The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s first expansion, Hearts of Stone, detailed

It seems there’s more than one reason to pick up The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt again.

Beyond the hotly anticipated New Game Plus mode, there are two meaty expansions on their way, offering an additional 30 hours in total playtime, and the first drops on October 13^th of this year.

We’ve known about the expansions for some time now, but CD Projekt RED has finally unveiled the details on the first of the two, Hearts of Stone:

Step again into the shoes of Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer, this time hired to defeat a ruthless bandit captain, Olgierd von Everec, a man who possesses the power of immortality. The expansion lets you choose your own way through an adventure that includes recruiting a crew of break-in artists, spending a night partying with a ghost and outsmarting the most bizarre creatures Geralt has ever faced.”

Hearts of Stone offers all of expected perks of an expansion: new adventures, characters, adversaries and so on. But it also touts a new, unique romance, challenging monsters and the introduction of Runewords – it’s the Runewords that most interests us.

Runewords promise to significantly affect gameplay by altering or tweaking particular aspects of the game and its mechanics, allowing for new strategies and tactics, supposedly.

For the moment, there’s no mention of exactly how Runewords might work, but we’re excited nonetheless.

CD Projekt RED has also announced that alongside the digital release of Hearts of Stone, a special, limited boxed edition of Hearts of Stone will be available for $19.99.

The most exciting inclusion in the boxed edition of Hearts of Stone? Two physical decks of Gwent cards, heck yes!

For those purchasing the digital copy, you can still purchase yourself the decks by going here.