Witcher - Remake announced

[HiddenX]

The Witcher will get an Unreal 5 remake:

Twitter:

We're thrilled to reveal that, together with @Fools_Theory, we're working on remaking The Witcher using Unreal Engine 5 (codename: Canis Majoris)!

We want to do this right, so please be patient - it's gonna be a while until we can share more details.

The Witcher Remake is in development!

We are thrilled to announce that The Witcher Remake is being worked on! That's right, the game that started it all is being rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5.

The game is currently in the early stages of development at the Polish studio Fool's Theory, where veteran Witcher series staff are involved. We, as CD PROJEKT RED, are providing full creative supervision.

The Witcher Remake is what you might know by the codename "Canis Majoris". It's still early and we want to ensure that the game is created with the utmost care and attention to detail, therefore, while we're excited to share the news with you, we want to ask you for patience as it will be a while until we start talking about this project in detail.

"The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD PROJEKT RED. It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and remaking the game for the next generation of gamers to experience it feels just as big, if not bigger," said Adam Badowski, Head of Studio, CD PROJEKT RED. "Collaborating with Fool's Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games. They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games. And although it will take some time before we're ready to share more about and from the game, I know it'll be worth the wait."

Thanks Couchpotato!

More information.

 

[Couchpotato]

This came as a surprise as I thought the Canis Majoris project was a new game, but when you think about it a full remake can be considered one. Fingers crossed it turns out good.

On a side note it's a different developer as well. They worked on a few side projects for other developers, and seems they developed the Stealth/RPG Seven with 11-bit studious.

So not much to prove they have the talent or experience.

 

[Lakorus]

That's very good news in my book! I very much enjoyed the first game, although it had quite a few flaws, namely a lot of backtracking, especially in the swamp.
I actually bought a new computer in order to play the game.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Now that's a good idea, if they also manage to keep or even expand the scope of the first one. But, I think that could lead to maybe also redoing Witcher 2? I think that still looks mostly decent, but nowhere near as good as Witcher 3. I guess it will depend on how succesful Witcher 1 remake will be.

I also wonder if they will re-record the voice overs? I would imagine so. Most of the voice overs in Witcher 1 are pretty awful. So it will look really weird to have UE5 graphics and the same B-grade voice overs.

 

[MAHak]

Sweet. I’ve been on the fence about whether I should give the first game a play-through, not that I’ve finished the other games several times.
Guess that settles it.
Might even do a continuous play-through of the trilogy!

 

[Deleted member 18181]

Vizima big as Novigrad, nice thought but the story was meh in the first game.

 

[Couchpotato]

I also wonder if they will re-record the voice overs? I would imagine so. Most of the voice overs in Witcher 1 are pretty awful. So it will look really weird to have UE5 graphics and the same B-grade voice overs.

It's a full remake not remaster so it's a high probability most of the voice cast from Witcher 3 will be back again. It will be nice to replay Geralt with his voice actor again.

 

[Couchpotato]

This was from earlier this year from the voice actor of Geralt.

He's not to happy about the possible re-masters of Witcher 1 and 2.

 

[JDR13]

Awesome news. The Witcher is a top-20 game for me. Great characters and one of my favorite soundtracks for any game. They better not screw it up.

 

[JDR13]

Now that's a good idea, if they also manage to keep or even expand the scope of the first one. But, I think that could lead to maybe also redoing Witcher 2? I think that still looks mostly decent, but nowhere near as good as Witcher 3. I guess it will depend on how succesful Witcher 1 remake will be.

I also wonder if they will re-record the voice overs? I would imagine so. Most of the voice overs in Witcher 1 are pretty awful. So it will look really weird to have UE5 graphics and the same B-grade voice overs.

TW1 is a pretty meaty game. I don't think they need to expand on it, although it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

I don't agree that the VO were awful or that they need to be re-recorded. If they do though, I hope they can get the original actors for the major characters at least.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I don't agree that the VO were awful or that they need to be re-recorded. If they do though, I hope they can get the original actors for the major characters at least.

I don't know, last time I tried to replay it (I think it was in time for W3's release) this cinematic stopped me dead in my tracks. It's at 25min and 12sec if the link doesn't work. Of course it didn't help that I had forgotten that 80% of the Witcher 1's combat is a rhythm mini-game of clicking attack on enemies just as the cursor is highlighted. So that might have also significantly contributed to killing my idea of replaying it.

Out of all of them, in that scene, only Vesemir seems like he's doing an ok but also just average job. Even Geralt sounds a bit stilted. And there's other dialogue that is kind of cringe. I remember the child that gets attacked by the hellhound near the start of the game. He goes into a mono-tone prophecy spewing outburst where I was also kind of amazed at how bad it sounds.

Oh course it is kind of charming, since it was CDPR's first game and it's still amazingly ambitious for a first game of theirs. But there's no denying, in my mind at least, that the VO is pretty average to awful sometimes.

 

[Andrew23]

I'm not thrilled by this remake as I didn't enjoy first Witcher much. Combat was the highlight, the rest i found mediocre. Second Witcher is my personal favorite of the series. I loved combat, found it much better then that in third game. I know how third one is loved around here and I spent quite few hours with it myself. But I never finished it as I got bored by combat and shallow character development.

 

[JDR13]

Oh course it is kind of charming, since it was CDPR's first game and it's still amazingly ambitious for a first game of theirs. But there's no denying, in my mind at least, that the VO is pretty average to awful sometimes.

You can take any game with as much dialogue as The Witcher and cherry pick a scene where the VO sounds off.

