Gwent and story standalone Thronebreaker launching October 23rd
You are bewitched
After distracting Geralt on his adventures in The Witcher 3, the in-game card game Gwent is just about ready to make its proper debut in standalone games. Developers CD Projekt Red today announced that both the multiplayer Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and its singleplayer story spin-off Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales will launch on October 23rd. Gwent has been in public beta for months but this will be its full free-to-play launch, while Thronebreaker was due to be part of Gwent but has since become standalone. Hey, if I can get more story from the Witcher gang without any F2P guff in the way, that's good for me.
Right so, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is the multiplayer-focused one with card packs and microtransactions and whatnot. It's a weird one, considering Gwent isn't that interesting a card game - pleasant enough as a distraction as a hobby on the side when stabbing monsters, but so-so in itself. I've not looked at it in a while, mind, and CD Projekt seem to have been busy with improvements in its big 'Homecoming' overhaul. Here's a new dev diary vid showing off some progress:
Have you been Gwenting, gang? How is it now? I know Cobbo did like it back in the day and Rich McCormick took a look more recently.
Thronebreaker is the one I'm interested in. It's a singleplayer RPG starring Meve, a warrior queen of two Northern Realms, with Gwent games for battles. "Facing an imminent Nilfgaardian invasion," CDPR say, "Meve is forced to once again enter the warpath, and set out on a dark journey of destruction and revenge." The writer behind The Witcher 3's Bloody Baron questline (which moved our Alec so) is on this and all.
As for how much Thronebreaker will cost, CDPR say they'll announce pricing details "in the future" - the future being some time in the next five weeks, obvs.