The screenwriter of the first "The Witcher" criticized the game's ending years later.

Artur Ganszyniec, who worked as a screenwriter at CD Projekt Red from 2006 to 2010, recently criticized the ending of the original The Witcher, calling it a misguided decision that impacted the entire future of the series. His reflections came after replaying the iconic role-playing game many years later.

According to Ganszyniec, the writing team initially planned to make the ending open-ended, formatted as a slideshow, similar to the Fallout series. However, the studio's senior management, possibly founder Michał Kiciński himself, insisted on creating a full-fledged CG cutscene, which they felt was lacking in the project. The problem was that the animated sequence was created without the writers' input, and ultimately presented events that did not align with the original plan.

In the cutscene, a mysterious witcher attempts to assassinate King Foltest, which radically altered the narrative direction. Geralt remained in Vizima and became embroiled in political intrigue, while the creators envisioned a different ending. The assassination scene trapped the studio in a narrative trap: the sequel was forced to develop the theme of witchers as assassins, shifting the focus from Geralt's personal story to politics. As a result, emotional depth and exploration of the protagonist's past took a back seat, giving way to larger-scale, but less moving events. Ganshinets admitted that underestimating the importance of coordinating the key cutscene was a serious mistake, the consequences of which were felt for many years.