Among the additions coming in the upcoming The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past DLC is a new kind of weapon for Geralt, a big old chain he uses to whip and lasso enemies. It’s a cool, nifty piece of equipment, and something CD Projekt Red has had in its back pocket since making the original game, over a decade ago.
Two developers, Jakub Rokosz, game director on Songs of the Past, and Despoina Anetaki, senior quest designer at CDPR, discussed the subject with BBC News. “We were talking about implementing the chain even during the original The Witcher 3,” Rokosz recalls.
“It was impossible to do at the time for various technological reasons and challenges,” he continues. “A few things had to click together, and we were able to address those challenges and issues during the remaster, so then we were able to implement a weapon that feels just natural and very fluid.”
He says it “realizes a fantasy” you may have if you’ve read the Witcher books, since Geralt wields a chain regularly in the novels from Andrzej Sapkowski. Further connectivity between the source material and the games is good to see, and having more combat options makes Songs of the Past even more appealing, since this is a real late-game addition.
Anetaki explained a little more about why it made sense to include the chain now. “It fits with the narrative theming of the Songs of the Past,” she says. “It fits with all the new enemies that work with the chain. We were able to do crowd control with the swarmions, that swarm you and you have to keep them away from you.”
She points out it’s a “cool weapon” for people “who might be sick of the crossbow by now.” More versatility is always welcome, and considering there are players who’ll have put in hundreds of hours over the years, it’s especially so here.