Fool’s Theory said it’s making The Witcher 3’s Songs of the Past expansion because there are still more stories left to tell, even over a decade after the game’s original release. In an interview with VideoGamesChronicle, the studio’s creative vision director, Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz, spoke about how the expansion will explore the relationship between Geralt and Dandelion.
“The core idea was presented to us by CD Projekt RED. It was a great opportunity to tell something new about already established characters and to show them from a different angle. What I mean is, this is still a fully-fledged expansion and a richer story first and foremost, but then we have Geralt’s best friend with us, who also faces some important stuff in his life, right?
“We always wanted to say more about the people who are important to Geralt. So, it isn’t like we wanted to strongly conclude something, more that we still believe that there is still more to say about Geralt.”
CD Projekt RED’s Paweł Sasko went on to add that the core story of The Witcher 3 and its two expansions largely revolved around the relationship between Geralt and Ciri. This meant that other characters, like Dandelion, were largely left by the wayside.
“But as Karolina mentioned, there’s more to Geralt and to the relationship. And there’s his friend, there’s Dandelion, and the relationship between them and the friendship that they have. In the base game and previous expansions, we didn’t really have much space to explore that.
“It’s interesting because Karolina did one of the quests for Dandelion [in The Witcher 3] and I did the other one, because we were both quest designers.”
Further discussing the character of Dandelion, Sasko spoke about how he’s one of the few characters who is able to break through Geralt’s hard, armor-like exterior to see the heart underneath. This, he noted, has played a major role in the strong friendship between the two.
“He’s the one who is getting out of Geralt the things that he wouldn’t say. He’s sometimes the voice of reason. Sometimes he’s also a comic relief. But what’s important for us is to show the depth in this character and the friendship between them. And that was a little bit of a part that we never really had space to show in The Witcher 3 and in the expansions.”
Interestingly, game director Jakub Rokosz had spoken about how Songs of the Past was initially planned as part of the base game experience of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. However, it was ultimately left on the cutting room floor due to essentially being considered “impossible” in terms of scale.
“We were talking about implementing the chain even during the original The Witcher 3. It was impossible to do at the time for various technological reasons and challenges.
“A few things had to click together, and we were able to address those challenges and issues during the remaster, so then we were able to implement a weapon that feels just natural and very fluid.”
Songs of the Past is coming to The Witcher 3 in 2027 and will be available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. In the meantime, fans can enjoy the recently released Remastered version, which is available as a free update to everyone who already owns the game on these platforms.
