What Songs of the Past Is and Why It Matters
Songs of the Past is a new Witcher 3 expansion announced by CD Projekt Red that returns players to Geralt of Rivia for a story-driven DLC, co-developed with Fool’s Theory, designed to bridge the gap toward The Witcher 4 while modernizing the game’s technology and requirements. Announced over a decade after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt first released, the expansion is scheduled for 2027 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. It marks the first major content drop since Blood and Wine, signaling an unexpected second life for a game long considered complete. CD Projekt Red says it originally meant to reveal the project during a REDstreams broadcast, but a discovery in the RED Launcher forced an early announcement. For long-time players, the promise is clear: one more trip down the Path with Geralt before the spotlight shifts to Ciri in The Witcher 4 and beyond.
Geralt’s Return and the Narrative Bridge to The Witcher 4
Songs of the Past puts Geralt back in the lead role, even as CD Projekt Red positions Ciri as the main protagonist of The Witcher 4. The title hints at “unresolved threads from Geralt’s past,” and early reporting suggests the DLC may sit closer to Velen geographically and thematically, revisiting earlier Wild Hunt locations with new stakes. While story details remain under wraps, the expansion is widely framed as a narrative bridge between The Witcher 3 and the upcoming sequel, giving CD Projekt Red room to tidy up lingering arcs before the franchise moves on. According to TechnoBezz, the expansion arrives “12 years after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched and 11 years after its last DLC, Blood and Wine,” underscoring how unusual it is to reopen a completed RPG. For veterans, that timing turns Songs of the Past into a kind of farewell tour for Geralt’s saga.
Why Songs of the Past Demands Windows 11 and an SSD
Alongside the Witcher 3 expansion, CD Projekt Red is raising the bar for PC players with strict new Windows 11 requirements. The updated minimum spec lists an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i5-8400 CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB GPU, 6GB of VRAM, 12GB of RAM, and 70GB of SSD storage running on 64-bit Windows 11. In a support post, the studio explains it will drop Windows 10 due to Microsoft’s end of support in October 2025, stop testing on that OS, and move fully to DirectX 12. HDDs are no longer supported, with CD Projekt Red citing faster load times and better asset streaming on SSDs. Only processors and GPUs actively supported on Windows 11 will receive official backing, aligning The Witcher 3 with Cyberpunk 2077’s future updates under a unified technical baseline.
An Unusual Late-Life Expansion and What It Signals for CD Projekt Red
Releasing a Witcher 3 expansion in 2027 is more than fan service; it is a strategic move inside a busy CD Projekt Red roadmap. TechnoBezz reports that The Witcher 4 targets 2027 “at the earliest” and is part of a long-term plan that also includes The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6, while Cyberpunk 2077 will not receive more DLC and Cyberpunk 2 is years away. In that context, Songs of the Past works as both bridge and marketing ramp, keeping The Witcher name in conversation while players wait for a new trilogy. Co-development with Fool’s Theory, the studio also handling The Witcher 1 remake, ties the franchise’s past and future together through shared talent. For long-time players, this late-arriving DLC represents a rare chance: to revisit a beloved open-world RPG on modern hardware, with one last canonical Geralt story before the series turns the page.