The VO are fine for the most part. Not the best I've ever seen\heard but pretty far from being awful. If you're talking about the animations that go with them, like the lip-synching, then yeah those haven't aged well which is understandable given how old the game is.

As for the combat, I didn't mind it personally, but it could be better. I expect that'll be one of the major changes to the remake.

 

[JFarrell71]

If I heard that guy speak out of context I would never in a million years think "hey, that's Geralt."

 

[danutz_plusplus]

You can take any game with as much dialogue as The Witcher and cherry pick a scene where the VO sounds off.

The VO are fine for the most part. Not the best I've ever seen\heard but pretty far from being awful. If you're talking about the animations that go with them, like the lip-synching, then yeah those haven't aged well which is understandable given how old the game is.

As for the combat, I didn't mind it personally, but it could be better. I expect that'll be one of the major changes to the remake.

I think the VO in Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 is miles apart in terms of quality from Witcher 1. They really stepped up their budget and probably got proper people to take care of handling that.

I place Witcher 1 VO around the same quality as Gothic 1. Maybe slightly worse. Gothic 1 also has a couple of stinkers, and some that are so bad that they are actually endearing.

While I think it's amazing what they did with the Aurora engine, with how awful that was in Neverwinter Nights, I'm excited to see what they envision for the remake. And depending on how fast they get it done, compared to the new Witcher trilogy, it could also give us some hints as to what we can expect from that. Since they're both gonna share UE5 tech, I imagine they're gonna do as much cross-polination as possible, between the two teams.

That's still a bit fuzzy for me. Is that team, Fool's Theory, a separate company from CDPR? And they're contracting them for it? Is that it? Then I imagine there might not be as much reuse of the same tech. I imagine they wouldn't want to share proprietary tech they're probably building on top of UE5 with an outside studio.

 

[JDR13]

I think the VO in Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 is miles apart in terms of quality from Witcher 1. They really stepped up their budget and probably got proper people to take care of handling that.

I place Witcher 1 VO around the same quality as Gothic 1. Maybe slightly worse. Gothic 1 also has a couple of stinkers, and some that are so bad that they are actually endearing.

I wouldn't say they're miles apart. The main characters are mostly the same voice actors after all. If you mean the animations, yes. The later games were much better in terms of overall production values, and that's always going to impact dialogue scenes.

I think the voiceovers in TW1 were better than Gothic or at least the English version of Gothic. They're similar though in that both games were quite raw in a lot of ways while still being utterly fantastic for their time.

While I think it's amazing what they did with the Aurora engine, with how awful that was in Neverwinter Nights, I'm excited to see what they envision for the remake. And depending on how fast they get it done, compared to the new Witcher trilogy, it could also give us some hints as to what we can expect from that. Since they're both gonna share UE5 tech, I imagine they're gonna do as much cross-polination as possible, between the two teams.

That's still a bit fuzzy for me. Is that team, Fool's Theory, a separate company from CDPR? And they're contracting them for it? Is that it? Then I imagine there might not be as much reuse of the same tech. I imagine they wouldn't want to share proprietary tech they're probably building on top of UE5 with an outside studio.

My understanding is that they rewrote so much of the Aurora engine it was barely the same engine at that point. It was still very limited obviously compared to REDengine.

Yes, Fool's Theory is a separate developer. They co-developed Seven: The Days Long Gone and have done work on several of Larian's games as well although I'm not sure to what extent.

 

[Couchpotato]

If I heard that guy speak out of context I would never in a million years think "hey, that's Geralt."

When he cosplays and uses the voice he fits the role. He's just old now after 15 years. He also voiced other game characters over the years as well. The latest being DioField.

 

[Couchpotato]

Who is the studio behind The Witcher remake

Fool’s Theory has its roots in CD Projekt: who is the studio behind The Witcher remake | Game World Observer

CD Projekt has announced the remake of the first Witcher game, as the trend to reimagine popular franchises continues. The project is being built with Unreal Engine 5 by Polish studio Fool’s Theory.

gameworldobserver.com

• Founded in 2015, Fool’s Theory is run by CEO Jakub Rokosz. He has worked at CD Projekt RED for five years as a senior quest designer on The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3.
• The studio’s design director, Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz, is also a CDPR veteran. She previously worked at the company for more than four years as a QA tester and quest designer .
• Other former CD Projekt developers include living world lead Przemysław Tarczyński and lead quest designer Katarzyna Władyka. They contributed to the development of The Witcher 3 and/or Cyberpunk 2077.
• Fool’s Theory initially focused on outsourcing development, taking part in the making of games such as Outriders, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and Baldur’s Gate III. It also helped develop open-world isometric stealth RPG Seven: The Days Long Gone.
• The studio eventually shifted to in-house development of its own projects. In addition to The Witcher remake, Fool’s Theory is now working on Vitriol, an esoteric narrative-driven RPG.
• The latter will be published by 11 bit studios, which acquired a 40% stake in the Polish studio for up to $1.49 million earlier this year.

 

[Couchpotato]

You can also get the game for free on GOG again if you haven't played it yet.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

Suffering from amnesia you remember nothing of your past. Kaer Morhen, the last rema

www.gog.com

The Witcher 15th Anniversary: claim the game for FREE and prepare for its REMAKE!

The Witcher 15th Anniversary: claim the game for FREE and prepare for its REMAKE!

www.gog.com

 

[Zloth]

The dwarves had better keep their long beards!

How about breaking the game up a little and expanding? The first game will cover the castle attack and the village - call it Witcher 1 Rebirth....