Inspiration can come from anywhere, even a dating app, it turns out. Reigns: The Witcher, is a new experience in the beloved fantasy – a canonical experience worked on by CD Projekt Red, no less – one that drops Geralt in the middle of a choose-your-own-adventure tale structured like Tinder.
While rumors may be percolating of a final Witcher 3 expansion arriving imminently, the wait for a full-fledged sequel is nonetheless as agonizing as ever. It’s been 11 long years since we dealt with the Bloody Baron and made haste to Skellige, and there’s no quite telling when we might see The Witcher 4 on store shelves.
To tide over the community, a new type of game in the franchise is on the way. A type of experience not even the most seasoned telempaths could have plucked from our minds. A Witcher game inspired by Tinder. Yes, you read that right.
The White Wolf is back in ways you’ve never quite seen him before, as everyone’s favorite Dandelion spins tales of his often-triumphant, occasionally flat-out embarrassing adventures.
What is Reigns: The Witcher?
Some may be familiar with the name ‘Reigns.’ What began in 2016 as a medieval adventure has blossomed into its own franchise, resulting in a number of follow-ups, including a Game of Thrones spinoff.
In 2026, it’s Geralt’s turn to play his cards… but we’re not talking Gwent. Here, each card presents a choice. You’re able to swipe left or right to determine the outcome of a given card, twisting and moulding a choose-your-own-adventure tale to your will.
Will you opt to help a wounded villager or simply brush them off? Do you wish to spare your afternoon to hunt down a monster at the behest of a budding collector or politely decline? Each card presents a new scenario, and it’s up to you how they play out.
Of course, it’s a bit more intricate than just swiping left and right. There are stats to keep in balance, combat can shake things up, and you’re constantly seeking to entertain. See, you’re not exactly playing as Geralt here.
Dandelion is seeking immortality. It’s his ambition to sing a song so fantastical his name is remembered through the ages. The song just so happens to revolve around the most iconic Witcher of them all and his grand adventures. Each card represents a part of the song, and it’s our job as the player to keep it as crowd-pleasing as possible.
Ironically, it’s this unique meta-narrative twist that makes Reigns: The Witcher a canonical story in the overarching fantasy.
How is it canon in The Witcher universe?
Co-developers of Reigns: The Witcher, François Alliot and Oscar Harrington-Shaw, were “surprised” when CD Projekt Red first agreed to the idea during talks at GDC. “It’s something they don’t do,” Alliot said. But from the jump, the mainline Witcher devs were onboard and fully ingrained in the development process.
The Reigns devs had access to CD Projekt’s Loremaster, numerous writers, their marketing department, among others, to help bring the vision to life.
“They were really generous with their time,” Harrington-Shaw chimed in. “We had a lot of back and forth with them; it was a lot of fun.”
Together, after early concepts didn’t meet the mark – like focusing on “lesser-known schools” and even one that had mastered the Trial of the Grasses to allow for reincarnation (and a “horde of Zombie Geralts) – the crew settled on Dandelion as the focal point of the experience.
Through Dandelion, the bard weaves a different story one song at a time, and that’s how it becomes canon. See, Geralt isn’t actually off doing all of these things we manage in the game. It’s merely Dandelion’s imagination running wild, singing songs of a legendary swordsman, a charming lover, or at times, an outright jerk.
Naturally, “Dandelion gets drunk and embellishes,” as writer Harrington-Shaw explained with a laugh. So while it is canon in the sense Dandelion strove for immortality through songs involving Geralt, the events of the songs themselves are, well, dubious at best.
Dandelion loves a bit of fun
Somewhere on the web, a “massive spreadsheet” exists, listing every possible event in this Reigns experience. It’s a spreadsheet CD Projekt Red had direct oversight of, monitoring, and providing feedback on at a constant clip throughout development.
Amusingly, only a few ideas were a little “too ridiculous” along the way.
“We were really inspired by the books,” Harrington-Shaw told us. “Andrzej Sapkowski is inspired by lots of different folklore, including classical mythology. So we have a character inspired by Oedipus, where you can slice off their hand and then the hand comes back as a hand monster.”
In another encounter, you can fight or befriend a Rock Troll. If you encourage them to pursue their dreams, you might just see them reappearing in other songs, maybe even wearing a chef’s hat.
The game even features five distinct endings. A few are described as “true endings,” the versions where Dandelion’s goal materializes, and a song of his indeed stands the test of time. In some of the others, the writer joked “There are other ways to achieve immortality.”
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