The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past: First Gameplay Look 12 Years Later

Geralt is back on the Path. More than a decade after the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and ten years after Blood and Wine, CD Projekt Red is returning to its landmark RPG with a third full-scale story expansion, Songs of the Past.

The expansion is being developed by CD Projekt Red together with Fool’s Theory, a studio that includes veterans who worked on the original The Witcher 3. The release is planned for 2027, while the first proper look at the project arrived at gamescom 2026. Songs of the Past appeared during the show’s opening ceremony, followed by an extended presentation at gamescom itself.

Judging by what has been shown so far, this is far from a small add-on. CD Projekt Red is comparing the project’s scale to Blood and Wine, the largest expansion ever released for The Witcher 3.

"1. The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past: First Gameplay Look 12 Years Later","1.1. What Was Shown at gamescom 2026","1.2. A New Land: Letten","1.3. This Time, It Starts With Dandelion","1.4. Blood and Wine-Level Scale","1.5. CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory","1.6. The Witcher 3 Is Getting More Modern","1.7. When Is Songs of the Past Coming Out?"

What Was Shown at gamescom 2026

The first official look at Songs of the Past took place on August 25 during the gamescom opening ceremony. CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory then held presentations of the expansion at the event. Business-area presentations ran from August 26 to 28, while additional showcases continued throughout gamescom.

Journalists were also shown an extended hands-off gameplay presentation. Based on published impressions, this is still unmistakably The Witcher 3. Exploration, dialogue, investigations, and combat remain at the heart of the experience. However, the developers are using Geralt’s return as an opportunity to refresh existing mechanics and introduce new ones.

The biggest gameplay addition revealed so far is the silver chain. Geralt can use it against groups of enemies, pull individual targets toward him, and even aim for specific body parts. It is a particularly interesting detail for longtime fans of the series, as Geralt used a similar weapon against the striga in the iconic opening cinematic of the first The Witcher.

A New Land: Letten

Songs of the Past will take players to an entirely new region called Letten, located in northern Redania. At first glance, it looks almost like the opposite of war-torn Velen, with green valleys, villages, wealthy estates, festivals, and peaceful rural life.

Naturally, that peace is unlikely to last.

CD Projekt Red describes Letten as a land shaped by tradition and folklore, with an ancient threat hiding beneath its peaceful surface. The developers have placed particular emphasis on the region’s rural culture and folk beliefs. Both visually and thematically, the expansion appears to lean heavily into the folkloric roots of The Witcher universe.

This is where Geralt’s new story begins.

This Time, It Starts With Dandelion

The central figure of the story is unexpectedly Dandelion. His full name is Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove, and Letten is closely connected to his family and past.

Following the local Belleteyn celebration, Geralt wakes up with a hangover and discovers that Dandelion has disappeared. His investigation leads him to the bard’s family and a legend surrounding a curse connected to his ancestor, Count Humbert de Lettenhove.

The developers describe the relationship between Geralt and Dandelion as one of the expansion’s main emotional pillars. Instead of another story about saving the world, Songs of the Past is expected to focus more closely on the decades-long friendship between the two characters and Dandelion’s past, something the games have explored only briefly before.

The story takes place after Blood and Wine. Geralt has already tried to leave the witcher life behind and settle down at Corvo Bianco, but a request from an old friend forces the White Wolf to pick up his swords once again.

Blood and Wine-Level Scale

Perhaps the most important statement from CD Projekt Red concerns the size of the project.

Songs of the Past is not intended to be a small collection of quests or a conventional downloadable content pack. CD Projekt Red joint CEO Michał Nowakowski has said that the new adventure is closer in scale to Blood and Wine and should be considered a full expansion.

That sets a very high bar. Blood and Wine introduced the massive region of Toussaint, a standalone story campaign, dozens of quests, new enemies, and numerous additional mechanics. If Songs of the Past truly approaches that level of content, The Witcher 3 owners could effectively receive another substantial RPG experience inside a game originally released in 2015.

CD Projekt Red itself draws a clear distinction between small free DLC releases and full expansions. The latter are designed to deliver many hours of new story content, characters, and adventures. Songs of the Past firmly belongs to the second category.

CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory

The return to The Witcher 3 has been made possible through CD Projekt Red’s collaboration with Fool’s Theory. The studio includes developers who worked on the original Witcher 3, and the team already has strong ties to the franchise. Fool’s Theory is also developing the remake of the first The Witcher.

According to CD Projekt Red, the idea behind Songs of the Past had existed internally for years. As the main development team moved first to Cyberpunk 2077 and later to The Witcher 4 and other projects, finding the right partner created an opportunity to revisit the concept and fill the gap before the next major entry in the series.

The development setup is therefore somewhat unusual. CD Projekt Red provides direction and oversees the return of one of its most important characters, while Fool’s Theory handles a significant part of the expansion’s development.

The Witcher 3 Is Getting More Modern

Songs of the Past is only one part of the game’s larger comeback.

During the gamescom opening ceremony, CD Projekt Red also revealed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, scheduled for release on September 29, 2026. The update will be free for owners of the game on supported platforms and will go beyond visual improvements, introducing changes to animations, combat, controls, enemy behavior, and a range of quality-of-life features.

The improvements developed for the remastered version are also being used in Songs of the Past. As a result, the new adventure is not supposed to feel like an expansion unexpectedly attached to a twelve-year-old game. Instead, it is an attempt to bring The Witcher 3's core formula closer to modern standards.

The developers are improving combat responsiveness, animations, camera behavior, and certain aspects of non-player character behavior. In the gameplay presentation, Letten appeared noticeably more alive. Residents go about their daily routines, travel using carts and boats, and the surrounding world reacts more actively to what is happening.

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When Is Songs of the Past Coming Out?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Songs of the Past is scheduled for release in 2027. CD Projekt Red has not announced an exact date yet. The expansion is planned for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

It will be a paid expansion.

Its existence still feels almost surreal. The Witcher 3 launched in May 2015, Blood and Wine seemingly concluded Geralt’s story in 2016, and in 2027, 12 years after the original game, the White Wolf will receive another major standalone adventure.

The first gamescom presentation suggests that CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory are not relying on nostalgia alone. A new region, Dandelion’s story, the silver chain, new enemies and mechanics, and a scale the developers themselves compare to Blood and Wine make Songs of the Past a genuine return for The Witcher 3.

Geralt may have retired once already.

But the Path, it seems, is not over yet.