CD Projekt Red is continuing to work on new content for The Witcher 3. Their latest expansion is called Blood and Wine. It's a disturbingly elegant name and we finally get to see what it looks like with the first two screenshots of the expansion for the 2015 Game of the Year award winner.
There are two new screenshots showcasing the new region and they were posted up on the official Witcher Twitter account.
The first image shows an absolutely magnificent looking wide shot of a pristine looking kingdom of Touissant; white stones set against orange rooftops with plenty of Gothic-inspired architectural designs make up for the main palace and surrounding fortifications. The shot shows an expansive picturesque mountainscape in the background while white clouds and a beautiful blue sky hang overhead to create a perfect canvas in which the new kingdom in The Witcher 3 is set against.
We see that the castle sitting atop the hill leads down into a colorful town with more orangish-red rooftops and some bright splashes of yellow, pastel blue, wine-red and tan color schemes making up for the palette of the vibrant looking town. Of course, the shot is from far away and the whole thing looks so beautiful from a distance but all of that could change up close. In fact, some of it does change up close as the second screenshot indicates.
The second screenshot is still as gorgeous as ever but we see that some of the buildings are covered in drapes of moss, reaching from the rooftops down to the ground. A rickety old shack awning is attached to what I can only presume is a house. The design looks chiefly Spanish in its architectural influence, there are also hints of Italian design aesthetics as well, giving the village a more Mediterranean look.
We see some villagers just outside the houses, doing work and moving about. The white-haired warrior, Geralt, is no where to be seen.
The Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3 is set to include more characters, some new gameplay changes and support for DirectX 12, according to Yibada.
The new expansion will also dive deeper into the Witcher lore with brand new characters and stories made popular in the Polish novels. I'm curious what other changes they're making given that combat has always been one of the most hotly discussed and debated topics of The Witcher franchise. Multiple mods and tweaks and patches have been released over the years to “perfect” it. So we'll see if CD Projekt does any additional tweaking in the Blood and Wine DLC.
The provocatively named expansion pack is due for release on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC some time during early 2016.
