Witcher 3 - Interview @ Gamestm

Gamestm has posted a new interview with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt writer Jakub Szamalek about setting the standard for next-gen role-playing game.

The Witcher 3 is being outlined as leading the vanguard for role-playing titles on next-gen hardware. Was that part of the mandate as development begun on the sequel?

We had that in mind because we brought the Witcher 2 to Xbox 360, which was at the time already 6 years old. That was everything we could squeeze out of the console. We needed to take the next step, we want to have more possibilities and the better hardware would allow more space to do things. Everybody knew more or less how far the new consoles were in development and we took that into consideration.

You’ve previously spoken of how the studio has developed its storytelling voice over the last decade. With that in mind, how CD Projekt RED approach The Witcher 3 from a narrative perspective?

We’re trying to go down the same path but developing it further. We still have mature themes when we design quests and the storyline, and we make sure there are not any good or bad decisions. The player always has to make a choice and face the consequences. This is a very important element of our games and we’re focusing on that but it’s also a more personal story and we’re really trying to make something that is considered nasty. There will be some parts that will make you go ‘Oh fuck. What have I done? I would have never imagined my decisions would result in something like that.’ Like in real life, we can’t always predict everything. We can’t always have wings for a good decision and horns for a bad decision. We’re avoiding that and sticking to this grey area. It’s really exciting because it allows us to develop this story in interesting and not so cliché way.

Will that result in multiple endings?

It will lead to multiple endings. We also want to show the players the smaller consequences to each decision and how they influence the world. We had that a little bit in The Witcher 2 already, so we want to stick to that and illustrate the impact the player’s actions had on different locations and characters.