Raising a Glass to Blood and Wine

When I think about video game expansions, the first one that comes to mind is Tales of the Sword Coast, the add-on to the cult-classic, original Baldur’s Gate. Yes, I know — the late 90s is some serious deep-cut territory. But that was a formative time for me as a gamer, and I seem to remember it more vividly than what I had for lunch yesterday.

I remember that expansion fondly because it gave me exactly what I wanted at the time: a reason to return to my favorite computer role-playing game, continue the adventure, meet new characters, revisit old friends, and spend more time in a world I was not ready to leave behind. It also came in a proper big box, and everyone who knows PC gaming from that era understands that a lacquered cardboard collection on the shelf was a serious source of prestige. All in all, Tales of the Sword Coast was a must-have.

Now, let’s fast-forward to 2026, which marks ten years since The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received its second expansion, Blood and Wine. You may be surprised to hear there’s a connection between that old-school expansion and Geralt of Rivia’s adventures in Toussaint.

Back in the 90s, when CD PROJEKT was still running a video game distribution business, Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast were breakthrough titles in our catalog, selling thousands of copies in Poland. And in case you raised an eyebrow at “thousands” — those were impactful numbers back then.

Image Credit: CD PROJEKT

CD PROJEKT RED, the video game development studio founded a few years later, has some of its role-playing roots in that era, and I have always thought of the expansions to The Witcher 3 as our own kind of homage to that time. Many current and former people from the studio still have vivid memories of those old-school add-ons — and, in some cases, still have the original PC big boxes on their shelves.

With it now being 10 years since the release of Blood and Wine, it feels like the perfect opportunity for us at CD PROJEKT RED to revel in some nostalgia of our own, and relive some cherished memories.

While I was around at the time, I do not want to focus too much on the content of the expansion itself. Instead, I would encourage anyone reading this to experience that excellent story on their own. Chances are you already have — but then you also know it is an adventure worth reliving. And if you are new to it, I can only say this: if you enjoy role-playing games, you are seriously missing out. I am not saying this only because I represent CD PROJEKT RED. I am saying it as someone whose long-standing passion for video games has played a huge role in shaping who I am.

To celebrate ten years of Blood and Wine, I would like to look back at a few memories from my own area of expertise: video game public relations. That is not necessarily the first thing people think about when anniversaries come around, but you do not often get a chance to peek behind the curtain from that perspective. So, what better time than now?

A Game of Two Years

Try Googling “game of the year 2015” and there is a very good chance you will see The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt at the top of the results. Rightfully so — the game came out in 2015 and received dozens of Game of the Year awards.

When I think about what a Game of the Year accolade means, I usually think of a title that defines the conversation in a given year. By that measure, The Witcher 3 was, for me personally, also the Game of the Year in 2016, because it stayed at the top of my mind throughout that entire year. Blood and Wine played a huge part in making that happen.

Although we officially announced Blood and Wine in April 2015, still before the launch of the base game, its dedicated marketing campaign began in early 2016. By then, both The Witcher 3 and its first expansion, Hearts of Stone, had received critical acclaim. Additionally, 16 pieces of free DLC had been released, along with several patches. So it is safe to say the industry had certain expectations for what was coming next.

With it now being 10 years since the release of Blood and Wine, it feels like the perfect opportunity for us at CD PROJEKT RED to revel in some nostalgia of our own, and relive some cherished memories.

That made our job in PR particularly exciting — and, honestly, quite challenging. The Witcher 3 was receiving significant attention from press and content creators around the world. Almost every week there were interviews for us to handle, or another media-related opportunity to introduce more people to Geralt of Rivia and his story. And, of course, to Gwent. But I will get back to that later.

When we finally started talking publicly about the details of Blood and Wine, the response from critics and players was infused with as much enthusiasm as us. People were curious to see how CD PROJEKT RED would deliver a “20-hour-plus tale that introduces the all-new region of Toussaint”.

Even at events where we were not showing new gameplay content — such as PAX East 2016 — there was a full house for our panel about the design process behind Gwent. We also had some very cool Pinny Arcade pins for panel attendees in Boston, which is exactly the kind of tiny detail that makes a PR person’s heart quietly happy.

