Witcher 3 Screens Show Off the Snowy Land of Skellige

[Andy Chalk]

Witcher 3 Screens Show Off the Snowy Land of Skellige

Let's take a moment to bask in the preternatural beauty of a whole bunch of Witcher 3 screens.

The Witcher 3, as we already know, will be an open-world game covering a wide expanse of territory, each with its own "unique atmosphere, communities and memorable characters." CD Projekt Red boss Adam Badowski claimed the game will boast a range of "diversified" environments 30 times larger than than of The Witcher 2 [http://www.amazon.com/The-Witcher-Assassins-Enhanced-Xbox-360/dp/B006GHA8EE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362156221&sr=8-1&keywords=Witcher+2], which was a pretty meaty game in its own right, giving players about 50 hours of play in the main narrative and other 50 hours through "additional stories."

The studio released a hefty pile of screens today showing off the island region of Skellige, a land that bears a certain Nordic resemblance to another popular open-world RPG that came out in 2011. That's not to suggest that there's any sort of inappropriate borrowing going on, but it is interesting how an excess of snow and cold seems to inspire burly men to glue animal horns to their helmets.

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is expected to come out sometime in 2014.


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[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The thing that people need to know about these screens is that even though they look good, this is not how the game is going to look like when it's released. It's going to look a lot better. These screens were taken rendering the game with the old REDengine 2. Full game will be using REDengine 3 which is designed as a next-gen engine.

 

[omicron1]

Which is to say, Playstation 4, eat your heart out.

I loves me some GPU-killing spectacular open-world RPGs.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Well 2014 looks like a good year to upgrade my pc in then.

 

[kurupt87]

The pessimist in me worries about the effect putting so much into creating an open world will have on the narrative. The rest of me just can't bloody wait to find out.

The thing that people need to know about these screens is that even though they look good, this is not how the game is going to look like when it's released. It's going to look a lot better. These screens were taken rendering the game with the old REDengine 2. Full game will be using REDengine 3 which is designed as a next-gen engine.

I don't think I can handle that much polish in a game.

Well played sir, well played. @HankMan, RIP, would be proud.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Certainly looks good enough, as expected. I'm more interested in how it plays, what the story is about or, hell, even a cinematic trailer, though.

But whatever, the more publicity they get after the lukewarm sales of previous titles, the better.

The thing that people need to know about these screens is that even though they look good, this is not how the game is going to look like when it's released. It's going to look a lot better. These screens were taken rendering the game with the old REDengine 2. Full game will be using REDengine 3 which is designed as a next-gen engine.

I don't know why exactly you'd be assuming that. A better engine doesn't improve the actual assets used.

Go into detail what you think will be improved, perhaps? I'm not saying it's impossible or anything like that, it just seems a rather weird claim to make.

They had a video that explains the upgrades we will see. First and most obvious the ability to create a huge open world with no loading times. Then the ability to have a lot more animations and more fluid animations, completely dynamic weather system with real volumetric clouds instead of a sky box, sharper textures, better lighting, more polygons etc.

 

[czarevilsam]

"CD Projekt RED has provided the screenshots you see here from its current in-game assets running on its Internal PC development hardware. However, the renderer - the part of the engine that translates the game files into what you ultimately see on screen - is still in development and will boast significant improvements by the time The Witcher 3 ships. "Right now you see the game in the old renderer, but it's going to be taken to a truly next level," says gameplay producer Marek ZSiemak. In particular, the developers tell us that skin shaders and the dynamic lighting model will be markedly more advanced in the final version."

 

[Poerts]

I am excitement, I am entirely excitement. One of the most common thoughts going through my head while playing the Witcher 2 was "Wow, this is awesome, if only the world didn't feel so cramped", and it seems like they've got that solved up just fine. Some of the bigger environments in these don't seem quite as visually interesting, but the Witcher 2 was tightly packed, and it's still early days. If it looks at least as good as the second one, I will be completely satisfied. That game is still damn pretty.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

This will be a nice addition to the PS4 I'll be getting sometime next year.

 

[aelreth]

I'm resisting the urge to preorder.

 

[theultimateend]

The thing that people need to know about these screens is that even though they look good, this is not how the game is going to look like when it's released. It's going to look a lot better. These screens were taken rendering the game with the old REDengine 2. Full game will be using REDengine 3 which is designed as a next-gen engine.

I don't think I can handle that much polish in a game.

Your best pun.

Edit: For the sake of adding content to my post. I'm going to preorder this. Witcher is one of the only series I really trust anymore .

 

[Tradjus]

You know, most people complain about a game becoming more streamlined with it's releases, but in my opinion The Witcher really -needs- steamlining. It is HANDS DOWN the most unnecessarily obtuse game that wasn't made by Richard Garriot that exists on this Earth and someone really needs too take the pruning shears to it and make a game that doesn't slow to a crawl for five minutes every time you need to do something with the inventory.

 

[Gitty101]

Cannot wait for this, The Witcher 2 is one of my all-time favourites and I hope this one will be just as good.

 

[Meatspinner]

URMAHGUD they are ripping of Skærimm

Seriously though, as someone that could not handle The Witcher 2 I feel compelled to upgrade my aging computer

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I would play this game even with the current look (aka Witcher 2 graphics). I personally am ultra psyched for this game and every ounce of information is welcomed.

 

[Norrdicus]

Seriously though, as someone that could not handle The Witcher 2 I feel compelled to upgrade my aging computer

Oh yeah, Witcher 3 will drop DirectX 9 support entirely

 

[Reeve]

This tastes like Skyrim. They must want to make money like Treyarch.