00:00Hey everyone, my name is Miles Torst and I'm a level design lead at CD Projekt Red.
00:06We're at Gamescom right now presenting our demo for our upcoming third Witcher 3 expansion,
00:11Songs of the Past. We realized that while plenty of you are excited about the new content,
00:16you may not be able to join us in person, and so we prepared a few excerpts of what we
00:21are showing
00:21for you at home. And don't worry, we know new content for The Witcher 3 doesn't come often,
00:27so we'll keep it light on spoilers today. Please enjoy!
00:37Welcome to Letten, the new region we're introducing in Songs of the Past.
00:43The remastered update greatly improves on the visuals of the original by adding advanced ray tracing,
00:50improved lighting and many other things. Letten is a fully realized open world,
00:57comparable in scope to Blood & Wine. Like other regions in the game, you'll be able to explore
01:02it freely. It's packed with new quests, interesting characters, places to find and monsters to fight,
01:09all crafted with care to deliver our CDPR signature mature story time. Let's take a look at Letten and
01:17its people. It's the night after the mystical Bellatin, an important local tradition where
01:23people celebrate fertility and pray for a good harvest. Geralt is wearing the traditional Bellatin outfit
01:29because he took part in the festivities. Oh, hey buddy! Hey there!
01:58Roach. This is Roach. It's good to be back, old friend. Go, go!
02:07From its pagan-esque customs to its architecture and landscape, Letten is heavily inspired by the
02:14Polish and English countryside. And they call Letten the Land of the Plenty. And if you ask me,
02:21it's easy to see why. It's an almost uncannily idyllic place, sheltered from the conflicts that shape the
02:27rest of the continent. Here, people have their own customs, and traditions play an important role.
02:49Songs of the Past builds on The Witcher 3's community systems, adding more complex routines
02:54and detailed dialogue than in Geralt's previous adventures. Everywhere you look, people are busy
03:00with their lives. Altogether, this gives Letten its unique identity and makes the world of The Witcher 3
03:12feel more detailed and alive than ever before.
03:48Okay, so you've probably been wondering why Geralt is in Letten to begin with. It's because of Dandelion,
03:54the famous bard and Geralt's closest friend. A Witcher travels to Letten, which is Dandelion's homeland,
04:01to help his friend with some family matters. Now, we'll not go into much more details here today,
04:06but let's at least end this moment with something that may surprise some of you.
04:43This is Dandelion's home. What you may not know about our favorite bard is that his real name is
04:48actually Julian Alfred Pankrat's Viscount de Lettenhoff, and he's a member of a wealthy noble family,
04:56and this is where he grew up. It seems that not everything in Letten is fine, however. Do you see
05:11those black banners? They are a sign of mourning, and part of the reason why Dandelion has returned home
05:16after all of these years. Okay, let's jump ahead and show you a very different side of Letten. To give
05:23you a taste of the dark secret that is hiding below the surface. Letten's Valley is idyllic with the
05:31exception of one flawed spot, the Garden of Thorns. Together with Lilla, Dandelion's cousin,
05:37we are here to investigate an old Lettenhobe family legend.
06:04Lilla is right. No wonder people avoid this place. There's something unnatural about the forest.
06:22Lilla, hide now!
06:31Lilla, hide now.
06:33Oh! Look out!
06:36Keep fighting, Geralt!
06:49With the remastered update, we're adding many enhancements to the combat system to
06:54make it more smooth and precise, by for example, updating the camera and targeting behavior.
07:25Smell blood. Lots of it. Some old. Musty. Some fresh.
07:43Poor thing.
07:46Hmm. Thorns are drinking its blood, looks like.
07:51Oh, my.
07:55Here, look. Violets from your dream.
08:01Dreamed I smelled them. Yeah.
08:05It's all so beautiful. Hauntingly so.
08:11These must be the remains of those who tried to enter before us. Rather like a warning.
08:20Looks like a thorny knot.
08:28Wait. Blood knot bound.
08:31What?
08:32The legend. It tells of Humbert's mad, doomed love for a witch. The Nakhakh.
08:40Lenten's villagers harmed the witch, and he spilled their blood in return. In the name of love.
08:47He threw their bodies down a well, and the Garden of Thorns sprung up around it.
08:54A garden that thirsts for blood to this day. Humbert's bloodlust grown flesh.
09:02Explains the blood-sucking creepers.
09:05Of boundless thirst and blood not bound, the garden shall yield to a heart true and sound.
09:16Great story. But the place looks rough, and Dandelion might be in it.
09:22Step aside.
09:40It's worked.
09:41It's worked.
09:41It's worked.
09:57It's worked.
10:26The Garden of Thorns seems to be more than just her.
10:28We lost a spooky looking forest and now we have lost Lilla.
11:08This place is dangerous and clearly in need of a professional witcher.
11:25Let's take a look at one more cool thing before we end it for today.
11:29This is a Swarmium, one of Lattin's new monsters.
11:33It protects itself with a swarm of hornets.
11:52Luckily, Geralt has a new tool that can help him with his warmest shield.
12:12The Chain also features a weak point system that you can exploit to do this.
12:23Alright, that's enough for today.
12:25I hope you enjoyed this small sneak peek of Songs of the Past and the many changes that come
12:29with the Remastered Update.
12:31Thank you very much and see you on the path.
12:33Thank you very much.
12:33Thank you very much.
12:34Thank you very much.
12:35You
