Hooray, we are finally getting a remake for this awesome game! CD Projekt RED has announced that they are going to remake the classic Witcher 1 game in the Unreal Engine 5, making it the first Witcher game to be remade.
This is honestly some of the best news I’ve heard from CD Projekt Red and the Witcher franchise in a very long. Obviously, with the horrific release of Cyberpunk 2077 and the long wait needed to fully repair the game, CD Projekt RED’s reputation has (rightly or wrongly) been heavily damaged. The Polish-based giant needed to give their fans something to cheer and get excited about, and this news today was just that.
The Witcher 3 may be one of the greatest games ever created and certainly the best one CD Projekt RED has produced, but the original Witcher games are classics in their own right. And especially the Witcher 1.
Originally coming out in 2007, the Witcher 1 was many people’s introduction (mine was the Witcher 2) to the namesake witcher, Geralt of Rivia, one of his sorceress lovers, Triss Merigold, his many witcher brothers-in-arms, Eskel, Lambert, Coen, and Vesemir, and the world of the Witcher universe itself.
It’s really outdated now, especially with the combat and the many, many random love scenes (yeah, CD Projekt RED had Geralt going after anything that moved in that game), but the story of the Witcher 1 is one of my favorites in video game history.
Essentially, it starts off with Geralt having just been released by the Wild Hunt and picked up by his fellow witchers outside of his old witcher school, Kaer Morhen, though his memory and recollection of what happened in the Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski has been erased.
So, this game mostly focuses on Geralt dealing with the fact that he has lost the memory of everyone and everything in his past, while also introducing a secret group of assassins that brings him on a quest to the lands of Temeria and the royal court of King Foltest.
There’s so much more to this main story, as well as the multitude of side quests that are sprinkled throughout the game, but that’s the gist of the early story.
Anyway, back to the Witcher 1 Remake, I’m still kind of shocked that it’s even happening. For all of the years I’ve been following the Witcher franchise and CD Projekt RED, I haven’t heard any credible sources that even hinted at one of the two previous Witcher games getting remade. Maybe I missed something, but this news was way out of left field.
Though, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it’s happening. All of these old, great games, such as the Witcher 1, the Witcher 2, the Resident Evil franchise, Red Dead Redemption 1, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto IV, the Tomb Raider franchise, the Super Mario Bros. franchise, etc. all deserve to be redone in a modern fashion that enables newer generations to enjoy their greatness.
Naughty Dog has realized that as they have recently released The Last of Us (which only came out in 2012) remade edition, even though the original edition it is more than playable today.
Unfortunately, Witcher 1 Remake is still a work in progress, and it will be a while before CD Projekt RED releases any more information about it. But that’s okay.
As long as it’s getting remade, I’m happy to wait.
Images Source: Featured Image: (CD Projekt Red) (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Launch Cinematic – YouTube)
