There’s a lot of magic in a fantasy map.

Whether its a sprawling fantasy epic like The Wheel of Time or a multi-hundred hour RPG like Skyrim, world maps have a way of bringing an enchanting universe to life. The maps let us pinpoint our adventures and trace paths through sprawling continents, trekking through misty mountain highlands, tropical sunny coasts, and everything in between.

That same grand splendor is clearly evident in the atlas for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which depicts a vast fantasy world filled with kingdoms, magic, and faraway lands.

The Witcher 3’s world map is incredibly handsome, and reminds me of Morrowind’s beautifully crafted atlas.

To get the beautifully illustrated Witcher 3 map you’ll have to pre-order the game’s official collector’s edition strategy guide from GameStop, which is priced at a hefty $40. The guide also comes with a neat 90-page “grimoire” that has extra details about the monsters and peoples of the world.

CD Projekt RED has touted the massive scope of the The Witcher 3‘s open-world for quite some time.

According to the developers, the game will take over 200 hours to complete in its entirety, including all of the various quests, collectibles,  and side missions.

As far as size, the Witcher 3‘s in-game world is comparatively scaled to be 30 times bigger than the area in Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Put alongside other epic RPG’s we see that the game is 20% larger than the frosty continent of Skyrim.

Witcher 3 is full of beautiful scenic vistas with varying environments, from alpine mountainscapes to exotic islands and sprawling cities.

To traverse this incredible expanse, Geralt of Rivia will be able to ride on horseback across land and reach outlying island regions like Shelliar via sailboat. Players will also be able to explore full-scaled underwater regions by diving underwater and swimming in the wave-cresting seas.

The atlas maps out the Witcher 3‘s entire world, depicting every city, kingdom, river, and zone in the game.

From the Grassy Knoll and Gustfields in the north the Crow’s Perch and swampy Mire to the south, the map highlights every exotic location that players can visit in their journey.

Geralt can only reach certain areas by sailboat, and he’ll also be able to swim and dive to search for undersea treasures.

Three major continental zones include the wide expanse of the Northern Realm, the island chains of Shelliar that can only be reached by boat, and the faraway White Orchard that’s cut by a wide river.

All of these regions feature CD Projekt RED’s dynamic day-to-night transitions and real-time environmental effects including rain, storms, snow and more to deliver an authentic immersive feel.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is slated to release May 19, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

The post The Witcher 3 Map Showcases Colossal Fantasy World appeared first on VR World.

UPDATE: The devs at CD Projekt RED told Gamespot that 50GB is the “ballpark figure” for Witcher 3 install sizes on both PS4 and Xbox One, but didn’t give exact values.

Original story is as follows.

CD Projekt RED’s upcoming high fantasy magnum opus The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is going to take up a good chunk of your PS4’s hard drive. How much will you have to clear to make room for Geralt’s legendary exploits?

If reports can be believed, The Witcher 3 will take up at least 50 GB’s on PlayStation 4, so you might want to think about going physical with this one.

But why’s it so big? Why do we have to offer up a full tenth of our PS4’s HDD for a single game? To fully understand why so much data is needed, let’s take a look at the scope of the game itself.

The Witcher 3 is a massive game that spans a rather sprawling fantasy world, replete with all the signature staples of an open-world RPG: dynamic characters in wide cities, in-depth questlines that span over 100 hours of content, multiple regions and landmasses to explore, strategic sword and sorcery combat, and much more.

The regions themselves are so pristine and detailed that they truly immerse players in another world; but it’s not all beautiful, as a brutal war ravages the very land with fiery destruction. And like any open-world RPG, players are free to go wherever they want and tackle quests or slay towering, menacing beasts along the way.

And bear in mind The Witcher 3 isn’t the first 50GB game; Killzone Shadow Fall was sizable, as was GTA V and Wolfenstein: The New Order.

With all of the high-definition renders, textures, lighting details, dialogue and more, it’s not surprising that the game will take up quite a bit of space. And based on everything we’ve seen and heard about the game so far, it’ll be a good trade off.

Additionally CD Projekt RED is more focused on in-game performance across all platforms, and is now targeting a steady constant of 30 frames-per-second.

The developers also affirm that the game will look “almost identical” across PC and consoles, and that the PS4 and Xbox One versions “use the same textures”. It’s worth remembering that The Witcher 3 will be native 900p upscaled to 1080p on the Xbox One.

In other Witcher news, the devs are toying around with the idea of including an ultra challenging “Insanity Mode” that could wipe your in-game saves when you die. The concept of Insanity Mode is very much like the Hardcore mode in Diablo’s 2 and 3, where death is permanent.

Nothing’s set in stone just yet, and the devs affirm that their goal is to make the mode “extremely punishing but fun”, and I for one am terrified at the prospect!

Last but not least CD Projekt RED will be offering 16 separate DLC packs for free, and everyone who buys the game will get them. That means no over-priced “special editions” or pre-order incentives. Just plain awesomeness.

