The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past Brings Gwent to Gamescom

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Songs of the Past has a Gamescom slot, and Gwent is back on the table

CD Projekt Red is bringing The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past to Gamescom 2026, and the most concrete new detail ahead of the show is the one Witcher 3 completionists were waiting for: Gwent will return in the expansion. According to Siliconera, CD Projekt Red joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said in a video statement that Songs of the Past will appear during Gamescom Opening Night Live, at the CD Projekt Red booth, and could also feature in planned RED streams.

The Gwent confirmation came separately through CD Projekt Red community and social media manager Marcin Łukaszewski. As reported by EGamers and EGW-News, a fan on X asked whether the newly announced expansion would include more Gwent, and Łukaszewski replied, “Confirmed!” That is a small public statement, but it answers a very specific systems question: The Songs of the Past expansion is not leaving The Witcher 3’s card economy behind.

The tension now is scope. CD Projekt Red has confirmed the expansion’s Gamescom presence and the return of Gwent, but it has not yet detailed the story premise, the playable region, the structure of the new quests, the card pool, the opponent network, or whether Gwent will be a side activity, a questline, or part of the expansion’s larger progression loop. For a Witcher 3 expansion arriving more than a decade after Blood and Wine, that silence matters. Fans are being invited back to Geralt’s buildcraft, contracts, dialogue checks, and collectible chase, but the exact shape of that return is still being held for Gamescom.

Gamescom is now the first real test of CD Projekt Red’s expansion pitch

The official positioning around The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past has been careful. The Witcher Wiki’s page, citing CD Projekt Red’s announcement, describes Songs of the Past as a “brand-new full-fledged expansion” made in partnership with Fool’s Theory, with players again taking the role of Geralt of Rivia before heading out on the Path as Ciri in The Witcher 4. 80 Level also reports that CD Projekt Red is co-developing the expansion with Fool’s Theory, a studio that includes veteran The Witcher 3 developers.

That “full-fledged expansion” phrasing is important because The Witcher 3 set a high bar for add-ons. Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine were remembered as substantial RPG releases with their own narrative arcs, enemies, loot hooks, and side content. GameRant reports that CDPR prefers the language of “expansion” over “DLC” for Songs of the Past because of its scope, which it says is comparable to Blood and Wine. That comparison should be treated as reported framing rather than a complete feature list, since CD Projekt Red has not publicly mapped out the hour count or region design in the provided materials.

Gamescom is where that language needs to become visible. A trailer can sell tone, returning faces, music, and monsters, but Witcher 3 players will be looking for structure: how the expansion fits into an existing save, whether Geralt’s late-game alchemy and mutation builds still feel tuned, how much new gear exists, and whether the quest design has the layered consequences that made the base game and its expansions endure. None of those answers are confirmed yet. What CD Projekt Red has confirmed is that Gamescom will be the venue where Songs of the Past moves from announcement into public presentation.

The Gwent confirmation is narrow, but it lands because Witcher 3 made cards part of progression

Łukaszewski’s “Confirmed!” reply does not tell us whether Songs of the Past adds a new faction, a set of neutral heroes, fresh regional cards, tournaments, merchants, or a collectible quest chain. It confirms only that more Gwent is coming. That distinction is worth keeping because Witcher 3 fans tend to read Gwent content through the rhythms of completion: visiting innkeepers, clearing notice boards, checking merchants after major quest beats, and building decks strong enough to handle named opponents.

EGamers frames the reaction as enthusiastic, noting that players joked about Geralt ignoring urgent plot business to play cards. That response tracks with how Gwent functioned in the original game. It was optional, but it created its own map of incentives. A new village was not only a place to find contracts and alchemy ingredients. It was also a place to ask who played, who sold cards, and which unique reward might be locked behind a match.

For an expansion built around Geralt’s return, Gwent is a useful systems anchor. It can encourage exploration without forcing combat scaling into every corner of the map. It can reward dialogue-driven questing with new opponents. It can turn inns and outposts into practical destinations. If Songs of the Past follows the pattern of prior Witcher 3 expansions, Gwent could become one of the ways the new area expresses its local identity. GameRant notes that earlier expansions added cards tied loosely or closely to their locations and stories, while EGW-News reports that fans are already speculating about new cards and opponents. Those are expectations, not announcements, but they are reasonable questions for Gamescom.

A decade after Blood and Wine, this expansion has to serve two audiences

Songs of the Past is arriving in an unusual position. Siliconera reports that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, but Songs of the Past is expected for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2027. The Witcher Wiki also lists a 2027 release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. That would make the expansion a current-generation return to a 2015 RPG rather than a universal add-on for every platform that can run the base game.

