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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsSpoiler warning: This recap explains major plot points from The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, including their endings. It does not reveal The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s major discoveries or ending outcomes.
Before The Witcher 3 begins, Geralt of Rivia has recovered the memories lost after his first game. He is searching for Yennefer, the sorceress he once sacrificed himself to save from the Wild Hunt. The search soon becomes a race to find Ciri—Geralt’s adopted daughter and the Hunt’s principal target—while Nilfgaard’s war with the Northern Realms tears the continent apart.
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The short version: what happened before The Witcher 3?
Geralt begins the series with amnesia, returns to the witchers’ stronghold of Kaer Morhen, and is pulled into conflicts that are both personal and political. By the end of The Witcher 2, he has recovered the memories that explain his connection to Yennefer, Ciri and the spectral riders called the Wild Hunt.
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- If you buy this game, you will receive a free next-gen update on December 14th!
- Play as a highly trained monster slayer for hire.
- Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth and complexity.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year edition brings together the base game and all the additional content released to date.
- Geralt remembers Yennefer as his long-lost love, not merely as a name from a forgotten past.
- He understands that Ciri is his adopted daughter and a person he is bound to protect.
- The Wild Hunt is pursuing Ciri because of the power she possesses.
- Nilfgaard has launched a war against the Northern Realms, so Geralt’s journey takes place across occupied and contested territory.
The first two games add context, but they are not required reading. The Witcher 3 explains the relationships and immediate goals you need in order to follow its central story.
Spoilers for the first two games
The sections below deliberately reveal important events from the earlier games. If you intend to play them unspoiled, skip to the spoiler-free sections later in this article. Nothing below explains the major revelations, decision outcomes or endings of The Witcher 3.
What happened in The Witcher?
Geralt returns without his memories
At the start of the first game, Geralt reappears near Kaer Morhen, the witchers’ mountain keep. He is alive, but he cannot remember the years before his arrival. The amnesia is not a small character detail: it makes Geralt a stranger to parts of his own history and lets the player learn the world alongside him.
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The witchers are soon attacked by Salamandra, a criminal organization that steals secrets connected to witcher mutations. Geralt leaves Kaer Morhen to pursue the group and recover what was taken. His investigation moves through Temeria, where local disputes, factional rivalries and royal politics repeatedly interfere with the monster-hunting work that should be his main occupation.
Salamandra and the Order of the Flaming Rose
Geralt eventually defeats Salamandra and discovers that the Grand Master of the Order of the Flaming Rose has a larger plan involving mutant forces. The conflict expands from a raid on the witchers’ home into a crisis involving the kingdom’s power structure and the future of its people.
Near the end of the game, Geralt protects King Foltest from an assassin. That act places him directly inside the king’s political orbit: Foltest makes him a personal guard, and Geralt enters the second game already entangled in royal succession, military power and court intrigue.
What happened in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings?
Foltest is murdered
The Witcher 2 opens during the siege of La Valette Castle. Geralt is serving Foltest when the king is assassinated. Geralt is found beside the body and is treated as the obvious suspect. Vernon Roche, a soldier and intelligence operative, helps him escape so he can investigate the murder and find the real Kingslayer.
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The Kingslayers and the collapse of the North
Geralt follows the trail of the Kingslayers through conflicts that can develop along different political and military paths. Vernon Roche and the elven commander Iorveth represent opposing sides of those struggles, and the route you take changes which people and events you encounter.
The Kingslayers’ work is connected to a broader attempt to weaken the North. As the kingdoms lose their rulers and military stability, Nilfgaard begins its war against the Northern Realms. This is the political condition that The Witcher 3 inherits: the continent is not at peace when Geralt starts looking for Yennefer and Ciri.
Geralt remembers Yennefer and Ciri
During the second game, Geralt’s memories gradually return. They reveal that his past is tied to two people who become central to the third game.
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Yennefer is Geralt’s great love. Before his amnesia, their relationship was already deep and complicated. Geralt had lost her to the Wild Hunt, a spectral group of riders capable of crossing between worlds. To free Yennefer, he gave himself to the Hunt. The sacrifice explains why his recovered memories are so important: Geralt is not beginning a new romance with a stranger; he is remembering the person for whom he once surrendered his own freedom.
Ciri is Geralt’s adopted daughter and a child of extraordinary destiny. During the violence surrounding the fall of Rivia, Ciri helped rescue Geralt and Yennefer. Her connection to Geralt is therefore emotional, familial and bound up with the obligations created by their earlier adventures.
By the end of The Witcher 2, Geralt understands that Yennefer was taken by the Hunt and that his life is connected to Ciri’s fate. The memories transform his next journey from a vague search for the past into a personal mission.
Why is Geralt looking for Ciri?
Geralt initially sets out to find Yennefer. Once the trail leads back to the Wild Hunt and Ciri, the priority changes. The Hunt is pursuing Ciri for her power, and Geralt knows that allowing them to take her could place her—and the wider world—in extreme danger.
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This is the central premise of The Witcher 3: a father figure searching for his adopted daughter while a supernatural enemy closes in. Yennefer remains essential to the story, but the immediate objective is to locate Ciri before the Hunt does.
