Geralt, the protagonist of The Witcher series, has a very close friend: the musician Dandelion. He turns countless monster hunts and heroic deeds performed by Geralt into songs for all to hear. Despite having been by Geralt's side and in the hearts of fans for such a long time, in-game quests delving into his past or family have been practically nonexistent.

Perhaps that is why the protagonist of the new expansion, The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, arriving after 11 years, is none of other than Dandelion. You head to Dandelion's hometown of Reten, meet his cousin and grandmother, and set out to find the missing bard. Along the way, you also confront the bizarre and sorrowful past of Reten. Based on the preview footage of The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past viewed at Gamescom 2026, we would like to introduce the main details.

This journey begins in the new region of Reten amidst a festival praying for prosperity. Waking up after drinking heavily and wearing festival attire, Geralt looks for Dandelion, but the bard is nowhere to be seen, and even his lute is being held by another man. Deciding to grab some breakfast while tracking down the friend, Geralt heads to Dandelion's family home.

However, Dandelion is not there either, and his grandmother Astrid is holding down the fort at the table. Shortly after, Dandelion's cousin Lila appears, scolding Astrid for pushing Dandelion way too strictly before announcing that he has vanished. Since Dandelion would never leave his lute behind, the witcher and Lila resolve to track him down.

The place they head to is the Garden of Thorns. It is a strange and gloomy forest located in the otherwise idyllic Reten, and a location so sensitive to the grandmother that she reacts with extreme agitation just at the mention of it, forbidding anyone from even talking about it. It is also the site of a cursed well passed down through generations of the Dandelion family.

Upon charging into the garden, Geralt recalls a well and bloody vines seen in a dream. Just before waking up after the festival, Geralt experienced a dream involving Dandelion's cries calling out from a well, bloodstains, and violets. Following the signals, Lila and the witcher push deeper into the garden, cutting down thorny vines and bizarre, empowered enemies.

Contrary to the description of Reten as an idyllic and peaceful place, players will encounter bizarre and aggressively hostile flora. The first thing encountered after entering the Garden of Thorns is a giant monstrous plant that attacks the ground and surrounding area with its roots while sniping from its pistil with venomous liquid. True to its plant nature, it is weak to Igni, but the roots bursting out from the ground pack a serious punch.

The Giant Centipede, a creature familiar from previous adventures, also makes a return. Presumed to be an enhanced variant, it repeatedly burrows underground and springs out whenever its health drops below a certain threshold. You can deal with it just like before by appropriately utilizing the Yrden sign.

A brand-new type of monster native to Reten can also be spotted. The Swarmion is a beast that commands swarms of bees, wrapping them around its body to deflect attacks. To break through this defense, you must use the Aard sign or hit it with the newly added ranged weapon, the chain. Depending on how it is deployed, the chain can be hurled at an enemy's weak point to pull them in for an execution, delivering a considerable impact.

Towards the end of the demo, a battle against a knight-type boss was also showcased. Looking half skeleton and half tree roots, this boss pressures Geralt by freely manipulating its root-like right hand while wielding a sword in its other hand for a fencing-style thrusting attack to confuse your eyes. It can also harden its roots into a shield form to block incoming attacks, at which point deploying the chain will break its guard. Once you defeat the boss, you descend into the well to encounter a bizarre human-shaped tree, bringing the demo to a close.

Since Songs of the Past is launching after The Witcher 3 remaster, a number of fresh elements are being added. Visual upgrades such as ray tracing and rendering improvements are implemented, camera perspectives and the targeting system are refined, and brand-new combat animations are introduced.

Progression elements, which received a lot of criticism in The Witcher 3, are also being overhauled. While detailed information was unavailable, it takes the form of improving the skill tree structure by merging some existing perks with new ones. It is presumed that the know-how gained from completely overturning the skill tree in Cyberpunk 2077 with Update 2.0 has been applied here.

Small yet precious interactions are also introduced. NPCs in Reten move much more organically than before. When Geralt approaches, they offer greetings and even board boats to travel to other locations. Furthermore, when you encounter a dog, you can press a button to pet and touch it. Other tweaks are also added, such as refining the UI to make switching signs much smoother.

The Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past is scheduled for release in 2027.