Never-before-seen concept art from the Witcher shows Geralt's beginnings

CD Projekt Red has shared never before seen concept art of Geralt when he was in the concept stage.

As highlighted in a tweet, Przemek 'Trust' Truściński, whose artwork established Geralt's look in-game, recently visited CD Projekt Red. As part of that visit, he shared some never before seen artwork of Geralt. It's a deeply detailed picture, and while his face is a little bulkier, it's easy to see how the final design came together. 

This was part of a 15-year celebration CD Projekt Red threw for The Witcher, which originally launched in 2007. Of course, this was only a small reveal when compared to the announcement that the first Witcher is getting an Unreal 5 remake from the developer. 

That remake is sorely needed, as the original game can be hard to stomach for players expecting the grandeur of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It's a more intimate game with a much, much smaller scope, though consequently, it's a tighter experience. 

While The Witcher 1 can't quite compete with what the series became, one of the largest scale, most beloved franchises in gaming, it's still an important artifact of CD Projekt's history and an often missed chapter of Geralt's story. The remake will be great as a refresher before The Witcher 4 comes out, whenever that is.

Seeing this original concept art is a reminder of the small place The Witcher games came from. While the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski had a following, the games catapulted the franchise into the mainstream consciousness to become one of the biggest fantasy franchises of all time. It's fun to think, the spark that would push the story of Geralt to millions of people all started with concept images just like this.

Looking for a new world to jump into? Check out our list of the best RPG games to play.