The Connecting Link
“Ballads of the Past” should serve as a prologue to the future installment of “The Witcher,” where Ciri will be the main protagonist. Therefore, in the new DLC, the protagonist may once again return as a playable character alongside Geralt. And with that, the developers can give Ciri many more mechanics on par with her mentor: her own skill tree, more combat techniques, customization of the witcheress, and free switching between characters.
The expansion should provide players with a special entry point — bypassing the main campaign and the two previous expansions. Despite their excellent plot, which fans love to revisit every few years for nostalgia, if it requires a high-level character and good equipment, which usually takes a hundred hours, it could become an obvious problem for most players.
It is worth focusing separately on Ciri's return to gameplay. If the expansion is made a direct bridge to the sequel, the audience might react negatively to a sudden change of the main character. In this context, the idea of a full-fledged duo seems more logical than repeating the trick from “Wild Hunt,” where control over Ciri was only given in flashbacks and a couple of scenes at the end.
A New Unexplored Region
One of the key features of the upcoming DLC should definitely be a change of scenery. Of course, it would be possible to integrate quests into the existing world, but that's the level of fan modifications. No matter how well-developed Velen, Skellige, and Toussaint remain, returning to them after ten years would be a creative dead end.
It would be much more interesting to move the events to a region that has not appeared in the series' games before. There are enough blank spots on the map of Neverland, but the main favorite remains Kovir and Poviss.
In Kovir, fans see a direct lead-in to the fourth part and a chance to explore the northern lands, almost untouched in the trilogy. Andrzej Sapkowski described this country as a wealthy state on the political periphery — far from large-scale wars and conspiracies. This is an ideal setting for a DLC: here you can show prosperous cities, harsh mountain landscapes, the influence of old-school mages, trade guilds, and a fundamentally different level of witcher contracts. This is not war-torn swamps or a fairy-tale land, but a pragmatic region where the manners of its inhabitants are sometimes colder than the local climate.
There is another interesting theory about where the future DLC might take place. The fact is that on the eve of the announcement of the new numbered part of “The Witcher,” writer Andrzej Sapkowski wrote a new book telling about Geralt of Rivia's very first adventures after leaving Kaer Morhen. They took place in the kingdom of Kaedwen.
The expansion could show the consequences of those events decades later: the rise of anti-witcher sentiment, the hunt for the White Wolf for the sins of his youth, and the political intrigues of elites who decided to make the hero a scapegoat.
The Past is Not an Empty Sound
“Ballads of the Past” has a rare chance to remind us why “The Witcher 3” remains not just a grand story, but also a deep role-playing game. During the main campaign and two expansions, Geralt influenced the fates of people, cities, and entire factions, so the new adventure should not feel detached from the context.
The franchise has always been famous for how the world responded to the player's decisions — through dialogue, the fates of companions, and changes in the environment. In the future DLC, we would like to see the development of this mechanic. It is not necessary to create dozens of branching paths and unpredictable endings — it is enough for past choices to be remembered, even if only in details.
The very name of the add-on refers to past events. And this refers not only to the biography of the witcher himself, but also to the path the player has traveled with him. Taking into account all variables is a difficult task, but developers are not required to globally recalculate all consequences.
Subtle touches are enough: letters from old acquaintances, rare lines in dialogues, small side quests, or cameos. Ideally, the expansion should work as a reflection on what has been lived: Geralt once again takes up his silver sword because the ghosts of the past have caught up with him.
Release in Russia Without Scandals
For the domestic community, a completely different question is at the top of the expectations list: will there be a normal release without regional blocks, cut languages, and the need to find workarounds for purchase?
The main requirement is a full Russian localization. The voices from “The Witcher” have become iconic for our community, taking their place alongside the dubbing of Warcraft III. If the expansion only gets subtitles, the immersion effect will be destroyed.
A similar precedent already occurred with Phantom Liberty for Cyberpunk 2077. The main game had full dubbing, but the expansion was released exclusively with text. As a result, there was a dissonance: all of Night City spoke Russian, but as soon as you entered Dogtown, the characters switched to English. We would very much not want a repeat of this situation in “The Witcher.”
Fuel was added to the fire by the scandal surrounding unofficial voice acting. The GamesVoice studio undertook to fill the gap on its own, but faced claims from CD Projekt RED. The developers' position caused bewilderment among the audience: players expected, if not support, then at least a neutral attitude towards the fan initiative.
It remains to be hoped that with “Ballads of the Past,” history will not repeat itself. If there is no official dubbing, third-party teams will surely take on the task themselves. We want to believe that this time the authors will not create obstacles, hiding behind vague promises to return to the market someday.
Analysis
Of course, all of this remains speculation and a wish list. The title, key art, and plot threads provide room for imagination, but the final project may turn out to be completely different. It's good that we don't have to wait long for answers.
CD Projekt RED promised to reveal details about “Ballads of the Past” on August 25 during Opening Night Live — the opening ceremony of Gamescom. There, the developers will show a trailer, announce the setting, and explain why Geralt had to hit the road again.