The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open-world RPG that, despite being 11 years old, still stands strong today. And after watching an hour-long preview gameplay demo of its upcoming expansion, Songs of the Past, at Gamescom, that has never been more true.
Mechanically, Songs of the Past is everything you expect it to be, because after all, it’s The Witcher 3. It follows the same format as Blood and Wine: a new region to explore in the form of Letten, countless quests to experience, brand-new enemies to fight, and a perfect blend of familiar faces among the newcomers to make for an intriguing narrative.
While the expansion isn’t reinventing the wheel (it clearly doesn’t need to, The Witcher 3 still boasts an incredibly healthy player count on PC alone, according to SteamDB), it brings Geralt’s trademark dry humor to a story that dives into the history of one of the game’s most beloved characters: Dandelion.
In the demo, Geralt encounters a man by a dock who has somehow come into possession of Dandelion’s lute. This being Geralt, he doesn’t hesitate to use his fists to get the lute back with the intention of returning it to the bard, but after visiting Dandelion’s childhood home and meeting his cousin, Lilla, he learns something is much more awry than it first seemed.
This sends Geralt and Lilla on a treacherous journey into what is known as the “garden of thorns,” where we see the witcher defeat two brand-new enemies: a Thornbloom, a tall, sprouting plant that shoots acid from afar; and a Swarmion, a ghoul-like humanoid foe protected by a cloud of hornets. However, Geralt’s new chain weapon can pull in enemies from afar, breaking that protection and opening up windows for new finishers, including one where the chain takes the foe’s head clean off.
A boss fight against an undead knight follows, with each combat encounter interspersed with exploration through the maze-like, slightly unnatural garden of thorns. It is, for all intents and purposes, more of that classic Witcher 3 experience. And that is by no means a bad thing. It also seems like Lilla may be a new romance option for Geralt, if you’re still undecided between Yen and Triss and wanted to explore new options.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Songs of the Past will be released in 2027. It is available to wishlist now.