CD Projekt Red recently announced a whole bunch of projects it has in the pipeline, including multiple entries in The Witcher series. One of those had the codename “Canis Majoris” and it was then confirmed to be a “full-fledged” Witcher game developed in Unreal Engine 5 by an external studio. Now, CDPR has shed more light on the project. As it turns out, Canis Majoris is actually a remake of the first title in the series.
Polish studio Fool’s Theory is remaking The Witcher under CDPR’s supervision. It’s in the early stages of development, so the game is likely at least a couple of years away. CDPR says it will be a while before it starts talking about the project in more detail. However, it confirmed that Fool’s Theory is rebuilding The Witcher Remake from the ground up using the same toolset that CDPR is utilizing for other games in the series. For what it’s worth, the Fool’s Theory team includes developers who worked on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
We’re thrilled to reveal that, together with @Fools_Theory, we’re working on remaking The Witcher using Unreal Engine 5 (codename: Canis Majoris)!
We want to do this right, so please be patient — it’s gonna be a while until we can share more details.
⚔️ https://t.co/6VCAokPgXspic.twitter.com/ERFOXQrUEP— The Witcher (@witchergame) October 26, 2022
Going back to where it all began for CDPR makes a lot of sense. The Witcher came out in 2007 and while it was fairly well received, it arguably wasn’t until The Witcher 3 (and the Netflix show based on the source novels) that the franchise reached a much higher level of popularity. It’s not a stretch to imagine that players who came into the series later would be curious about Geralt of Rivia’s earlier adventures.
What’s more, The Witcher was only released for PC and Mac. While PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were announced at one point, they never came to fruition. It seems unlikely that CDPR wouldn’t release console versions this time, given the larger audience of players it can tap into. Meanwhile, the current-gen version of The Witcher 3 is slated to arrive by the end of the year.