The Witcher franchise has spread out from the original book series to include video games, comic books, a board game, a television series, and an upcoming mobile game. Now, The Witcher: Old World is going to continue expanding The Witcher board game universe. The Witcher: Old World is a kickstarted board game that is aiming to release next year.
The Witcher: Old World's Kickstarter campaign blew past its $305,164 to now sit at over $4.5 million. While The Witcher: Old World is still quite a ways away, there is plenty of information about the game on its Kickstarter page. The page gives fans a lot of information on the setting, characters, and gameplay that players can expect when the game releases. There are also a lot of ways The Witcher: Old World can already be compared to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ahead of the end of its campaign.
How The Witcher: Old World is Similar to The Witcher 3
The most obvious comparison between the two games is that they both revolve around Witchers. Witchers are made by exposing human children to a series of mutations and trials before training them in one of the multiple schools that each have their own fighting styles and techniques. Witchers then roam the land looking for monsters that they were specially trained to kill. Both games see players stepping into the shoes of a Witcher while also emulating their abilities. They both allow players to use swords, alchemy, and magic signs to combat their enemies as they take on contracts and complete quests across The Witcher's deep world and lore.
Another big similarity is the enemies that fans will be able to fight in both games. The Witcher: Old World features many of the same monsters that The Witcher 3 players will be very familiar with. The Witcher: Old World's Kickstarter page shows a variety of familiar monsters from The Witcher universe that players will be able to face including leshens, griffens, nekkers, and barghests. There is even an entire faction that features the antagonists from The Witcher 3, the Wild Hunt.
How The Witcher: Old World is Dissimilar to The Witcher 3
There are also some very notable differences between the two games as well. As its name implies, The Witcher: Old World takes place many years before Geralt's time. It takes place during the height of the Witchers when monsters were much more common in the world and there were multiple Witcher schools thriving. This allows players to play their very own Witchers from one of the various schools whereas in The Witcher 3 most of the schools are defunct and Witchers, as well as monsters, are much rarer. Another big difference is that The Witcher: Old World is playable by up to five players. While CD Projekt Red has said that they are exploring multiplayer options for all their titles, possibly including The Witcher 3.
While it still has some time left on its campaign, The Witcher: Old World definitely seems to have struck a chord with fans of The Witcher as they wait for a possible The Witcher 4. With the board game promising quests written with the same flavor and tone as one expects from The Witcher, it will be interesting to see what new information and stories it tells within The Witcher's world.
The Witcher: Old World is expected to release in June 2022.