Today, CD Projekt RED is celebrating the fifth year anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s release. As such, loads of previously unknown or lesser known details are bound to circulate online. One interesting tidbit concerns a planned sequence involving Ciri that ultimately wound up on the cutting room floor. Apparently, said sequence would’ve featured the Lady of Space and Time simultaneously sword fighting and ice skating, a scene inspired by a moment from the book series’ Tower of Swallow entry.
For The Witcher 3’s fifth anniversary, VG247 conducted an interview with Principal Writer Jakub Szamałek. During the chat, Szamałek was asked about ideas that were cast aside during development. The writer made note of the aforementioned ice skating sequence, which he said proved far too complex. Szamałek told the publication,
We planned to have a sequence where Ciri fights enemies on a frozen lake, while skating–a reference to a similar scene in one of the books. But preparing that sequence proved extremely complicated. For example, we couldn’t easily record the necessary gameplay animations–imagine recording motion capture for skating sword fighters.
Naturally, myriad other cuts were made as well. Another intriguing change is that CD Projekt originally planned on allowing players to swap Roach for a different horse. Certainly the memes and glitch videos wouldn’t have been half as fun without Roach’s unique charm.
While it doesn’t count as cut content, per se, Szamałek also shared another Ciri-related idea that isn’t present in the final product. The writer has said one of his regrets The Witcher 3 regrets is a lack of focus on Ciri’s backstory. He hopes to one day explore the character’s past in more depth.
Those who have yet to give The Witcher 3 a chance can pick it up on the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Xbox One platforms.
[Source: VG247]
