Game-changer: <em>The Witcher 3</em> will feature dynamic beard growth

By Will Fulton March 24, 2015

the witcher 3 dynamic beard — CD Projekt Red

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt aims to be a groundbreaking and enormous role-playing game, but one newly revealed feature has us more excited than anything else: dynamic beard growth. According to a developer interview with the German GameStar magazine (helpfully translated and bullet-pointed by NeoGAF user His Majesty), protagonist “Geralt’s beard will grow over time.”

Eurogamer, rightly stoked by the prospect of this revolutionary mechanic, followed up with Polish developer CD Projekt Red for more details. “The beard grows as time passes and when Geralt moves between locations,” communications chief Michal Platkow-Gilewski explained. “The beard has several ‘states’ and these states determine its length — the longest is really long but it’s not Gandalf long.”

Recommended Videos

The developer’s informative response raises so many more questions: Can Geralt stroke it? Can he braid it? How does he shave? Does he have to go from full beard to clean shaven, or are there intermediary grooming options, like strategically scruffy stubble, or a jaunty mutton chop? Not since Don’t Starve has facial hair been this mechanically exciting.

It is possible, however, to stop the relentless growth of Geralt’s whiskers with a free Beard and Hairstyle DLC: “When you download the free Beard and Hairstyle DLC the growth of the beard will stop because we decided that when players want a predefined look, it would be weird to require from them to reapply it time after time.”

Rest easy, traditional gamers — you can still have an avatar with a fixed appearance. The rest of us can look forward to gaming’s bold future of dynamic facial hair.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt arrives on May 19, 2015, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

God of War Ragnarok shares a key strength with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Hafgufa flies away in God of War Ragnarok.

God of War Ragnarok’s main story is memorable, but some of the smaller moments are what have stuck with me most since completing it. I'm not just talking about its moments of quiet, but its optional Favors as well. These sidequests can be entirely ignored, but skipping them is a mistake as they contain some of the game’s best scenes. It's a trait that God of War Ragnarok shares with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of the best RPGs of the last decade.
In some large RPGs, sidequests can often boil down to boring fetch quests, or they simply may not have as much polish put into their writing. As a result, they can feel like content bloat that does more harm than good to the game’s pacing. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and God of War Ragnarok avoid this problem by elevating these sidequests, making the entire adventure feel more cohesive and ensuring that the small moments stick out as some of the best.
More than a side thing
Like God of War Ragnarok, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt features a lengthy main story full of memorable characters, set pieces, and boss fights. While those alone would have made it a strong RPG, it’s remembered as an all-time great because of how rich its world is, something that's reflected in its side content. There were quests like Ghosts of Past, which pays off the character arc of Witcher 2 character Letho, but it's entirely possible to finish the game without ever seeing it.

Others, like Return to Crookback Bog, turn what could just be some fun supernatural fights into a chilling tale about abuse and broken families. While The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s main narrative is strong, these side moments are what make it a game that sticks with you years after release. I can already tell the same will be true of God of War Ragnarok, as some of my favorite missions in the game are entirely optional Favors.
An early game Favor called The Weight of Chains sees Kratos, Mimir, and Atreus freeing a giant Lyngbakr sea creature that Mimir imprisoned while working with Odin. They manage to break its chains, but find that it now struggles to move and do what it used to. This sidequest takes a series of somewhat standard combat encounters and puzzles and spins them into critical aspects of a memorable tale. The Weight of Chains reflects on how Kratos and Mimir’s reckless actions have had irreversible consequences, but they now have an opportunity to be better people in the future.
Another standout Favor called Secret of the Sands, where Kratos and Atreus free a trapped jellyfish-like creature called a Hafgufa, is also quite beautiful. The short story shows what Kratos will do to be able to spend more time with his son in the face of Ragnarok. However ordinary these sidequests may be from a gameplay standpoint, their narrative relevance and level of polish are on par with some of God of War Ragnarok’s main quests. This high effort even applies to some side missions that wholly exist with NPCs in the game’s overworld, ones that aren't even built around huge set pieces. For example, there’s The Lost Treasure quest.

Gaming

The Witcher 3’s long-delayed current-gen update launches this December

Geralt fighting an enemy in The Witcher 3.

As promised, CD Projekt Red will release the current-gen update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Complete Edition this year, on December 14. This update will go live across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and is free to anyone who already owns the game on previous-gen.

The current-gen version of The Witcher 3 has been in the works for quite some time, suffering multiple delays since its initial announcement in 2021. Thankfully, the game's developer will make good on its promise to launch it in 2022.

Gaming

The Witcher is getting a full remake built in Unreal Engine 5

The Witcher

CD Projekt Red has announced a remake of the first game in The Witcher series from the ground up, built using Unreal Engine 5. Polish studio Fool's Theory will be developing the game and there are veterans of the franchise involved in its production. CD Projekt Red is providing full creative supervision for the game.

“The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD Projekt Red. It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and remaking the game for the next generation of gamers to experience it feels just as big, if not bigger,” says studio head Adam Badowski in a statement. “Collaborating with Fool’s Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games. They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games. And although it will take some time before we’re ready to share more about and from the game, I know it’ll be worth the wait.”