At Gamescom 2026 in Cologne, a behind-closed-doors, hands-off demonstration offered an extended look at The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past. While The Witcher 4 will follow Ciri, this unexpected expansion returns to Geralt of Rivia for a new adventure.
Songs of the Past is scheduled to arrive next year alongside September’s substantial free remastered upgrade for The Witcher 3. That update improves combat and introduces a broad range of visual enhancements, while the expansion adds a completely new story. For readers following the latest arcade and gaming news, this is an intriguing example of a major role-playing game revisiting its established hero.
Letten hides a darker story
The expansion begins on Letten, an isolated and prosperous island that has remained protected from the wars affecting the mainland. Its green scenery combines the feel of the Polish and English countryside, with a storybook atmosphere reminiscent of Fable 2. That pleasant surface does not last.
Geralt wakes on the island after a Midsommar-style festival, looking considerably less imposing than usual. He has traded his familiar armour for plain robes and is enjoying an unusually quiet evening of mead rather than monster contracts. The islanders are suffering through the morning after, and the Witcher soon hears a badly played lute belonging to his old friend, the bard Dandelion.
The musician is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a drunken thief is making a mess of Dandelion’s instrument. Geralt demands it back, the confrontation becomes a fistfight, and the Witcher quickly retrieves the lute. He then boards a boat for a nearby village.
The village is busy with market stalls, conversation and locals ready to play Gwent. Geralt also receives a welcome from Roach, his trusted horse, while the demonstration confirms that he can now pet other animals, including a nearby dog. Dandelion, however, is still missing.
Following the trail leads Geralt to the lavish manor belonging to Dandelion’s family. There he meets the family matriarch, her granddaughter and Dandelion’s sister, Lilla, who becomes an important companion during the expansion. At dinner, Geralt describes recurring visions of a place called the “Garden of Thorns”. The matriarch reacts with alarm and abruptly leaves, making it clear that the island’s cheerful appearance conceals something serious.
A journey into the Garden of Thorns
Lilla refuses to be deterred and agrees to help locate her brother. The demonstration jumps ahead to a meeting at the stables after dark, where the pair set out beneath a full moon.
The countryside becomes increasingly unsettling as they approach the Garden of Thorns. Tangled branches frame the entrance, deer carcasses have been drained at the roots of aggressive plants, and human skulls hang from trees, bound in thick roots.
Local legend speaks of a cursed well hidden inside the garden. The same place has appeared in Geralt’s dreams, and one of Dandelion’s relatives was reportedly driven mad by it, earning the name “the mad count”. Before Geralt and Lilla can enter, the thorny growth closes behind them and pulls Lilla into the darkness.
Geralt battles two new enemy types while the demonstration showcases the remaster’s combat changes. Movement appears smoother, targeting is more exact and the ability system has been rebuilt around a deeper, highly customisable skill tree. A giant centipede burrows underground to evade sword attacks, but Geralt uses his Witcher Signs to pin it down before cutting it apart.
Sentient mandrakes fall to Geralt’s fire magic before another enemy appears: the Swarmions. These reanimated corpses are surrounded by clouds of aggressive hornets. Geralt’s new weapon, the Chain, provides a particularly brutal answer. Long-time players may recognise it from an iconic cutscene in the first game; here, it can finally be used during combat. The developers also promise many additional execution animations.
Deeper inside the forest, Geralt learns the origin of his visions. Dandelion’s uncle Humbert, remembered as the “mad count”, once fell in love with a witch. When villagers hunted her, Humbert killed those responsible and threw their bodies into the local well. The resulting grave became the Garden of Thorns, a place that has demanded blood ever since.
The Slumbering Knight awakens
Geralt and Lilla eventually reach the cursed well. A huge, moss-covered corpse is fused into the masonry, with branches growing through its decayed body. The seven-foot-tall Humbert rises and offers Lilla a brightly coloured flower, but the moment quickly turns violent.
Vines seize Geralt and begin a boss encounter. Humbert’s form changes during the fight, transforming one arm into a thick bark shield and sending thorn-covered tendrils across the arena. Swarmions also close in, forcing Geralt to keep moving while managing several threats.
The boss battle highlights the remaster’s stronger emphasis on parries, magic and evasive movement. Geralt burns the Swarmions, deflects repeated tendril attacks from Humbert’s “Slumbering Knight” form and finally brings the encounter to a cinematic conclusion.
Once Humbert is defeated, Geralt can either take Lilla’s hand or embrace her. A swelling orchestral passage leads into the title screen, ending the demonstration.
A familiar adventure with useful improvements
Songs of the Past appears designed to give fans another carefully recognisable Witcher 3 journey. Games have advanced significantly since the original role-playing game launched in 2015, and the expansion’s combat refinements do a convincing job of addressing some of the older game’s rougher edges.
The visual upgrade is less transformative. Updated lighting and mechanical polish improve the presentation, but low-resolution textures and modest draw distances still reveal the age of the Red engine. The contrast helps explain why CD Projekt Red has chosen to move away from that technology for the upcoming sequel.
Combat is the clearest success in this early showing. The revised system looks more responsive and flexible, while the developers say NPC routines have also been substantially improved. The upgraded artificial intelligence is intended to make towns feel more alive, with villagers following more dynamic daily routines.
That makes Songs of the Past an appealing, if familiar, return to the Continent. Its 2027 release will arrive in a busy year, and players may ultimately choose between another Geralt adventure, Albion or The Everywhen. For anyone interested in how games translate their atmosphere into a physical play space, RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide is a useful place to start, while the wider arcade machine collection covers full-size home cabinets.
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