Branching story in The Witcher 2 was ‘hell’ to create

Adam Badowski, head of CD Projekt Red, said that fleshing out two full second acts for The Witcher 2 was "hell," but worth the painstaking effort.

"Really, it was kind of a design experiment," Badowski told Gamasutra. "In Act 2, we basically made two different acts, and from the production perspective, it was kind of a hell, but we did it."

Badowski said they undertook the challenge because they wanted "to treat our players right."

Calling the experiment an undoubted success, Badowski admitted that "probably half of our players didn't even realize that they can choose totally different paths" — an unfortunate "waste" in terms of work. In the future, the developer will devote more energy to making sure players understand the consequences of their decisions and actions.

"But I don't know how we can communicate that without spoiling things or destroying the immersion," he said. "It's very tough, but that's why it was an experiment" — something Badowski said fans can expect more of.

CD Projekt Red is currently developing a modern take on the Cyberpunk pen-and-paper RPG.

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