Tweet
The upcoming Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3 has some of the most striking areas seen running on REDengine 3, and for those who felt The Witcher 3 fell short of its ambitious E3 showings, it marks a strong comeback. Set around the richly detailed, rose-adorned kingdom of Toussaint, its central castle has parallels with the bustling Novigrad city of the main game. That original Novigrad area came under scrutiny at the game's launch - serving as an example of how CD Projekt Red's vision had changed by release. Can Toussaint be a redemptive moment for the studio?Turn back the clock to E3 2014, and Geralt took us on a horseback tour through the incredible Novigrad hub - a vibrant, colourful harbour brimming with NPCs. Much of this promise came to bear in the final product, but it was hard to overlook some of its omissions. Lighting became visibly flatter in the transition from the showfloor to the home experience - and missed the crisper, saturated look we enjoyed on first sighting. Assets were also notably changed too; we got lower-resolution floor textures, and draw distances were reined in across the city. A compromise was apparent.
Even at maximum settings on PC, we didn't get an exact match for that original display of Novigrad. However, with the engine changes promised for this latest expansion, realising that level of ambition elsewhere is now a more feasible prospect. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, senior environment artist Len de Gracia explains this expansion uses a brand new approach to rendering The Witcher 3's environments. The team started off from scratch in building all the details in this region to cater to this new method - from the sun-kissed stone arches to the rose vines coiling around its central castle.
Read more…
More...