The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is by far the most popular game featuring Geralt of Rivia. Earning dozens of awards in 2015, including multiple Game of the Year awards, The Witcher 3 is still fondly remembered by many as a great open-world RPG. For those who enjoyed The Witcher 3 and went back to play The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, it can be quite jarring to experience how the older games play, especially regarding the first title. It seems that CD Projekt Red is looking to remedy this, though, as it has announced an Unreal Engine 5 remake of The Witcher.
There are a lot of elements about the first Witcher game that prove to be extremely dated in 2022. The graphical fidelity of the game and its combat specifically mark areas that definitely need some improvement. However, even with The Witcher 1 remake looking to change a lot, it shouldn't sacrifice what makes Geralt's first video game adventure unique. The game should also avoid looking too much like a clone of The Witcher 3, even though it should take a lot of influence from the 2015 phenomenon.
The Witcher Remake is Already Making Some Big Changes
The Witcher remake shouldn't take too much influence from The Witcher 3, but there is no harm in following in the footsteps of what has worked tremendously well for CD Projekt Red. Already, a big change is coming to the first Witcher game as the remake will be open-world, marking a significant difference from the way the original title is played. It has Geralt move along a much more linear trail, where the player could explore some large areas but not the entire game space as a whole.
This signifies that rather than The Witcher 1 remake just giving the old title a fresh coat of paint, Fool's Theory and CD Projekt Red is fully reimagining the first game to keep up with modern gaming trends. With The Witcher 1 remake set to come out after the first entry in the new Witcher saga as well, this only further implies that fans are getting a vastly different experience from what they got in 2009. This leaves plenty of space for improvement on the dated experience of The Witcher, and Fool's Theory can follow the example of The Witcher 3.
The clunky combat and look of The Witcher could do with some influence from The Witcher 3. While combat wasn't the most outstanding aspect of the game, players in The Witcher 3 could flow seamlessly between different opponents, feeling much more like a monster killer who is faster and stronger than the average human. Graphically, it also makes a lot of sense to bring The Witcher closer to The Witcher 3, as this would provide a greater sense of continuity over the trilogy. Character models could do with a visual update, as comparing the original Geralt to Witcher 3's version shows just how far graphics have come.
The Witcher Remake Needs to Maintain the Game's Originality
While it makes sense to bring Geralt's first adventure closer to the quality of his final outing, The Witcher 1 is a game that still has a lot going for it, and plenty of features that shouldn't be sacrificed in the upcoming reimagining. Firstly, there's the narrative of the first Witcher game, which sees Geralt of Rivia lose his memory following the end of The Witcher book series and find himself at Kaer Morhen. From there, the Witcher fortress is attacked, sending Geralt on a quest to hunt down the Order of the Flaming Rose and face off against Jacques de Aldesberg.
The Witcher's narrative gives players an entirely different experience from that of The Witcher 3. Following the amnesiac Geralt, the first game acts as an odd introduction to the character that still manages to be an interesting tale. In The Witcher 3, choices matter, and Geralt does face some moral dilemmas, but even if the player follows a negative path, this can be excused by the Witcher doing whatever he must in order to save Ciri. In The Witcher, the overarching goal is much less defined, and so it places more emphasis on who the player decides Geralt is. There is a level of importance attributed to each settlement Geralt enters in a way that isn't matched in The Witcher 3, due to even huge cities like Novigrad just being places that the Witcher explores to find Ciri.
Beyond its narrative, there are also some interesting gameplay features that should be kept in The Witcher remake. Alchemy is a part of each Witcher title, but in The Witcher there's a lot more emphasis on creating potions, even allowing Geralt to mix an unknown concoction and drink it to learn its effects. This system shows another strong link between the first game and The Witcher books, where Geralt drinks a potion or two before each battle and isn't as powerful without them. In The Witcher 3, potions are powerful, but they're not seen as a necessity.
The Witcher remake should also keep Geralt's fighting styles. There are three fighting styles players can use against different opponents and situations in The Witcher: the fast style opting for quick, less powerful attacks, the strong style dealing more damage with slower swings, and the group style involving sweeping strikes to deal with more than one opponent at once. While The Witcher's combat isn't its strongest point, it would be interesting to see a modern take on this system of attack styles, showing how Geralt takes different approaches to fights. With the three camera options also available in the first game, this could make for incredibly engaging combat.
With the overwhelming success of The Witcher 3 that has lasted over half a decade, it is highly likely The Witcher in Unreal Engine 5 remake will borrow a few things from it. This could include a lot of features, from the return of Gwent as a minigame to overhauled visuals, but the first Witcher title shouldn't throw away what made it unique for the sake of modernity, and fans should get an experience that improves upon the original without taking too much from it.
The Witcher Remake is currently in development.