The Witcher began “a couple of years ago,” despite it being a “rare” project for CD Projekt Red

Reigns: The Witcher is a wonderful surprise. I got early access to the game to preview it and the opportunity to pick the brains of the developers. There are a few things I wanted to know, one of which is how the project came about, and I’m honestly a little surprised by the answer.

CD Projekt Red isn’t exactly known for collaborations like this, keeping quite a tight leash on The Witcher games, but Reigns: The Witcher has been in the works for quite some time. Nerial’s narrative director, Oscar Harrington-Shaw, and design director, Francois Alliot, tell me that they “started to chat with CD Projekt Red a couple of years ago at GDC.”

They “we were looking for interesting partners to make a new Reigns, following our very positive experience with HBO on Reigns Game of Thrones.” Despite the aforementioned rarity of CD Projekt Red engaging in projects like this, the pair explains that “there was an immediate connection with mutual interest.”

I couldn’t get enough of the game in my Reigns: The Witcher preview, eagerly wanting to dive back in and experience more shenanigans. As an avid Witcher fan, I’m actually quite blown away by how well the game captures the spirit of the franchise, but there’s a reason for that. While the team at Nerial worked hard on Reigns: The Witcher, CD Projekt Red proved to be “an amazing partner to work with.”

Harrington-Shaw and Alliot further explain that the studio gave them “everything to make sure we would provide the fans with a game that feels true to the universe while being its own thing. The lore masters, writers, and producers of CDPR sat with us week after week to make sure that every little detail of the game was pitch-perfect.”

As most people have yet to play the game, you may wonder what makes The Witcher a good fit for Reigns – I certainly did when I first learned of it – and, to put it bluntly, “Geralt is an outcast, never quite fitting in with any one faction, and always grappling with dilemmas in different shades of grey rather than black or white.”

The pair continues, “This was a great match for our Reigns ‘balancing act,’ which is about ensuring none of your four values go too high or too low. So in Reigns: The Witcher, you try to keep on good terms with the humans, the nonhumans, and the mages while keeping an eye on the monsters, knowing that favoring or offending any party too much will inevitably lead to your demise.”

They are right. The Witcher and Reigns work so well together in that regard, though I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being guilty of being overly friendly with one group, so much so that it sent Geralt to the gallows. The deaths in this game are honestly funny, and the outrageousness of some scenarios is too much to handle at times.

Luckily for you, you don’t have too long to wait until you can see why these two series belong together, as the Reigns: The Witcher release date is next month – I’m certainly happy that the conversation two years ago between the two companies happened.