Witcher 3's Last Free DLC Will be New Game +

Over the past few months after the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red has been periodically releasing some small, free DLC to its players to both keep them playing, and to thank them for their continued support. It’s one of the things that makes them such a swell company. However, all good things have to end: CD Projekt Red can’t hand out DLC for free until the end of time, it’s both expensive and takes up good manpower that could be spent on other, more profitable ventures.

And, indeed, CD Projekt Red has recently announced that the next DLC will be the last free DLC to come out for the Witcher 3… but they plan to go out with a bang. From their official Facebook page:

“Already finished The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt multiple times? We’ve got something coming up…

New Game+, the final DLC, is on the way and, of course, it’s completely FREE! Stay tuned for more info regarding the release. It won’t happen this week though - we need a little bit more time to finish it.”

So, one of the most requested features of the game—new game plus—will be added to the game. A bit odd this wasn’t there in the first place, but hey, better late than never, right? No, the real question—the question CD Projekt Red hasn’t answered yet—is exactly how this New Game Plus system will work. Will it just allow Geralt to keep his skills and equipment in the next play-through? Or will it pull a Dark Souls and scale up the enemies to match? We obviously won’t find out this week, but the next…?

The real news here, of course, isn’t so much the new game plus—it’s that the Witcher 3’s long run of free DLC is finally ending. The coolest thing about this DLC, of course, is that it’ll be available forever: as long as it’s around, you can buy the game ten years from now and get all this stuff packaged in, free of charge. But still, it feels a bit like the end of an era. Soon, Witcher 3 fans will have nothing to bring them back to the game… except, of course, the paid DLC, which will probably rock so hard it’ll keep people talking about the Witcher well into the next year.

I could think of less deserving games.