The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Expansion Pass announced with two ‘massive’ expansions

Remember a few months back when CD Projekt RED made a bold stance against greedy publishers, denouncing those who nickel-and-dime customers with steeply priced paid-DLC, while promising The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's DLC will be free? Well, that stance was short-lived.

While those of you who purchase The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will still get your promised 16 free DLC packs, CD Project RED has sort of gone against their initial word by announcing two "massive" expansions for the game — "Hearts of Stone" and "Blood and Wine."

CD Projekt RED is defending this announcement as being completely honest and transparent, while promising actual "meaningful" content that'll total over 30 hours of additional gameplay.

“With the development of Wild Hunt coming to an end, the team has embarked upon the creation of two new really big adventures set in The Witcher universe,” said CD Projekt RED co-found Marcin Iwiński. “We remember the time when add-on disks truly expanded games by delivering meaningful content. As gamers, we’d like to bring that back. We’ve said in the past that if we ever decide to release paid content, it will be vast in size and represent real value for the money. Both our expansions offer more hours of gameplay than quite a few standalone games out there.”

Hearts of Stone will take Geralt on a 10-hour-plus adventure into the wilds of No Man's Land and the nooks nad alleys of Oxenfurt. Here, he'll try to complete a contract from the mysterious Man of Glass. "Caught in a thick tangle of deceit, Geralt will need all his cunning and strength to solve the mystery and emerge unscathed," CD Projekt RED teases.

Blood and Wine, meanwhile, will introduce the all-new in-game region of Toussaint. This 20-hour-plus adventure will take Geralt to a land untainted by war, "where an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and knightly ritual masks an ancient, bloody secret."

After numerous delays, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now set to release on May 19, 2015. Hearts of Stone will premiere in October, while Blood and Wine is slated for release in the first quarter of 2016.

“While we’re offering the Expansion Pass now, we want to make one thing clear: don’t buy it if you have any doubts. Wait for reviews or play The Witcher and see if you like it first. As always, it’s your call,” Iwiński concluded.

The Expansion Pass, which includes both expansions, is priced at $24.99. Alternatively, you can purchase each expansion separately, though it'll cost you a bit more. Hearts of Stone is priced at $9.99, while Blood and Wine will cost $19.99. And lastly, if you plan on getting the full game and expansion pass on Xbox One or PS4, it'll cost $84.99. PC owners save a bit more with the game and expansions priced together for $79.99.