The Witcher 3 lead recalls having to watch his work "fall apart in front of me," as CD Projekt Red faced various setbacks while developing their legendary RPG

Although The Witcher 3 now stands the test of time as one of the best RPGs ever created, it doesn't boast such a simple origin story. CD Projekt Red had to try, and then try again.

And again, apparently. Lead quest designer Paweł Sasko recalls as much in a new online post commemorating the conception of The Witcher 3. "It's February 2012," he begins.

"A former factory in Warsaw. Red brick, wooden folding chairs, the smell of an old building that has been a hundred things before. Around 80 of us, the team that just shipped The Witcher 2. The lights dim." That's when The Witcher 3 was born.

"Game director and executive producer speak briefly about [the] new game we are going to make. Few sentences change the air in the room. The next game will be an open world. At the end, they show one image on the screen – it's Geralt, but older, with a beard. We will grow into 330 people before we ship. I am one of three quest designers under a lead. Pretty early, the story outline for No Man's Land arrives."

That's when things went a bit haywire.

"First mention of the Bloody Baron. I design my first quest for the project, walk into the review, and watch it fall apart in front of me. Nothing works. I sit there while it dies. Have two days to bring something new. I do not rest much. I read Slavic folktales until I find the poroniec, a stillborn child creature with [a] hideous appearance that later we are going to call Botchling. I come back with a first draft of Family Matters."

It's still not enough.

"The review outcome is a little better this time, but the fight is not over. The script grows to 40 pages. Cut it shorter, I am told. Need to do it numerous times. The discipline of removing what I like teaches me more than the writing and design ever did. After many reviews, it is approved."

It doesn't become any easier, however. "For the first nine months, all of us write the main story quests, because every other department is eagerly waiting."

There's not even grass yet, and the studio's game engine "is still finding shape," as Sasko says – "but we keep moving" nonetheless. "I write much more than we need for the game, because we pick only the best. Priscilla's concert in Novigrad is next. Then the The Last Wish. Some of it is designed last minute. Then comes [the] Battle of Kaer Morhen."

That's when the designer faces another hurdle – he proposes that Vesemir dies.

"First reaction is wide eyes and silence. The weight of it is exactly what the act needs. Ciri's outburst, the moment she throws the Wild Hunt back, requires that the floor fall out from under her first. I prototype meteors, rifts opening in the forest, Wild Hunt pouring out of them, the ride back to the keep on horseback. So much of it does not work. Technical issues. The quest flow is unclear. Review feedback I get is negative, so I rebuild."

But then, things finally take a positive turn. "Pieces start to hold," as Sasko puts it. "I begin to see why something works and why the thing next to it does not. Through repetition, I truly start understanding the craft."

Although the CD Projekt Red developers "still do not know if the open world will actually work," they "try anyway," he explains. "We push to [the] finish line and ship." A scary release, I'd say, but one that reshaped the studio's course forever.

The Witcher 3 has redefined the RPG genre and set standards I'd argue few other titles have, changing the way other devs approach open-world mechanics and the like. Now, it boasts over 60 million copies sold and a dedicated community looking forward to The Witcher 4.

It didn't come without its setbacks, but Sasko is thankful for them all: "I am grateful for the skills, the friendships, the failures that taught me more than any success ever could."

He concludes, "I am grateful for the lead who told me my first quest did not work. I am grateful for the rewrites that became Family Matters. I am grateful for every meeting that ended in silence and every review that ended in a yes. The Witcher 3 is a major part of my life. It always will be."

Ours, too, Mr. Sasko. Ours, too. I, for one, don't think I'll ever forget the first time I played the threequel – nor will I ever stop coming back to it.

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.