick tangle of deceit,” the press release reads, “Geralt will need his cunning and strength to solve the mystery and emerge unscathed.”
The second expansion will last about 20 hours and is called Blood and Wine. In this one, Geralt must travel to the luxurious land of Toussaint, which sounds like a nice change of pace from the grungy villages that have become staple settings of the series.
Both expansions will be purchasable through the game’s Expansion Pass, which will run $24.99. Considering that other games’ Season Passes are priced identically but contain barely a third of the content CD Projekt are offering in theirs, this sounds like a worthy investment. The Expansion Pass can be pre-ordered now on GOG.
CD Projekt seem well aware of the skepticism Season Passes and DLC have drawn from gamers recently, admitting this:
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.
Sound advice or clever reverse psychology tactic? You decide.
In addition to this paid DLC, CD Projekt intend to put out 16 free DLC packs for The Witcher 3 that will include smaller items such as armor, weapons, and things of that nature.