The new RPG from CD Projekt Red needs to deliver

Feb 9, 2015 14:12 GMT  ·  By

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is probably one of the biggest role-playing experiences that will appear this year. Sure, there are many other major titles that are important to their own genres, like Halo 5 for first-person shooters, Uncharted 4 for third-person shooters, or Batman: Arkham Knight for action-adventure brawlers, but the battle for the hearts and minds of most RPG fans has already been won by The Witcher 3.

The game, to put it mildly, is under a phenomenal amount of pressure to live up to its own hype. I recently got back in touch with one of my high school friends, and after hearing what I do for a living, he immediately asked me about The Witcher 3.

The delays have worn thin

The first question, of course, had to do with its eventual release date, as he was quite upset with all the different delays endured by the RPG. In case you forgot, the title was originally presented to the world way back in 2013, more than two years ago, and CD Projekt Red, its developer, quickly confirmed that the title would roll out for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One platforms in spring of 2014.

As we saw, that didn't happen, as the studio decided to push back its debut for fall of the same year. That, once again, didn't come to fruition, so what seemed to be the final delay took place, as The Witcher 3 got a February, 2015 launch period.

Considering that quite a lot of other major titles set to debut in fall of last year got the same treatment, from Evolve to Battlefield Hardline and many more, it wasn't so surprising, and fans at least enjoyed the fact that they could dedicate their holidays to other RPGs, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Unfortunately, CD Projekt Red delayed the game once more, this time confirming that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was going to launch on May 19.

Considering that a lot of titles nowadays are plagued by poor initial releases (Assassin's Creed Unity, of course, comes to mind) the delay, which is officially for polishing reasons, should result in a much better game.

Downgrade rumors aren't stopping

This, more or less, is the critical time for the game and for CD Projekt Red. Rumors of a graphics downgrade have floated around the web for quite some time, despite constant denials from the Polish team.

The recent gameplay footage and screenshots rolled out in honor of the global hands-on event have certainly squashed such rumors, as the title is looking very good, but you can bet that they'll pop up once more in the following months.

In order to counter this and ease the worries of fans, the Polish team should certainly release more gameplay video and just show the polishing process in all its glory.

The best example of this procedure arrived last fall, when BioWare decided to push back the debut of Dragon Age: Inquisition from October to November. It filled the extra weeks with a wide variety of live gameplay demonstrations and streams, which really helped the game gain the attention of those who planned on skipping it, at least in the first few months.

Provided that CD Projekt Red follows the same strategy, even if the game isn't in its final stages of polishing, I'm sure that fans will sleep feeling much safer at night if they see the game in regular action, instead of through highly edited videos that feature disjointed sequences.

I, for one, am quite confident in CD Projekt Red and The Witcher 3, but things might change as we get closer to May and depending on the behavior of the Polish studio.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt screenshots (6 Images)

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