To mark the 10th anniversary of Blood and Wine, we chatted with Tomasz Marchewka from CD Projekt Red. In the interview, the developer reveals details about The Witcher 3 that even fans didn’t know until now.
It’s been exactly ten years since CD Projekt Red brought its role-playing masterpiece The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to a spectacular conclusion with the expansion Blood and Wine. The chapter set in sunny Toussaint brings the story of the white-haired monster hunter to a wonderfully satisfying conclusion and sends Geralt into well-deserved retirement at his own vineyard, Corvo Bianco, upon completing the campaign.
We now know that this retirement won’t last long. As CD Projekt recently announced, The Witcher 3 will receive a third expansion, Songs of the Past, in 2027, in which Geralt will once again wield the Witcher’s sword. But in the absence of further details, we’ll stick with Blood and Wine for now.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the DLC, our Witcher expert Michał Mańka sat down with Tomasz Marchewka from CD Projekt and learned from the Story Director ofThe Witcher 4plenty of interesting details about the development of Blood and Winethat you’re guaranteed not to have known yet. You can find the full interview as a video on our FYNG YouTube channel.
What did CD Projekt say?
In our interview with Tomasz Marchewka, we covered a wide range of topics. Here are the most interesting revelations:
A different title: Blood and Wine was originally supposed to have a completely different name and look. During development, the title was initially Bells of Beauclair. It was supposed to be about a magical event
and a curse weighing on the eponymous Bells of Beauclair. This initial draft of the expansion wasn’t as nostalgic or epilogue-like as the finished Blood and Wine. Instead, CD Projekt wanted to create a DLC that felt different in tone from the rest of The Witcher 3.
Why vampires?The short answer from Tomasz Marchewka: Because they’re just cool.& nbsp;After Geralt faced off against Gaunter O’Dim, we wanted to introduce the next big challenge for the Witcher.
That’s when higher vampires came to mind.At the same time, vampires are also very intelligent. That’s what made Detlaff such an interesting antagonist.
How did Regis’s return come about?Book fans will recall that Geralt’s vampire companion dies in battle against the mage Vilgefortz. According to CD Projekt, there are two reasons why he returns in Blood and Wine: First, Regis has always been a huge fan favorite. Second, book author Sapkowski admitted that he had a hard time letting Regis die.
One of the story writers spontaneously suggested bringing Regis back during the concept phase. That’s when it clicked for us.
The friendship between the two became a cool story motif for Blood and Wine.At the same time, however, his return had to be convincing, since fans expect him to be dead.
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What inspired the story and quests in Toussaint?We asked ourselves how worldbuilding works in the books and built our Toussaint using that knowledge. On the surface, it’s warm and beautiful, but there are hideous monsters, and people know it. Even the ever-present knights, though respected figures, can be truly hideous people in private. Such themes are common in the Witcher world.
A house and talking horses
How did Geralt end up owning a house?In Sapkowski’s world, witchers are mostly wandering vagabonds who don’t stay anywhere longer than they absolutely have to. Very few witchers have ever owned a house of their own. Tomasz Marchewka reveals:
The decision came relatively late in the development process. Wineries play an important role in the story of Blood and Wine. There are even the Wine Wars. And we thought it would be cool if Geralt ended up with his own winery. […] In the books, Geralt dreams of settling down somewhere with Yennefer.
Why are there so many unconventional side quests in Blood and Wine in particular?Many of these quests started out as simple jokes
, Marchewka reveals with a laugh.So simply because people said: “Imagine if Geralt could talk to Plötze” or “Geralt goes to the bank and wants to withdraw money.” But that’s exactly what we ended up doing.
Marchewka was even personally responsible for one of the most notorious quests in Blood and Wine:In the “Paperwork” quest, we actually just wanted to include a little Asterix reference with the hunt for Pass A38. And we’d actually expected to have gone overboard, and that the testers would find the quest boring. But my supervisor was thrilled and said, ‘That’s so cool, make the quest longer.’ So we added even more bureaucratic hurdles. It wasn’t easy at all to find the right balance. Because, of course, a game quest is supposed to be fun. But this one is primarily about being frustrated.
(No) Fairy-Tale Ending
Was it clear from the start that Blood and Wine wouldn’t have a fairy-tale ending?At the end of the DLC, we have to choose between Detlaff and Syanna; there’s no happy ending where both survive. Was there ever a prospect of a happy ending during the campaign’s concept phase, or did it have to be a classic Witcher story?
From the very beginning, Blood and Wine was meant to be about love, as strange as that may sound now. The story shows how love can blind you, no matter who you are. Even a centuries-old, high-ranking vampire is not immune to it. So it’s a very tragic story; there can be no happy ending. The pitch back then was: A young girl manages to outwit a high-ranking vampire
, Marchewka explains in an interview.
As is well known, the result of all this effort is a story about vampires and love in a principality that differs significantly in atmosphere from the rest of the Witcher world. After all, Toussaint is warm and inviting on the surface. But beneath the surface, the ugly truth lurks here as well. Monsters and evil are everywhere. And so, Blood and Wine ultimately fits perfectly into the Witcher universe.
