CEO Jakub:Look, even though Geralt has technically retired, when your absolute best mate Dandelion rolls up asking for a hand, you simply do not say no. That is just what mates do. That was one of the core reasons. But to be entirely honest, the real driving force behind the decision was that we always wanted to explore Dandelion's backstory. We wanted to see what he really means to Geralt and where his actual roots lie.

As a matter of fact, this whole narrative was initially dreamed up at CD Projekt Red some 11 years ago. Despina, who was one of the original quest designers back then, was working alongside CD Projekt Red Narrative Director Philipp Weber and Fool's Theory Principal Writer Ula Moitica. Back then, however, CD Projekt Red had other fish to fry and had to put the idea on the back burner.

Fool's Theory also needed to grow up a bit. To properly realize the vision for Letten through the remaster, another studio, Egosoft, had to jump on board as well. All the stars simply had to align. Once the opportunity to work on Songs of the Past finally presented itself, we jumped straight in. Taking the creative helm, we kicked off story development while working hand-in-hand with the folks at CD Projekt Red.

The biggest reason is that the main game literally had zero room to properly dive into Dandelion's past. We genuinely felt that players needed to hear what kind of bloke this friend actually is.

Quest Designer Despina: Spot on. Dandelion is an absolute legend of a character. He's always hanging around Geralt in the books, and we wanted to respect that dynamic and bring it to the forefront. When Philipp Weber and Ula Moitica first pitched the idea, as massive fans of The Witcher 3 ourselves, we were buzzing at the thought of bringing that story to life. Afterwards, Fool's Theory took the baton and ran with it. Seeing Songs of the Past realized like this feels, in a way, like a brilliant full-circle moment for all of us.

CEO Jakub:Ula Moitica, one of the original writers for Songs of the Past, is currently working as a senior writer at Fool's Theory, collaborating closely with the narrative lead. On top of that, the entire narrative team developed this expansion under the watchful eye of Marcin Blacha, CD Projekt Red's VP of Storytelling.

Quest Designer Despina: In short, this project is a brand-new adventure and a precious chance to finally share a story we never got to tell the world until now.

CEO Jakub:Previously, the focus was entirely on Geralt's quest to track down his lost daughter Ciri. The two subsequent expansions offered side stories that acted as turning points for the adventures experienced in the main campaign. To properly tackle the kind of deep storytelling we are aiming for now, a decent amount of time simply had to pass for Geralt to retire and finally settle down.

The main reason was making sure we carved out enough breathing room to flesh out Dandelion's tale properly. You cannot just brush Dandelion aside with two or three brief quests like they did in Blood and Wine or the base game. We wanted to craft a full, standalone expansion dedicated entirely to the bloke because he is just that important.

Quest Designer Despina: Exactly. While planning and crafting stories, you always end up swimming in brilliant ideas. We brought those ideas to life in expansions like Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, and this time around, we got the chance to tell this specific tale and simply grabbed it. There are literally hundreds of cracking ideas floating around, and some ideas only pop up much later down the line. These serve as yet another chance to keep the Witcher saga rolling and enriching it even further.

CEO Jakub: It feels proper cracking to be working on Geralt's adventures again. It brings back a lovely wave of nostalgia. I've been tinkering with Witcher projects since The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3 before buggering off to set up my own studio. As Despina mentioned, coming back after a decade to have another crack at telling a story about Geralt feels like completing a full circle for us.

Quest Designer Despina: I suppose you could say I started out as a massive fan of The Witcher 3. During my job interview, I made a point of telling them I was an absolute superfan of The Witcher 3. So, I was over the moon when I got to work on the next-gen version of The Witcher 3, and now, years later, getting to join Songs of the Past as a designer and storyteller to share this tale is simply smashing. It's a tremendous honour.

CEO Jakub: We don't want to drop too many heavy spoilers, obviously. But what we can say is that it's a tale concerning Dandelion and his roots. It digs deeply not only into Dandelion's past but also into the history of Letten, the brand-new region we've cooked up.

Quest Designer Despina: That said, there is one minor detail we'd like to clear up. By internal definition, a DLC is free content, whereas an expansion is paid content. We want to make it crystal clear that Songs of the Past is a paid expansion. In terms of sheer scope and packed content, it dwarfs standard DLCs. You can safely expect something right on par with Hearts of Stone or Blood and Wine.

Quest Designer Despina: Just like any project out there, you always run into hurdles. That's just the nature of building things from scratch. The crucial bit is pushing through those difficulties and churning out something truly brilliant for both ourselves and the players.

Fool's Theory is packed to the brim with Witcher 3 veterans, including Jakub himself. Since these are the very blokes who helped build The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3, they understand the IP inside out and have a deep grasp of our design philosophy. That's precisely why we are collaborating with total confidence that this expansion will be an absolute smash.

CEO Jakub: Spot on. Plus, CD Projekt Red acts as the creative director for everything we put together. Working extremely closely with Marcin Blacha, whom I mentioned earlier, ensures we don't end up treading on any toes or damaging the CD Projekt Red IP.

