CD Projekt Red unveils the first images of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's second expansion Blood and Wine, showing off the brighter, more colorful setting of Toussaint.

The images, which were revealed on CD Projekt Red's Twitter page, show off a beautiful sprawling cityscape that looks distinctly different from the Novigrad that's part of the main game. Instead of witches being burned at the stake and muggers in the streets, the city of Toussaint is more colorful and lively. However, the Game Awards Game of the Year 2015 developers have said that Toussaint will "take Geralt to a land untainted by war, where an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and knightly ritual masks an ancient, bloody secret".

Ancient and bloody secrets sound a lot more like The Witcher 3 game, and subsequent barrage of free DLC in anticipation of its expansions, that critics and fans alike came to love last summer. Although CD Projekt Red has been very careful not to reveal much information about Blood and Wine, we do know the expansion will be about twice as long as Hearts of Stone and will include new gear and new enemies.

Blood and Wine will also feature the return of characters "both new and dearly missed," a promise that has lead to speculation regarding exactly which Witcher 3 characters will be in the expansion. Bringing back characters and capturing the same magic is often a difficult process, but CD Projekt Red has sworn by an intense attention to detail that resulted in the re-introduction of Shani into Hearts of Stone becoming one of the expansion's best inclusions rather than a mere afterthought.

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It's been a whirlwind eight months for CD Projekt Red, who have collected hundreds of awards for their efforts on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt while also gearing up for Cyberpunk 2077, a game even larger than The Witcher 3 and set in a universe of android warfare rather than skeletal horsemen. The Polish developers have also been listening to fans despite their massive commitments, carefully patching The Witcher 3 to fix any major issues while also adding a New Game Plus function.

While the details regarding Blood and Wine are still murky at best, CD Projekt Red have certainly earned the trust of gamers, who sunk countless hours of time into The Witcher 3 and were rewarded with arguably one of the greatest RPGs ever made. Although Blood and Wine's release date was recently pushed back, it's clear from the screenshots that the quality of the expansion will surely make up for the delay.

Are you eager to get your hands on the next The Witcher 3 expansion? Do you want a sequel to Geralt's adventures, or are you ready for a new game like Cyberpunk 2077? Let us know in the comments below.

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine will be arrive sometime in the first half of 2016, and will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Source: Twitter (via GameSpot)