The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past — Release Date, Letten, Story and Everything About the Expansion (2026)

Eleven years after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the third expansion is finally here: Songs of the Past was announced in May 2026, and the first gameplay was shown at gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25. Geralt returns to the Path in the new region of Letten — a paid DLC on the scale of Blood and Wine. Here is everything we know so far: the release date, the story, the new weapon, and the remaster bonuses arriving on September 29, 2026.

When does Songs of the Past come out

• Release window: 2027, exact date not announced yet. The expansion can already be wishlisted.
• Price: paid (exact price not announced). The scale is comparable to the Blood and Wine expansion.
• Platforms: PC (Steam, GOG, Epic, Battle.net), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
• Developers: CD PROJEKT RED together with Fool's Theory — a team of Witcher 3 veterans known for The Thaumaturge.
• Battle.net bonus: players who buy the expansion on Blizzard's platform will receive a Geralt skin in Diablo 4 (details at BlizzCon in September).

The new region: Letten

Letten is Dandelion's homeland — the storyteller of the entire series. It is a peaceful rural country inspired by English and Polish landscapes: pastoral hills, lakes with sailboats, village festivals, and rich harvests. According to the developers, it is a full open world with an updated NPC system — its inhabitants behave more believably than in the original game.

But the idyll has a dark side: in the very heart of Letten lies the Garden of Thorns — the source of a long-sleeping evil. According to Eurogamer, the region is located near where The Witcher 4 takes place — which supports rumors that the expansion will serve as a story bridge to the fourth game.

Story: the mystery of Dandelion's family

Geralt arrives in Letten and discovers that Dandelion has gone missing. The investigation leads the witcher into Dandelion's aristocratic family — a fragmented noble house with a dark past connected to the Garden of Thorns. Based on the 45 minutes of gameplay shown (details in the Xbox Wire preview), the story promises to be intimate and character-driven: at stake is the fate of the entire land and even Geralt's close friendship. Expect the classic "witcher" formula: choices, consequences, and never-before-seen monsters.

Gameplay: new weapon and mutagens

• The chain — a completely new weapon type that Geralt masters in the expansion.
• Unique mutagens — an additional character enhancement system.
• Dozens of quests and points of interest, unseen enemies, and new swords.
• The story concludes Geralt's chapter: the series then moves on to Ciri in The Witcher 4.

Bonus: The Witcher 3 Remastered — September 29, 2026

Alongside the DLC reveal, a remaster of the original was announced — and it is free for everyone who owns the game on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. What's inside:

• Updated graphics, performance, and new witcher sign effects;
• enhanced combat, improved movement and traversal;
• reworked monster behavior, Roach handling, and new finishers;
• a rebuilt skill tree, armor transmogrification, and an expanded photo mode.

The remaster will also mark the game's debut on Nintendo Switch 2 (native version) and on Battle.net — all on September 29, 2026.

And a pleasant surprise from the gamescom stage: starting August 25, 2026, all owners of The Witcher 3 received Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine for free — if you still haven't played the expansions, now is the time.

Remaster system requirements

CD PROJEKT RED revealed the requirements at the end of August on the remaster's Battle.net page. The bar has risen noticeably: 64-bit Windows 11 only, DirectX 12, and a mandatory 70 GB SSD.

What we learned after the announcement

• Pre-orders are open. The Nintendo Switch 2 version was shown again at the Nintendo Direct on September 9; owners of the Switch version of the original will receive the remaster for free.
• Price for newcomers. The Complete Edition rose from $39.99 to $49.99 — the same as the remaster for those who don't own the original. For existing owners the update remains free.
• Technology. Native DirectX 12, path tracing with updated global illumination, DLSS Ray Reconstruction, and support for DLSS 4.5, FSR 4, and XeSS 2.0. Textures were worked on by the author of the fan-made HD Reworked Project mod.
• Quality of life. An immersive meditation mode, improved quest navigation and loot collection, expanded accessibility settings, and an updated interface.
• Russian voice-over. It is preserved in the remaster and in the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions. Songs of the Past will have Russian text only — no dubbing.

What to expect next

New details on Songs of the Past will be revealed along the way: at REDstreams presentations, the CD PROJEKT booth at gamescom (hall 8.1), and BlizzCon in September. As soon as the exact DLC release date and new gameplay demonstrations appear, we will update this guide. And on release day, a full walkthrough will be published here.

Frequently asked questions

Is Songs of the Past a standalone game? No, it is the third expansion to The Witcher 3, after Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.

Will it come out on PS4 and Xbox One? Only PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2 have been officially announced — nothing is known about the previous generation.

Do I need the remaster for the expansion? There are no official DLC requirements yet, but it is reasonable to expect it to be based on the remaster — whose system requirements are already known (see the table above).

Is the protagonist Geralt or Ciri? Geralt. Ciri will be the protagonist of The Witcher 4.

Will the remaster run on my PC? Minimum — Core i5-8400, GTX 1660 and 12 GB of RAM, plus Windows 11 and an SSD. Full table in the "Remaster system requirements" section.

Read also

• The Witcher 3 walkthrough — quests, endings, and character builds
• The Blood of Dawnwalker walkthrough — all bosses and endings

Information is current as of September 18, 2026. After the remaster launches on September 29, we will add a graphics comparison and a walkthrough guide.