The Witcher’s Lead Story Designer Calls Game Ending a ‘Mistake’

Artur Ganszyniec, lead story designer on the original The Witcher, recently revealed his dissatisfaction with the game’s ending, calling it a “mistake” that significantly altered the direction of the series. His comments came during a 40-hour playthrough of the 2007 RPG, streamed on his YouTube channel.

A Last-Minute Decision

According to Ganszyniec, the final cutscene – featuring the attempted assassination of King Foltest and the revelation that a fellow witcher was the culprit – was created largely without input from the story team. This decision, reportedly made by CD Projekt studio management or co-founder Michał Kiciński, forced a shift in the narrative focus for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

“The script for this…it was created not really involving the story team. So it was sort of, we weren’t really paying attention. And that was a mistake, I think,” Ganszyniec explained, as reported by Kotaku. He noted that the ending’s “open question” regarding Geralt’s future didn’t align with the subsequent storyline.

Impact on the Sequel

The unexpected twist steered The Witcher 2 towards a political thriller centered around the assassination of kings, rather than exploring more personal themes related to Geralt’s past, family, and identity. While The Witcher 2 achieved commercial success, Ganszyniec believes the series lost some of its creative freedom as a result. TechRadar reports that Ganszyniec also took responsibility for parts of the epilogue, stating, “Most of the epilogue, I was the one implementing it. I’ve got only myself to blame for everything that’s happening here.”

A Lesson in Game Development

Ganszyniec’s retrospective highlights how a single, late-stage decision can profoundly impact an entire game saga and alter its core identity. The situation serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of story team involvement throughout the development process, even in the final stages. The original game is still considered a classic despite its rough edges, and a full remake is currently in development by Fool’s Theory, as TechRadar noted.