For decades, scholars have been warning us about the dangers of nostalgia as a political tool. But scholars be damned, I’m having a lot of fun playing The Witcher 3 in 2026, and I’m not ashamed of it. The pleasure of rediscovering this classic also made me appreciate even more the excellent job that developer CD Projekt Red did in adapting Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy world in a way that is respectful and faithful, even if not entirely accurate to the source material.

CD Projekt Red released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered on Sept. 29, a free (on most platforms) update to the classic 2015 RPG that brings massive improvements to the game’s graphics, plus some much-needed fixes to gameplay elements. It’s no surprise, then, that Geralt’s most famous adventure is suddenly the highest-rated game of 2026 (well, on a technicality).

One quest in Blood and Wine shows how much CD Projekt Red cares about The Witcher

I chose to start my latest foray into The Witcher 3 with the largest of its two expansions, Blood and Wine, which sends Geralt to the France-inspired nation of Toussaint. No matter how strong the pull of nostalgia is, this is not 2016, and I’m no longer a youngster with a lot of free time on my hands to play the game’s 200-ish-hour main campaign. Also, I realized I kind of skimmed through Blood and Wine the first time I played it, and that’s a mistake I wanted to rectify.

“The Warble of a Smitten Knight” is one of the first side quests you encounter in the expansion. Shortly after arriving in Touissant, Geralt meets young knight Guillaume de Launfale, who is trying to prove his love for fair maiden Vivienne by putting his body on the path of rampaging monsters. Guillaume noticed something odd about Vivienne and suspects she’s affected by a curse. Conveniently, a Witcher shows up at the right time to fix this mess.

However, Geralt will have to go the extra mile to fulfill this contract. The only way to get close to Vivienne is to take Guillaume’s place in the ongoing chivalric tournament. The quest itself is textbook The Witcher 3: the characters are colorful, the story is apparently simple but hides interesting twists, and the player has to make an important choice at the end that could have unexpectedly tragic consequences. It’s also........

© Polygon