The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was a massive success in every respect, and sound design was no exception, with the open world RPG featuring an incredible soundtrack.
Now, developer CD Projekt RED has released a new behind the scenes video, showcasing exactly how this delicious musical sausage got made.
The video (which you can watch below) features interviews from a bunch of people from CD Projekt RED’s sound department, including music director/composer Marcin Przybylowicz.
You may also be interested to learn how the studio enlisted Polish folk music group Percival to help record a portion of the game’s stellar soundtrack.
According to Przybylowicz, there were plans for a very thorough and technical recording process with the group, but these had to be abandoned when he discovered the majority of the group were self taught, with only one member having finished music school.
Percival were recruited because they were known for using exactly the kind of instruments from days of yore that are featured in The Witcher 3.
Meanwhile, the epic score was performed by the Brandenburg State Orchestra in Frankfurt, Germany, and was directed by one Bernd Ruf.
As far as the game’s (again excellent) battle sounds were concerned, CD Projekt RED were determined to get it as authentic as possible.
That’s why they took microphones to a reenactment of the Battle of Grunwald, the team also captured all manner of real effects, including people marching, arrows firing, and swords clashing.
Junior sound designer Hanna Kubiak explains in the video:
The sound needs to be so good that gamers are able to tell what’s happening on screen with their eyes closed. That’s how authentic we wanted it to be. All the hits, the cuts–it needed to be shown through sound. It must be brutal and dirty and send shivers all over your body when you hear it.
I think I speak for most of us when I say CD Projekt RED accomplished their mission in style. The Witcher 3 is a truly immersive piece of work, and the sound design is undeniably a huge part of that.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.