Covers, Castles, and Contracts

As a former video game journalist, I have a soft spot for a good magazine cover story, and working on the PR campaign for Blood and Wine gave me and my team the opportunity to secure a handful with magazines like PSX Extreme, LEVEL, Reboot, and PC Guru.

That was not easy. The expansion’s marketing campaign was relatively short, and cover stories often require months of planning due to the publishing cycle and the fact magazines tend to be booked well in advance. On top of that, Blood and Wine was still “just” an expansion, and there were plenty of major AAA releases competing for attention around the same time.

When you are landing cover stories, it usually means you are running a full-scale marketing campaign for a significant release. And a campaign like that also means events — one of the most demanding, but also most rewarding, parts of video game PR.

Since the visual identity of Toussaint draws inspiration from southern Europe, we thought it would make sense to host one of our hands-on preview events in that part of the world. And if you are choosing the location to match the theme of the game, why not go all the way and host your guests in a medieval castle?

Image Credit: Wikipedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castello_di_Pavone_Canavese_1.jpg

So that’s exactly what we did. We rented Pavone Canavese Castle in Italy and invited a group of press and content creators from around the world to play Blood and Wine before launch. In typical CD PROJEKT RED fashion, we also made sure our guests had a few side quests to pursue at the castle.

One of them was particularly special — and particularly secret. Anyone who wanted to participate had to sign a pact with none other than Gaunter O’Dimm, who was there in the flesh alongside Geralt of Rivia, Anna Henrietta, and other iconic characters from the world of The Witcher. Let me give a big shout-out to all cosplayers for their outstanding work!

The aforementioned pact was, in fact, a lore-friendly non-disclosure agreement. Our guests were about to become the first people outside CD PROJEKT RED to play a then-unannounced standalone version of Gwent, which was later officially revealed at E3 2016 as GWENT: The Witcher Card Game.

Into a Very Toussaint Finale

Blood and Wine launched on May 31, 2016, alongside the substantial Patch 1.20. The update brought many requested quality-of-life improvements, even for players who did not own the expansion. Alongside UI and inventory management updates, there were also plenty of smaller fixes including one that made a few headlines at the time: restoring Geralt’s clothing when it was not properly displayed after sex scenes.

Yes, that was in the patch notes.

After months of work, going through the reviews from critics and players was a humbling experience for everyone at CD PROJEKT RED. Seeing review scores that were virtually identical to — and sometimes even higher than — those of the base game was both astonishing and deeply rewarding.

Then award season came around, and we were thrilled to see Blood and Wine win two Golden Joystick Awards for Best Storytelling and Best Visual Design. Doug Cockle also received another award for his performance as Geralt of Rivia, and CD PROJEKT RED was named Studio of the Year. Finally, as 2016 was coming to a close, Blood and Wine was named Best Role-Playing Game at The Game Awards. We could not have imagined a better finale to another year of hard work in video game development.

After months of work, going through the reviews from critics and players was a humbling experience for everyone at CD PROJEKT RED.

An Expansion Worth Remembering

Even years after its release, Blood and Wine remains one of the most memorable Witcher experiences. It still comes up often in industry conversations about what video game expansions can be.

Personally, Hearts of Stone remains my favorite piece of post-launch content for The Witcher 3 — mainly because of Olgierd von Everec, whose story I really dig. But Geralt’s adventure in Toussaint is almost equally captivating, and it has earned its place as a staple of CD PROJEKT RED’s catalog. It is, without question, a must-play for anyone who loves role-playing games.

And to make my point, I will leave you with a Blood and Wine screenshot worth a thousand words. If you know, you know.

P.S.

Blood and Wine is also very dear to my heart for a personal reason: it was the first CD PROJEKT RED release in which my child’s name appeared in the “production babies” section of the in-game credits.

My daughter was born shortly before the expansion launched, and it was not entirely a coincidence that I was wearing a Blood and Wine t-shirt when I held her for the first time.

I love you, Kalina.

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