Witcher 3 modders just upended everything we know about how it was made with a 584-page breakdown of an early prototype that had a 150-hour main quest, all thanks to a database 'containing almost every single line of text' from its development

GamesRPGThe WitcherThe Witcher 3: Wild HuntWitcher 3 modders just upended everything we know about how it was made with a 584-page breakdown of an early prototype that had a 150-hour main quest, all thanks to a database ‘containing almost every single line of text’ from its developmentWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: CD Projeckt)

Geralt in Bear School gear tossing a coin pouch inn the air

Witcher 3 modders Moonknight, Ferroxius, Crygreg, and Glassfish (who contributed to theBrothers in Armscut content restoration mod) have released the first volume ofWhat Lies Unseen, a planned series chronicling the development history and evolution of The Witcher 3. RPG YouTuberxLetalishas put out a three-hour video going over the first volume, which covers a prototype version of The Witcher 3’s story that would have been upwards of three times as long as the game we got. Some of the biggest changes and surprises in this version of The Witcher 3 include:

This project came about thanks to the release ofCD Projekt’s REDkit modding tools, with the authors writing that prior to these tools becoming available, community knowledge of The Witcher 3’s development “stemmed from interviews with the company as well as leaked material that was incomplete.”

“The big breakthrough occurred in 2024 when CD Projekt REDreleased REDkit for The Witcher 3,” the modders wrote in the introduction to volume one. “Included with this development kit was a string database, containing almost every single line of text that was written between the earliest and latest point in Witcher 3’s development. From this database, we collectively worked to translate the data into a tangible synopsis that makes up the bulk of these documents.”

And boy is there somebulkto these documents: Volume one, covering this circa-2012 stage of development, weighs in at a doorstopper 584 pages. It contains area descriptions, scene directions, rough drafts of dialogue, concept art, and some prototype models and assets still accessible in REDkit. The overarching story was still the same: Find Ciri, fight the Wild Hunt, explore Velen, Novigrad, and Skellige, but there just would have been way more of it. The maps and areas seem to have been decided on very early in development, and this longer game would have had a lot more backtracking between zones as the story went on. A lot of stuff that’s side content in the final game would have been integral to the main quest here, and there were also a lot more new or returning characters to fill things out.

“Unlike the 2013 and 2014 builds of the game, we cannot be certain as to what the 2012 build looked like at this point in development,” the team wrote. “Most characters, locations, and other entities would have been using placeholders and the environments were still being sculpted. As such most of the images we included are concept arts or early assets and locations. However, a few work-in-progress models from this time period did make it into the game files.”

The Original Story and Endings of the Witcher 3 from 2012 (A Time of Sword and Axe) - YouTubeWatch On

The Original Story and Endings of the Witcher 3 from 2012 (A Time of Sword and Axe) - YouTube

The Novigrad plotline in particular just seems like a mess in this iteration of The Witcher 3, with way more characters and complicating elements. With that said, there are more than a few scenarios laid out in volume one that made me go “Wow, that would have been rad as hell.”

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The serial killer quest in Novigrad would have uncovered a hidden vampire society in the city, like something out of Vampire: The Masquerade. The killer would have been a rogue member of this group, with the other vampires helping your investigation while the Witcher 1’s Shani would have made an appearance. Both of these ideas would be revisited in The Witcher 3’s DLC. The Witcher 2’s Iorveth was also meant to have a major role in this version of Novigrad, and I’ve always really missed the character in The Witcher 3.

The game’s endings were also much darker no matter what choices you made. Stopping the White Frost would require Ciri and Avallac’h’s deaths, and keeping Ciri alive would mean allowing the world-eating force to continue unabated, as well as an emotional final boss fight with an emotional, betrayed Avallac’h who, in this version of the game, had a more developed and friendly relationship with Geralt. The empress of Nilfgaard ending was very different but tonally similar to the final game, but Ciri’s Witcher ending would have seen her quickly become disillusioned with the monster hunting lifestyle, while she also felt guilty about Avallac’h’s death and the White Frost’s continuation. Ciri would then resolve to travel the planes searching for another way to stop it.

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(Image credit: CD Projekt, What Lies Unseen team)

in-progress mockup of The Witcher 3’s user interface from circa 2012 build of the game.

(Image credit: CD Projekt, What Lies Unseen team)

in-progress mockup of The Witcher 3’s user interface from circa 2012 build of the game.

(Image credit: CD Projekt, What Lies Unseen team)

in-progress mockup of The Witcher 3’s user interface from circa 2012 build of the game.

(Image credit: CD Projekt, What Lies Unseen team)

in-progress mockup of The Witcher 3’s user interface from circa 2012 build of the game.

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Witcher author reveals that Geralt is 61 years old in The Witcher 3, with even weirder ramifications for Henry Cavill’s Netflix performanceCD Projekt had to nerf Ciri for The Witcher 4 after she fully unlocked her spacetime teleportation powers in the previous game: ‘Something totally happened in-between’

Geralt thumbs up

Witcher author reveals that Geralt is 61 years old in The Witcher 3, with even weirder ramifications for Henry Cavill’s Netflix performance

A still from the cinematic reveal trailer of The Witcher 4, showing unt Witcher

CD Projekt had to nerf Ciri for The Witcher 4 after she fully unlocked her spacetime teleportation powers in the previous game: ‘Something totally happened in-between’

LatestValve’s Steam page currently lists a second mystery game alongside Deadlock, sending Half-Life 3 theorists into another frenzy of speculationSee more latest►

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Valve’s Steam page currently lists a second mystery game alongside Deadlock, sending Half-Life 3 theorists into another frenzy of speculation

Half-Life: Alyx

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