CD Projekt Red told us about undiscovered 'secrets' in The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
So we thought we'd hunt them down.
All done with The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine are you? No you're not! You missed something - you all did. And no it isn't the secret Witcher 3 painting on the hill.
There are undiscovered 'secrets' in Blood and Wine, and I know that because CD Projekt Red told me what they are. The studio had seen no one mention them at all.
I was inadvertently set on the hunt when CDPR let slip, during a Polish Witcher 3 panel, that not everything in Blood and Wine had been found. But CDPR wouldn't say anything more so I investigated.
I spent ages looking for the secrets until finally, with an awful lot of help, I found them. Without further ado I present to you the first undiscovered 'secret' in Blood and Wine: the lost engagement ring.
Okay, fair play, it's rubbish. CD Projekt Red knows it. Indeed, it was CDPR that used the cringe finger quotes when talking about a 'secret' to begin with.
The missing ring 'secret' can't even be called a quest, really. No XP, no loot, no cinematic chit-chat - nothing for completing it; just a lady who claps at you and then goes off to dance weirdly with a butterfly.
'Secret' number two is more of an Easter egg. It's a unique-looking leopard that's a reference to, of all people and things, Mike Tyson and the tigers he used to keep. The leopard tamer also quotes William Blake's 'The Tyger' poem.
Here's how you find it. Your game needs to be in the state of having first encountered Detlaff, the old vampire who's a bit Edward Scissorhandsy. After your encounter travel to the middle of the palace gardens - the exact location is marked on the map below. This is where the leopard tamer and his rather large cat spawn.
I travelled immediately there after Detlaff and meditated until 9AM the next day and this successfully spawned man-and-cat two times in a row. You have no idea how happy I was to finally see them - I searched for so long.
I have absolutely no idea how you're supposed to know that the leopard is a reference to Mike Tyson's tiger beyond me telling you - and I only know because CDPR told me. I mean, it's a leopard, and the tamer doesn't look anything like Mike Tyson - although, well, Mike Tyson probably does has an outfit like that.
But why bother making a unique leopard skin and not just go all the way and create a tiger skin, and a black-skinned Tyson-alike to go with it? Perhaps it's safer to keep things ambiguous - after all, it's far from the only nod to famous people in a game stuffed with pop culture references.
The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition arrived recently on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It includes all the DLC and expansions released for the game, and is patched bang up to date - in other words, you don't have to wait for a year's worth of updates to download before you can play.