The DLC packs don’t include anything too substantial, basically little extras and tidbits like beard textures for Geralt, horse armor and other clothing variants, but it’s still a great move from the developers.

Marcin Iwiński, co-founder and Joint CEO of CD Projekt RED, said that the free DLC is a clear message to other devs and publishers who lock whole portions of a game behind high-priced add-ons.

“We love games…[and] we feel really special when we receive free content that gives us more than we initially paid for.

Unfortunately this treatment is quite rare these days. As gamers, we nowadays have to hold on tight to our wallets, as surprisingly right after release, lots of tiny pieces of tempting content materialize with a steep price tag attached.

Haven’t we just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game?

As CD PROJEKT RED, we strongly believe this is not the way it should work and, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have decided to do it differently.”

Let’s hope this trend carries on–as a gamer, I for one grow weary of the cumbersome trends that saturate our industry like bullshots, pre-order incentives, high-priced special editions that include content we should be getting already, and, of course, the dreaded Season Pass scenario.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is slated to launch on May 19, 2015 across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

The post Witcher 3’s PS4 Install Size Clocked At 50GB appeared first on VR World.

Doug Cockle may not be a super hero by trade, but by rescuing CD Projekt Red in their hour of need he’d certainly earn a nod from Man of Steel himself.

In the tradeshow where caped crusaders are venerated–San Diego’s infamous Comic-Con–Polish game devs CD Projekt Red prepared to showcase a live demo The Witcher 3 to a public audience for the very first time.

In the game’s dark fantasy mythos Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a wandering swordsman riven by a hero’s derring-do and an assassin’s deadly grace.

Firing up the demo, Geralt of Rivia slowly made his way into an atmospheric countryside pub that displayed the true dynamism and authenticity of the game’s NPCs.

The renown Witcher then sat down to talk shop with a devilish-looking NPC informant named Diijkstra, but his gravelly voice went unheard: apparently the whole demo lacked dialog audio.

Luckily for the devs, Doug Cockle, the voice-actor that lends his gruff vocals to the game’s stoic monster-slaying hero Geralt, was in attendance.

“Doug! Doug! Can you just freestyle it?,” the devs asked, accompanied by a roomful of applause and laughter. Everyone wanted to see Doug wing it live.

Doug took up his mic and saved the show with an impromptu performance that Colin Mochrie would be proud of. Geralt’s–that is Cockle’s–humorous and rather charming live ad-libbing was a huge success and enamored the crowd, making for a memorable demo despite the technical difficulties.

Some speculation has arisen that CD Projekt RED planned the whole endeavor all along–if so they’ve pulled off a rather creative PR stint that made quite an impression.

The lack of voice-over audio was attributed to faulty computer hardware that was damaged on the flight over to San Diego, which just so happens to be quite far from the studio’s native Poland.

The video above only captures a snippet of Cockle’s improvised voice-over and the studio is expected to release the full footage soon.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launches on February 24, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

The post Voice Actor's Impromptu Wit Rescues Live 'Witcher 3' Demo Blunder appeared first on VR World.

Doug Cockle may not be a super hero by trade, but by rescuing CD Projekt Red in their hour of need he’d certainly earn a nod from Man of Steel himself.

In the tradeshow where caped crusaders are venerated–San Diego’s infamous Comic-Con–Polish game devs CD Projekt Red prepared to showcase a live demo The Witcher 3 to a public audience for the very first time.

In the game’s dark fantasy mythos Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a wandering swordsman riven by a hero’s derring-do and an assassin’s deadly grace.

Firing up the demo, Geralt of Rivia slowly made his way into an atmospheric countryside pub that displayed the true dynamism and authenticity of the game’s NPCs.

The renown Witcher then sat down to talk shop with a devilish-looking NPC informant named Diijkstra, but his gravelly voice went unheard: apparently the whole demo lacked dialog audio.

Luckily for the devs, Doug Cockle, the voice-actor that lends his gruff vocals to the game’s stoic monster-slaying hero Geralt, was in attendance.

“Doug! Doug! Can you just freestyle it?,” the devs asked, accompanied by a roomful of applause and laughter. Everyone wanted to see Doug wing it live.

Doug took up his mic and saved the show with an impromptu performance that Colin Mochrie would be proud of. Geralt’s–that is Cockle’s–humorous and rather charming live ad-libbing was a huge success and enamored the crowd, making for a memorable demo despite the technical difficulties.

Some speculation has arisen that CD Projekt RED planned the whole endeavor all along–if so they’ve pulled off a rather creative PR stint that made quite an impression.

The lack of voice-over audio was attributed to faulty computer hardware that was damaged on the flight over to San Diego, which just so happens to be quite far from the studio’s native Poland.

The video above only captures a snippet of Cockle’s improvised voice-over and the studio is expected to release the full footage soon.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launches on February 24, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

The post Voice Actor's Impromptu Wit Rescues Live 'Witcher 3' Demo Blunder appeared first on VR World.