The Witcher 1 Remake has been announced a while back, but nothing is known about the Unreal Engine 5 remake of the first entry in the series outside the fact that it is in development by Fool's Theory under the supervision of CD Projekt Red, and that some of the original's most controversial elements that haven't aged well will be changed. According to Artur Ganszyniec, lead story designer of the original, the biggest challenge the remake faces is fitting the open-world structure into the game's narrative pace, as just making the game's world bigger may not be the answer to an old problem.
If we opened up the locations, there would be more space, and if there's more space, there needs to be more content. The pace and scale of the entire project would immediately change, Ganszyniec said to Polish publication Chip. In The Witcher 1, many things worked because we knew exactly where the player would be at any given moment. We could trigger a trigger, launch a scene, or insert Alvin between the fields and the village. In an open world, this would have to be handled completely differently.
The Witcher 1 lead story designer cited a prime example of how open-world mechanics can heavily influence narrative progression. "When everything falls into place on the map around Lake Vizima in the fifth act, one might ask a simple question: if this were an open world, would I have a boat? What's stopping me from getting on a boat on the outskirts of Vizima and sailing straight to the old manor? As a player, I might be happy about that, but as a designer, I'm starting to get gray."
As such, it's clear that making The Witcher 1 Remake an open-world game and calling it a day won't be enough. It will require a lot of work to keep the experience tight, and of course money, which may get development to a point where costs and benefits will begin to diverge.
At some point, a pragmatic question must be asked: when does this multiplication of paths cease to be profitable? You can invest an infinite amount of time and budget, but will it generate an infinite number of new players?
Going by what Artur Ganszyniec said, it definitely feels like The Witcher 1 Remake may end up rebuilding a significant portion of the original game, where something will inevitably be lost. As much as I love The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I still believe the first entry in the series, with its almost claustrophobic, oppressive atmosphere, remains the best adaptation of the world created by Andrzej Sapkowski to date, as working through the technical limitations of the time gave rise to a remarkable game that in some ways hasn't been topped yet.
Hopefully, the developers at Fool's Theory will be able to overcome the production challenges highlighted by Ganszyniec to deliver a game worth playing for all fans of the series who also have The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past expansion and The Witcher 4 to look forward to.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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