At Lucca Comics & Games last week, we were treated to a demo of The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, the game’s latest expansion. In typical Lucca fashion, the demo was held in the stunning Auditorium San Francesco, and it certainly added to the atmosphere. Ahead of the Songs of the Past demo, we were also able to sit down with the game’s Lead Level Designer, Miles Tost, and Lead Writer for the expansion, Paula Mejsner.
In our conversation, we learned a bit about what players can expect with The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, but also the inspirations for the expansion, CD Projekt Red’s goals with the story and even got some solid confirmation that this new content is in great hands with Paula Mejsner.
Our The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past demo opens with Geralt waking up in Letten, a brand-new area to the game. We see him complete with a traditional garment after a night of celebration in the town. He awakes to a strange nightmare, one where his friend and bard, Dandelion, is screaming, with images of a well, thorns and the smell of violets. Geralt chalks this up to a nightmare and heads to meet Dandelion and his family for breakfast.
He hops in a boat which players can now use to traverse the world, and makes it to Dandelion’s family’s estate. Here is where we learn that Dandelion’s cousin Lilla believes he is missing, while their grandmother sternly dismisses her. Geralt mentions his dream, which strikes a familiar chord with Lilla, and the two set out to find a well which Lilla has heard stories about: a garden of thorns and a cursed well that drives people mad.
Paula Mejsner was very passionate about telling Dandelion’s story, even calling out CD Projekt Red for not doing him justice so far: “I mean, there are so many things that haven’t been said about Dandelion as a character. This is why we’re actually doing this expansion. The story is revolving around Dandelion because I think that you guys [CD Projekt Red] didn’t do justice to him. He’s so much more in the books. He’s intelligent. He’s eloquent. He’s not just this funny part that is interested in women and drinking, and that’s all.”
She wanted to make sure that The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past did right by him, “So that’s why we are actually showing his home, his family, his childhood friends. We want to show who he was before he actually became Dandelion today. And throughout the story, whatever he experiences in the expansion, we just want to show that there’s more to him than what was shown.”
“She wanted to make sure that The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past did right by him…”
Mejsner also believes that Dandelion’s story will share more with players about Geralt himself, “And through that, we are also saying new things about Geralt. Because he never spent so much time with Dandelion as he will right now. And because of that, it gives us a lot of opportunities to actually look at Geralt from a different perspective and focus not only on him being The Witcher, but also him being a friend.”
However, we never see Dandelion in the demo, so it feels more like we are learning about him through other people like Lilla and his grandmother so far. Right now, Geralt is on an adventure with Lilla as his companion, and we don’t know much about how Dandelion ties into it all, aside from the fact that he is missing.
Of course, we wanted to start off by talking about the new weapon you will see in Songs of the Past—the chain. Miles Tost was excited about this one and gave us all the details:
“One that we have disclosed already or can talk about is the chain as a new tool in Geralt’s arsenal. Something which feels kind of small, maybe. But the thing is, though, that every monster will basically have this new weak point system that the chain can abuse for cool finishers. Right? It’s cool for engaging multiple enemies and, as such, fills that sort of niche in player skillset and Geralt’s combat repertoire.”
He continued to add that it makes sense given the history of the franchise: “I think it’s also just really cool since we kind of brought it up in The Witcher 1 in the intro cinematic, but that never really sort of addressed it, and now, all this time later, we’re finally adding it as an actual gameplay component.”
For those worried that they will have to give up the chain in The Witcher 3 when not in Letten playing Songs of the Past, Tost confirmed we won’t: “The cool thing about it is that it will also apply to the rest of the game. It’s not like there’s a magical border when you exit Letten that makes you drop your chain.” Personally, there is a whole Scorpion from Mortal Kombat move with the chain that I am very excited to try out.
With the position of Lead Writer, I can imagine Paula Mejsner is under close watch by players, since The Witcher 3 has been well-loved by fans for over a decade. I am happy to report that she knows how important it is to players, and the CDPR team has a wealth of knowledge for her: “We do have an amazing lore team in CDPR that we are cooperating with. These guys are just amazing. They know everything. Like every detail from the books, from every game, from basically every piece of franchise content.”
For fans of the franchise, you may have read that Mejsner even wrote her thesis on a previous expansion, Hearts of Stone, before coming on to Songs of the Past as a writer. The sincerity in her voice when I asked how it felt to go from studying The Witcher 3 to becoming an expert on it, sitting with us at Lucca and giving a talk about an expansion she was a part of, solidifies that The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past is in good hands: “I did say it some time ago that it is a dream come true. And this is true. Like it is a dream come true”
I asked what knowledge she brought from her thesis over to Songs of the Past, and she had so much to say about different inspirations The Witcher has had so far: “The Witcher is based on so many literary references, and sometimes it’s an amalgam of different pieces of literature, mainly Polish, but not only. And this is something that, as a lead writer, I am constantly thinking about, to be honest. We need to do this at least as good as they did on The Witcher 3. This is why the writing in The Witcher is, I think, so exceptional.”
She went on to explain what we might find specifically in The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past: “And so we are actually, once again reaching towards Polish romanticism, Polish postmodernist poetry. We are also digging a bit into Shakespeare, and I think that even when watching the demo, you will see the traces of A Midsummer Night’s Dream versus Macbeth, because this is a contrast that we are actually also using as a base when it comes to our writing. So for me, this was a lesson that I learned while writing the thesis and bringing this knowledge into Songs of the Past.”
“Of course, I can’t say for sure what we might see in the new Witcher 3 expansion, or what we might hope to see in The Witcher 4, but I do know that Songs of the Past looks great so far.”
Of course, I can’t say for sure what we might see in the new Witcher 3 expansion, or what we might hope to see in The Witcher 4, but I do know that Songs of the Past looks great so far. Letten is filled with bright skies, sparkling water, and flowers that are pink and blue and purple. Tost even mentioned how deep the lore went for this new world, like how we will find new ingredients like honey and hops since the people of Letten will have their own types of food and alcohol based on what grows around them.
He also discussed that the environment forces the development team to think about what kinds of monsters we might find there. Once we headed toward the well, the world became dark, filled with dead trees, thorns, and devoid of colour. The enemies seem very nature-based so far, with creatures that resemble flowers that jut out of the ground and launch massive AOEs at the player and their companions. In one larger battle, we saw the chain used on a monster made of wood. It could morph its materials to create a spear or shield.
The demo finished after Geralt jumps into the well, which becomes a massive cave, and we end on a cliffhanger with a terrifying being also made of wood and branches, which you can see in the game’s poster. There is much more to learn about The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past and about Geralt’s friend Dandelion. For now, we have to wait, but from what I have seen and now heard from the team at CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3 players have a lot to look forward to with Songs of the Past while they wait for The Witcher 4.
