The Witcher 3 is once again in the limelight after CD Projekt Red's announcement of the big RPG's new expansion (no, not DLC, guys), Songs of the Past – but before it, there were two others: Heart of Stone, and my favorite, Blood and Wine.
Blood and Wine stands as one of the pinnacles of The Witcher series as a whole, if you ask me, and it's evident that a lot of work went into it.
Lead quest designer Paweł Sasko is taking a look back at that work over on X, first revealing that Blood and Wine was actually called "Bells of Beauclair" until it was renamed "because we needed a captivating title that would grasp the spirit of the narrative, and be easier to spell out and articulate."
https://t.co/mD6Rp7MeTAMay 31, 2026
Sasko recalls how CD Projekt Red was "already hands deep into building the second expansion" when Hearts of Stone shipped in October 2015. That checks out, seeing as Blood and Wine launched just seven months later, in May 2016 – not very long, eh?
"That production timeline was pretty hardcore. A completely new country, main story, characters, monsters, mechanics, player's vineyard, and a narrative worthy of closing Geralt's journey."
This was no easy task, of course. "Oh, and it had to be better than the base game, and Hearts of Stone." Sasko says "the audacity" of the challenge – producing such a major expansion – "felt just right" to him. What was the most difficult part of Blood and Wine, though?
Amid the "handful of adjustments" developers made, "the hardest creative debate was about a forest." A forest that ended up being the Land of a Thousand Fables.
"Writers needed a Druid's Forest for a specific story thread, something the narrative couldn't breathe without. We went to the Environment Artists and got the answer that everyone feared: not enough time, can't afford it. So we changed the strategy: what if we build a fairy tale world? The kind where the fairy tales went rotten and savage. Twisted archetypes, corrupted stories, a visual language we hadn't touched before."
So, they did.
"The artists said 'yes,' because it stylistically intrigued and inspired them" – but, this fairy tale world "turned out to be way more expensive to build than the Druid's Forest ever would." Why did CD Projekt Red opt to take the pricier road, then, when it was already struggling?
Sasko explains in a reply that it "at first looked easier to build (it wasn't) and smaller (it wasn't either). You operate with your best judgment… trying to estimate."
Fairy Tale at first looked easier to build (it wasn't) and smaller (it wasn't either). You operate with your best judgement in such scenarios as a gamedev, trying to estimate. What was more important is that our artists really liked the idea, and wanted to build it.May 31, 2026
The artists "really liked the idea," however, "and wanted to build it" – that's what really mattered, as it ensured that Blood and Wine would deliver on both devs' own expectations and fans' excitement… excitement I'd argue hasn't died down yet.
Even Sasko himself concludes fans "surpassed any expectation we had about The Witcher 3's longevity." Heck, I've got hundreds of hours in the RPG myself, and I'm not done with it yet.
Especially not now that we've got Songs of the Past to look forward to. The Witcher 3 isn't just one of the best Witcher games out there with all of this high-quality content, I'd argue – it's one of the greatest games to date.
Excited to see more upcoming CD Projekt Red games come to fruition? Browse through our roundup for other great new games arriving this year and beyond, too.
