Without a doubt, CD Projekt Red knew how to make fantastic quests in The Witcher 3. Cited as one of the best role-playing games of all time, the Polish-based studio immersed players not only into the world of Geralt of Rivia but also its compelling main and side missions that comprised over one hundred quests.
From A Princess in Distress and Carnal Sins to the incredible tales Ladies of the Wood and the heartbreaking Bloody Baron, CD Projekt Red’s lead quest designer lifts the veil on how they made these unforgettable moments so good and why, eight years later, they are still some of the best.
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Compassion Is Key In CD Projekt Red’s Quest Development
Speaking toGameRant, CDPR’s lead quest designer Pawel Sasko sat down to discuss the process the studio had taken to ensure its game design was something that players could relate to in some way. Giving fans a look under the veil, Sasko said that when it came to crafting quests, the attention should always be on “play, show, then tell, always in that order.”
To prefix, Sasko believes that players should have the ability to ‘get inside’ quests as much as impossible, so they have a really good understanding of what’s playing out in front of them before they are handed a scene without doing any initial critical thinking, which takes away a lot from the quest itself.
Sasko says that the secret ingredient is the use of empathy in many of the quests. This not only involves the player emotionally but also immerses them into that particular mission so that they never feel like an outsider looking in. “I always tell my designers to try to get that player to be empathic because there are so many different things that can touch players,” expressed Sasko.
Even though The Witcher 3 has numerous examples of emotion-filled quests, Sasko uses The Bloody Baron as a model for this due to the powerful emotional tie and rollercoaster players go on throughout this particular quest.
“It’s about trying to talk to your empathy and trying to show things that can move you. For me, it’s almost like a secret sauce for making really good quests.”
“Even though it’s fantasy, it’s some Botchling thing, there’s a component of authenticity and realism that will touch people because you don’t know what they went through. You have to approach quests with deep care and consideration,” Sasko states. This same method is used in Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty when So Mi is dying on the train, which allows the player’s empathy to play probably the biggest role in the game.
CD Projekt’s next step inside The Witcher world is currently in development and codenamed Polaris.
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