Ciri is not simply a missing person who needs rescuing. Her lineage, abilities and role in prophecy make her valuable to powerful people and frightening to others. That is why the search attracts sorcerers, monarchs, soldiers, criminals and supernatural forces. Geralt’s choices about whom to trust can affect the people around him and the political world through which he travels.
Who are the important characters?
| Character or group | What you need to know before starting |
|---|---|
| Geralt of Rivia | A professional monster hunter and the protagonist. He has recovered the memories lost before the first game and is searching for Yennefer and Ciri. |
| Ciri | Geralt’s adopted daughter and a Child of Prophecy. The Wild Hunt wants the power she possesses. |
| Yennefer | Geralt’s long-lost love. Geralt once surrendered himself to the Wild Hunt so that she could go free. |
| The Wild Hunt | Spectral riders who previously took Yennefer and now pursue Ciri. |
| Triss Merigold | A sorceress and Geralt’s ally who helps him during the first game’s events. |
| Nilfgaard | An empire whose war against the Northern Realms shapes the setting Geralt crosses. |
| Dandelion and Zoltan | Longtime friends and companions from Geralt’s earlier adventures. |
| Vernon Roche and Iorveth | Important figures in the branching military and political conflicts of The Witcher 2. |
Why is the war important?
Nilfgaard’s invasion is more than scenery behind the personal story. Armies have ravaged the land, governments are unstable and ordinary people are exposed to soldiers, requisitions, displacement and violence. Roads are dangerous for two reasons: monsters still hunt travelers, and human armies have made travel and trade unpredictable.
The war also explains why Geralt encounters people with competing loyalties. A village elder, a refugee, a monarch and a soldier can all describe the same conflict differently. The game expects you to make judgments without presenting one faction as a simple answer to every problem.
Geralt is not a conventional soldier. He takes contracts, investigates supernatural threats and tries to survive political pressure without becoming a ruler’s permanent weapon. Nevertheless, his search for Ciri repeatedly intersects with military campaigns and national ambitions. Protecting one person can therefore have consequences for communities and governments.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Do you need to play the first two games?
If you want to start with The Witcher 3
No. The third game is designed to function as an entry point. You can understand its immediate story if you know only that Geralt has regained his memories, Yennefer is someone he loves, Ciri is his adopted daughter, the Wild Hunt is pursuing her and Nilfgaard is invading the North.
What earlier games add
Playing the earlier titles gives extra weight to reunions, political references and recurring friendships. You also see why Geralt’s amnesia was disruptive, how he became connected to Foltest’s court and why Roche, Iorveth, Triss, Dandelion and Zoltan already matter to him.
You do not need to reconstruct every branch of the earlier games. Their choices produced different local circumstances, but The Witcher 3 supplies enough context for its own narrative. If you are starting now, a recap like this is sufficient preparation; playing the first two games is an option for additional history, not a prerequisite.
How choices work in The Witcher 3 without spoiling it
CD PROJEKT RED describes the game’s decisions as having “ramifications for not just you but your allies, enemies, and the entire world.” Treat that as a practical rule while playing: choices are not merely dialogue decoration, and the game does not always tell you which option is morally correct.
- Some decisions change a relationship or determine who is available later.
- Some alter the condition of a region or the people living there.
- Some consequences appear much later, after you have forgotten the original conversation.
- Different outcomes can be defensible, so a first playthrough does not require finding a single officially correct route.
Avoid guides that promise to reveal the “best” path unless you actively want spoilers. The emotional force of the story comes from making decisions with incomplete information and living with their results.
What edition includes the expansions?
The current official game page uses the name Remastered for the updated presentation and says it includes the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions. It also states that base-game owners can access those expansions at no extra cost and that qualifying owners can upgrade to Remastered for free. Platform eligibility and store listings can change, so check the edition details for your platform before buying.
The expansions are not required to understand the base game’s opening premise. Start with the main adventure if you want the intended introduction to Geralt’s search. You can enter the expansions later, when you are ready for substantial additional stories.
Is the announced 2027 expansion required?
No. As of October 13, 2026, CD PROJEKT RED has announced a third expansion, Songs of the Past, planned for 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The press-center description places it in Letten and makes Dandelion central to the new story.
That project is a future addition, not a missing chapter you need before starting The Witcher 3. The base game’s story and the two established expansions remain separate from that announcement.
A spoiler-safe checklist before you press Start
- Remember that Geralt begins the third game with his memories restored.
- Know that Yennefer is the person Geralt once sacrificed himself to save from the Wild Hunt.
- Understand that Ciri is Geralt’s adopted daughter and the Hunt’s target.
- Expect Nilfgaard’s war with the Northern Realms to shape travel, politics and personal quests.
- Do not assume every earlier-game branch must be known or reproduced.
- Make decisions based on the information Geralt has at the time; spoilers can remove much of the intended tension.
With those facts in place, you have the essential bridge from the first two games: a recovered past, a threatened family and a continent at war. The rest of The Witcher 3 is yours to discover.
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