The Witcher Remake Gets an Open World

When The Witcher Remake was revealed, we didn’t know much about this project apart from the fact that it was being developed by Fool’s Theory using the Unreal Engine 5. And while that’s still mostly the case, CD Projekt’s Q3 2022 earnings report briefly mentions this remake, describing it as a “story-driven, single player open-world RPG – a modern reimagining of 2007’s The Witcher.”

Seeing how the game was originally designed using the more traditional hub-based approach, making the remake open-world seems like a major shift. And since that one line is the only bit of new information we’ve got, here’s the original announcement again to remind you what this project is about:

We are thrilled to announce that The Witcher Remake is being worked on! That’s right, the game that started it all is being rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5.

The game is currently in the early stages of development at the Polish studio Fool’s Theory, where veteran Witcher series staff are involved. We, as CD PROJEKT RED, are providing full creative supervision.

The Witcher Remake is what you might know by the codename “Canis Majoris”. It’s still early and we want to ensure that the game is created with the utmost care and attention to detail, therefore, while we’re excited to share the news with you, we want to ask you for patience as it will be a while until we start talking about this project in detail.

“The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD PROJEKT RED. It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and remaking the game for the next generation of gamers to experience it feels just as big, if not bigger,” said Adam Badowski, Head of Studio, CD PROJEKT RED. “Collaborating with Fool’s Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games. They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games. And although it will take some time before we’re ready to share more about and from the game, I know it’ll be worth the wait.”