That creates two audiences. The first is the long-term Witcher 3 player with a completed save, a preferred ending state, a finished Toussaint estate, and an inventory full of crafted Witcher gear. The second is the player who came to The Witcher 3 through the next-gen update or a later sale and may treat Songs of the Past as part of a fresh run before The Witcher 4. CD Projekt Red has not said in the provided materials how the expansion will handle save imports, recommended level, access conditions, or standalone start options. Those details will matter as much as the trailer for anyone deciding whether to reinstall now or wait until 2027.

There is also a bridge-building function here. The Witcher Wiki’s quoted official statement says Songs of the Past lets players return as Geralt before heading out on the Path as Ciri in The Witcher 4. Siliconera reports that Nowakowski said The Witcher 4 is targeting a 2028 release window and that more than 500 developers are working on it. That makes Songs of the Past a major franchise beat between Geralt’s celebrated final expansion and Ciri’s upcoming lead role. It has to satisfy nostalgia without feeling like a marketing prelude. The return of Gwent helps because it belongs specifically to the lived texture of The Witcher 3, not merely to franchise setup.

Platform reporting is not fully aligned yet

The safest platform read from the provided materials is that The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past is expected on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2027. Siliconera says PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. GameRant says PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. 80 Level says PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The Witcher Wiki lists PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

EGW-News adds Nintendo Switch 2 to its platform list, but that platform is not included in the other provided reports. Because of that conflict, Switch 2 support should be treated as unconfirmed unless CD Projekt Red announces it directly or a public store listing appears. The absence of PS4, Xbox One, and original Switch from the expected platform lists is also notable, though the sources do not provide CD Projekt Red’s reasoning for leaving those versions out.

PC players may have a more concrete technical issue to watch. The Witcher Wiki states that with Songs of the Past, CD Projekt Red discontinued support for the DirectX 11 version of The Witcher 3 in favor of DirectX 12, and that minimum PC hardware requirements were increased “to ensure smooth performance and compatibility going forward,” attributing that rationale to CD Projekt Red. Since this detail comes from a wiki page rather than one of the quoted news reports, readers should wait for CD Projekt Red’s own requirements page or storefront update before treating specific hardware targets as final. Still, the reported move would fit the practical reality of maintaining a new expansion for the next-gen version of an older RPG.

Even the showcase timing has conflicting public reporting

There is one timing discrepancy around the Gamescom presentation. Siliconera reports that Nowakowski confirmed Songs of the Past will appear on August 26, 2026 during Opening Night Live. GameRant reports that Songs of the Past is confirmed for Gamescom Opening Night Live and says fans will get their first official in-game look on August 25 at 11 am PT and 2 pm ET. Those dates may reflect time zone handling, schedule labeling, or one outlet working from a different show listing, but the provided sources do not resolve the mismatch.

The practical guidance is simple: if you are watching for The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past, follow CD Projekt Red’s official Gamescom channels and the Opening Night Live schedule rather than relying on a single converted date. Siliconera also reports that the expansion will appear at the CD Projekt Red booth and could show up in planned RED streams, so the first trailer may not be the only source of information during the week.

EGW-News reports that the presentation is expected to avoid major spoilers for the base game while unveiling new content, likely including a debut trailer and full gameplay showcase. That wording should be treated carefully because the same report describes those presentation details as reported rather than fully laid out by CD Projekt Red in the provided text. For players who have somehow avoided The Witcher 3’s biggest story outcomes, the safer assumption is that an expansion for a decade-old RPG may still lean on late-game context, especially if it is designed around Geralt after years of player history.

What to watch for when CD Projekt Red shows more

The confirmed facts are now clear enough to set expectations without overreaching. The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past is a new full-fledged expansion, CD Projekt Red is co-developing it with Fool’s Theory, Geralt is returning as the playable lead, Gamescom 2026 is its next public stage, and CDPR’s community team has confirmed that more Gwent is included. The expected release window in the provided reports is 2027, with PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S consistently named across most sources.

The unanswered questions are the ones that will determine whether this feels like a natural continuation of The Witcher 3 or a late-cycle curiosity. CD Projekt Red still needs to show the expansion’s location, quest structure, recommended level, pricing, install requirements, save handling, performance targets, and the actual scope of its Gwent additions. A single new card vendor would technically satisfy the confirmation. A regional Gwent questline with bespoke opponents, rewards, and deckbuilding pressure would do far more for returning players.

For now, Witcher 3 fans should resist filling the gaps with wish lists. The Gwent news is real, but its size is unknown. The Gamescom appearance is real, but the exact date reporting varies. The 2027 platform picture is mostly consistent, but Switch 2 appears in only one provided report. Songs of the Past has the rare advantage of returning to one of RPGs’ most thoroughly explored worlds with an audience that still remembers its smallest systems. At Gamescom, CD Projekt Red’s challenge is to prove that those systems have been revived with purpose, not merely preserved for applause.