The original Witcher RPG is being remade ‘from the ground up’

There are no platforms or release dates yet, but it sounds massive and ambitious.

The Witcher, CD Projekt’s 2007 first title that launched a best-selling, highly acclaimed RPG trilogy, will be recreated “from the ground up” with Unreal Engine 5, the publisher revealed on Wednesday.

Fool’s Theory, a Poland-based firm that has supported triple-A RPG production since its inception in 2015, is working on The Witcher Remake in Unreal Engine 5. The creators of Fool’s Theory previously worked on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015; CD Projekt Red, the trilogy’s original developer, will be “giving full creative supervision,” according to the publisher.

The Witcher Remake is the project codenamed “Canis Majoris,” which was disclosed at the beginning of October, according to CD Projekt. The publisher has also announced three additional sequels for The Witcher, the first of which is codenamed “Polaris.” Polaris has no release date, but CD Projekt has stated that the three sequels, which will also be created in Unreal 5, would be released over a six-year period.

The Witcher “was the first game we ever developed, and it was a major occasion for us back then,” said Adam Badowski, CD Projekt Red’s studio head. “Returning to this location and rebuilding the game for the next generation of players to enjoy seems just as large, if not greater.”

The Witcher is an adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s series of fantasy novels of the same name, which were published between 1990 and 1999 in Poland. The franchise has evolved from a cult following in Central and Eastern Europe to something of a national treasure for Poland, thanks to the mainstream exposure provided by three video games developed by a Polish studio. (When President Obama visited Poland in 2011, Polish officials gave him a copy of the first game.) Netflix also debuted The Witcher TV series in 2019, starring Henry Cavill as protagonist Geralt of Rivia, and has renewed it for a third season, which will premiere next summer.

“I am overjoyed that my professional path has crossed again with other devs from our time working on The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3.” “Especially when it’s a recreation of a project so dear to our hearts,” Fool’s Theory CEO Jakub Rokosz remarked on Wednesday. “Our objective is to provide fans with another fantastic game in the renowned Witcher series.”

The first game was created with BioWare’s Aurora engine and was released 15 years ago today on PC. The Witcher was never released on consoles, either in its original form or as an Enhanced Edition in 2008. The announcement issued on Wednesday did not disclose which systems will receive The Witcher Remake, nor did it provide a release date or timeframe.

CD Projekt Red released the sequel for PC and Xbox 360 in 2011 (and an Enhanced Edition in 2012), utilizing the studio’s proprietary REDengine. The most current game in the series, Wild Hunt, was released in 2015. It was released on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, with a Nintendo Switch version expected in 2019. A PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X version is due before the end of the year.