From my perspective, the real headache was having to tackle the remaster simultaneously alongside another developer, Egosoft. Realistically speaking, though, this expansion wouldn't have been possible without the remaster. We had some proper ambitious ideas we wanted to pull off in Letten, and none of that would have flown without the fixes brought by the remaster or the combat system tweaks that allowed us to introduce Geralt's new weapon: the chain.

Juggling three separate companies—Fool's Theory, Egosoft, and CD Projekt Red—to deliver not just one, but two products simultaneously made this easily the most complex project I've ever had to helm. But looking back, we bloody well pulled it off.

Fool's Theory happens to be a 100% remote-working outfit, which is quite rare in the post-COVID era. We've poured a ton of effort into our communication pipelines, information sharing, and production systems to successfully translate every real-world interaction mechanism into an online, remote workspace. That groundwork made this collaboration run much smoother. We were already accustomed to working in unconventional settings and firmly understood that clear, coherent communication is priority number one when you want to put out a decent product.

CEO Jakub:The chain is definitely not some magic cheat code that instantly solves every defense mechanic out there. Actually, chains made their first appearance in the original Witcher 1 trailer. They show up in the source novels and are baked right into the lore. Back in the Witcher 1 trailer, Geralt uses a chain while fighting a Striga. We've always wanted to implement that, but back then, we kept hitting brick walls we simply couldn't scale.

However, as I mentioned before, everything finally started falling into place. Once Egosoft started tinkering with the remaster, we finally got the chance to overhaul the combat system, allowing us to implement the chain and hand Geralt his ultimate weapon. The chain is an absolute beast of a crowd-control tool, and it's going to feel proper satisfying even for players jumping back into the base game.

Quest Designer Despina: We reckon the chain is going to shake things up nicely. The base game gave you a crossbow, so giving returning players who are used to the crossbow a brand-new toy like the chain to mess around with felt like a proper solid choice.

CEO Jakub: If I had to pin it down, I'd call it the 'nostalgia' of heading home. Not Geralt's home, mind you, but Dandelion's. Since Dandelion is Geralt's closest mate, you—playing as Geralt—have to roll up your sleeves and help your best mate muscle through the bloody awful challenges he's facing. We always joked around saying, 'Well, we've done the romance, now it's time for some bromance.' A story about helping your mate pull through hard times—that was our main bullseye.

Quest Designer Despina:This tale is set in Letten, an idyllic little spot tucked away in northeastern Redania. It's a gorgeous place that somehow managed to dodge the ravages of war. Yet, as you poke around playing the expansion, you start uncovering the grim darkness lurking just beneath the surface. It's still a tale about 'family,' but tackled through a totally different lens and angle. While carrying the torch of the core themes from The Witcher 3—which focused heavily on Geralt and his daughter Ciri—this time around we're exploring Geralt, his buddy Dandelion, family drama, and past regrets. We kept the core spirit of the base game intact, but remixed and twisted it to brew up something fresh.

CEO Jakub:Even when we're mapping out a tiny little quest, we always ask ourselves, 'What do we want the player to feel right at this moment?' That exact emotion forms the bedrock of every single story in the Witcher franchise. We always lean on two core questions. First is the 'Why?'—meaning why on earth is this happening, like why a particular character is decked out in a specific outfit.

The second is, 'What do we want the player to feel?' Nailing those two questions is how you stop churning out flat NPCs made of code and polygons and start breathing life into proper, three-dimensional characters with actual pasts, feelings, grudges, and family ties.

Quest Designer Despina: Keeping the themes consistent is proper crucial too. Songs of the Past isn't some entirely standalone spin-off; it's an extension of The Witcher 3 and a continuation of Geralt's journey, so it simply has to vibe with the overall tone. Both Fool's Theory and CD Projekt Red kept that front and center while architecting the narrative.

CEO Jakub: We are indeed adding brand-new Gwent cards. Actually, we spilled the beans on that just moments ago during our live Red Stream. We're throwing in 20 new cards. You can already sneak a peek at 4 of these fresh cards online. We're well aware that Gwent has a fiercely dedicated fanbase. But again, this is another classic case of answering 'why now?'

The legacy system was coded in such a rigid way that tossing in new cards was practically an impossible mission, meaning past expansions couldn't just casually tack on new cards. That's why Egosoft had to step in and cook up a brand-new modding tool specifically for us, which let us mod the base game and slip in these fresh cards. We'll be releasing the Gwent modding tool to the public within the next few weeks, so players can have a go at crafting their very own custom Gwent cards.

CEO Jakub: I genuinely hope South Korean fans fall in love with the story we've put together. Having worked on the original The Witcher 3, it blows my mind and humbles me deeply to see Geralt branch out across the globe and gather such a massive fanbase in South Korea. It's a proper remarkable achievement. Knowing that something we crafted back then—and are crafting once again today—resonates this strongly makes it all worth it.

Video games shouldn't just help you unwind after a long graft or take your mind off daily worries; they ought to put a proper smile on your dial. I reckon that's a philosophy both we and CD Projekt Red share. And let's be honest, Geralt has always been the absolute bloke for delivering those exact feelings.

Quest Designer Despina: Having such passionate fans is an absolute treat. The sheer energy coming from South Korean fans is genuinely staggering. (In Korean) Thank you.