Polish studio CD Projekt RED may have bit off more than they could chew when they announced Gwent at E3 2016 and then slated it for release that same year. Thankfully, the developers are quick learners and have made somewhat of a success of the game – which is still in “preview”! Now, in an interesting move, the company says that it will “rehabilitate” the collectable card game by means of a revamp called ‘Gwent Homecoming’. Yes, Gwent is getting a revamp, and it will bring new life into the game. Or so they say.

In an open letter, co-founder, Marcin Iwiński, game director Katarzyna Redesiuk, and product director Rafał Jaki, came together to tell the world about the company’s plans for the card game. They opened their letter with a bombshell announcement that the game would take an extra six months of “fully focused development” to deliver what they promised fans. While the timeline is by no means a surprise, it comes as a bit of a shock that the company still has not implemented the teased story, “Thronebreaker” (announced in 2017). Thronebreaker is just one of the many additions the company still wants to put into the game.

In their letter, the team wrote that it has been a wildly different ride compared to the “single player RPGs [they] had been creating”. They mentioned that they “did not realise how different it was to operate and develop a live game at the same time”. Since then, the studio has drifted away from their original vision for a standalone version of Gwent, and lost sight of “what has been unique and fun about the game”.

Gwent, which was made popular thanks to its inclusion as a vast and well-thought-of minigame inside The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), became popular enough for the studio to consider making it a standalone experience. Players who were initially on-board with the idea, however, have slowly grown tired of the rapid and unusual changes that CD Projekt RED keep bringing to the table. As such, this “six months revamp” has been dubbed “Gwent Homecoming” by the team. During their ‘homecoming’, the studio will work on standard season transitions and events. The game will then only get two major updates — one in April (which has just gone live) that will introduce missing premium cards and faction-specific boar skins; and one in May, which will introduce many balances to the game and fix its “Create” mechanic, which players have criticised for being too overpowered and random.

At first we thought it would be an interesting addition… but — as time passed — we realised that this form of wide RNG is not something that fits out focus on player skill

The team states that they will be extra careful in the future, vowing that if they do find “cards interesting enough to include, but too crazy for Ranked” they will find a place in the Arena and Casual Modes.

Closing off the open-letter, the team wrote that they want Gwent to kick some “serious ass” and reignite the player passion for the beloved card game. They thanked fans and asked for trust and patience.

I do not know about you folks, but Gwent is an alright game. Granted, I have played so much of already that I honestly do not like the way it has been implemented in the Witcher 3 anymore! I prefer the standalone version.

Gwent is a free card game by CD Projekt RED. It is now in beta for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Players who are keen can sign up via the PlayGwent website.

20/04/18 – UPDATE: We incorrectly stated that the game was coming to iOS. This has been removed.

[Sources: Bleeding Cool, Engadget, Polygon, Variety]

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Junior Editor at Vamers. From Superman to Ironman; Bill Rizer to Sam Fisher and everything in-between, Edward loves it all. He is a Bachelor of Arts student and English Major specialising in Language and Literature. He is an avid writer and casual social networker with a flare for all things tech related.