In case you missed the announcement a few months ago – and there wasn’t much fanfare, so I couldn’t blame you – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting a brand new expansion, over a decade after its release. Called Songs of the Past, we don’t know much about it yet, other than the fact that it’s being developed alongside Fools Theory, the team in charge of the Witcher 1 remake, and that it’s coming out in 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. However, today CD Projekt Red shared that the game’s first look will debut at this year’s Opening Night Live showcase at Gamescom, which will occur next month on August 25.
Held in Cologne, Germany and hosted by Geoff Keighley, Opening Night Live is the games industry’s third major showcase, alongside The Game Awards and Summer Game Fest. It’s open to the public (though this year is already sold out) and livestreamed around the world. As the name suggests, it’s presented at nighttime in Europe, but it occurs during the day in the US, at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CEST.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is widely regarded as one of the best games of the modern generation, with an elaborate open world, memorable side quests, and two major expansions that live up to the base game’s standards. Developer CD Projekt Red seemingly moved on after the second expansion, going on to develop Cyberpunk 2077 (spending years patching it) and its Phantom Liberty expansion. We even know that the studio is working on The Witcher 4, starring Geralt’s daughter Ciri, and while we don’t know for sure, we wouldn’t be surprised if Songs of the Past leads into the next mainline entry in some way.
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, one of the directors of The Witcher 3, has since left CD Projekt Red and is now behind The Blood of Dawnwalker, an upcoming vampiric action RPG that shares some DNA with The Witcher games. For more on that, you can check out our exclusive cover story hub for behind-the-scenes details and watch the video above about Tomaszkiewicz’s transition from one series to the next.
