Buy the Witcher 3 "expansion pass," get the previous games free

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I would guess that a significant number of Witcher 3 owners came to the game by way of The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. But there are bound to be quite a lot of newcomers too, and it's reasonable to assume that a goodly number of them will say to themselves, "I quite enjoy this Witchering business, and would like to know more about previous adventures I may have missed." And for those folks, GOG has a deal.

The retailer announced today that Witcher 3 owners who purchase the "expansion pass" before 11:59 pm PT on June 8 will be given free copies of The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings on GOG. The pass includes two new "epic adventures," totaling an estimated 30 hours of play on top of the original game: Hearts of Stone, in which Geralt pursues a contract on behalf of the mysterious Man of Glass, and Blood and Wine, which leads him into the previously-unseen region of Toussaint, a land untainted by war but, inevitably, filled with dangers nonetheless.

Both expansions are expected "in the coming months," which, based on their original announcement, means October for Hearts of Stone, and early 2016 for Blood and Wine. The free games will be provided in the form of GOG codes, which can be redeemed or shared with a non-Witcher-owning friend until August 31.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.