Truly Next Gen? – Geralt’s Beard Grows as you Play
If you had no interest in buying The Witcher 3, that may just be about to change. Geralt’s beard actually grows as you play.
Forget those shiny graphics and epic battles ‘tween beast and man – The Witcher 3 is a title that introduces actual growing facial hair. And you can’t ask for anything more next-gen than that.
Speaking with Eurogamer, CD Projekt’s communications chief Michał Platkow-Gilewski illuminated the feature:
The beard grows as time passes and when Geralt moves between locations. The beard has several “states” and these states determine its length – the longest is really long but it’s not Gandalf-long.
When you download the free Beard and Hairstyle DLC the growth of the beard will stop because we decided that when players want a predefined look, it would be weird to require from them to reapply it time after time.
It’s a subtle, interesting feature that will no doubt go mostly unnoticed by players. But it’s that sort of realism that makes a world more realistic, and no doubt the hours and weeks it took to successfully implement this feature will pay off.
If you found yourself checking the date in the corner of your screen, we can assure you that it’s still nearly a week until April Fools day.
Article By Mat Growcott
Mat Growcott has been a long-time member of the gaming press. He's written two books and a web series, and doesn't have nearly enough time to play the games he writes about.
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