Songs of the Past Geralt of Rivia

Geralt of Rivia is still the player character in Songs of the Past, the upcoming 2027 paid expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory are building a single-player chapter that starts after Blood and Wine, not a new campaign from scratch. The White Wolf is not hunting the Wild Hunt. He is not chasing Ciri across time. He is being asked, by Dandelion, to leave a vineyard life in Toussaint and ride north to Letten.

That invitation is the whole hook. Blood and Wine ended with Geralt settled enough to plant vines, host friends, and pretend the Path had gone quiet. Songs of the Past yanks that peace apart with a personal request rather than a world-ending prophecy. Previews of A Bed of Thorns open on Belleteyn, the fertility festival Letten treats as a night of fire and bad decisions. Geralt wakes hungover. Dandelion is gone. The bard’s lute turns up in the wrong hands. From there the witcher walks into the de Lettenhove estate, meets a family that is not used to monster contracts, and starts hearing about a Garden of Thorns that drinks blood.

Combat is still Geralt’s job. Steel for men, silver for monsters, Igni for plants that should not walk, Quen when a bark-arm blocks the next hit. The new tool is a silver chain. It occupies a quick-use slot the way a Sign or a bomb does: you do not dual-wield it with a sword, you snap to it, throw or aim, and snap back. Gamescom footage used it to yank Swarmions out of their hornet clouds and to break the Slumbering Knight’s rooted guard. If you want the practical version of that kit — oils, Signs, and when to spend the chain — read how to play before you rebuild muscle memory on an old save.

Key art shows a third sword. Witchers carry two, so the extra blade is not decoration. Developers have said it is story-important and that you will learn why in the game. Fan threads already try to match the gold twist and red scabbard to Ciri, to Melltith, or to a Lettenhove heirloom. None of those identifications are official. Treat the third sword as a teaser, not a loot table. The chain is the toy you will actually throw in Letten. The extra sword is a plot object you should not spoiler-solve from a poster.

Romance stays optional. Lilla, Dandelion’s cousin, can be pursued. In the gamescom demo the team played Geralt as loyal to Yennefer and declined the moment. That is a flag, not a locked ending. Triss was not in the demo. Whether Yennefer or Triss appear in person in the finished expansion is unconfirmed. If your Toussaint save is already married to a sorceress, you can keep that loyalty. If you want a new Letten affair, wait for the live flags instead of assuming the demo’s “team Yen” line is the only path.

CD Projekt Red has framed this chapter as Geralt’s last long ride before the torch passes. The Witcher 4 belongs to Ciri. Letten sits in northern Redania, near Kovir and Poviss, which is why the geography feels like a handshake between expansions rather than a random new island. Geralt is not moving to Kovir. He is finishing a story about Dandelion in the bard’s own valley, then stepping aside. The story overview covers that sequence without pretending the 2027 release is already on shelves.

Prepare a Toussaint-ready save, learn the chain, and do not over-invest in cameo theories. Geralt is coming back for a friend. The rest of the Path, including Ciri’s, waits on the other side of 2027.