"It was an exciting moment to be invited to be in the company of other legendary developers like Bethesda, EA, LucasArts, Ubisoft or Activision", said studio boss Adam Badowski, "as one of the teams working on titles shipping early in the PlayStation 4's lifecycle". In a statement for the press in mid-March, he declared his team of developers would "push the graphical limits" of innovation. The team has been given access to PlayStation 4 technology, currently under development, and plans to develop the trilogy finale in sync with the new hardware.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt promises players action in "an open world 30 times larger" than the previous installment, full of dynamic, tactical combat amid realistic ecosystems that react to in-game events. The player's decisions conduct the action through the main narrative of Geralt’s search for his loved ones and his conflict with the Wild Hunt. There are several possible story lines, which opens the possibility for continuous replay with an entirely different gaming experience.
The Witcher Saga, based on the books of Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, is among the most popular video games in the world - with the popularity of the game also driving new sales of the original books. The first installment was released in 2007, with Oscar-nominated animator and filmmaker Tomasz Bagiński involved in the design of the fantasy world, along with the Platige Image Studio. The trailer for The Witcher 2 received receive Best Video Game Trailer Award and Best Cinematic Spot category during the International Festival of Animated Films, Visual Effects and Videogames in 2012.
The double franchise has topped 4 million units sold around the world, with players lured to its complex fantasy world designed for adults, where the hero Geralt must juggle moral decisions that impact his path through the game and the outcome. Geralt must battle the forces of injustice and strange beasts as he makes his way through a magical world that is both wonderful and terrifying, both unreal and yet familiar in its political intrigues and battle of wills. The game gives the player full control over the course of events on the island of Skellige, with all Sapkowski's magic and pithy dialogues.
The Witcher3: Wild Hunt will be available in 2014 for all high-end platforms, including PlayStation 4. For more information on the series, see: www.thewitcher.com
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: www.eurogamer.net, www.polygon.com, www.rockpapershotgun.com, www.thewitcher.com
22.03.2013