The Witcher 3's New Game Plus mode detailed - ready for a replay?

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt will be getting a New Game Plus mode in the very near future, and now we know more about what it will include

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt is only massive - I've logged more than 200 hours and have yet to finish the main storyline, not to mention the hours of Gwent and treasure hunts I've yet to experience. But CD Project RED hasn't stopped there, adding 15 free DLC packs so far including new armour and weapons, players skins and even extra kill animations to an already bewilderingly big game.

But what of the people who have finished it and are considering actually moving onto another title? Well now we're getting New Game Plus.

This will be the 16th and final peice of free DLC and it's basically set to give you an option after you complete the game. You'll be able to start all over again, but things will be a bit different.

New Game Plus comes in many guises in other games, and CDPR didn't give many details at the time of the annoucements. So now the very hard-working Community Manager Marcin Momot has popped onto the official forums for the game to offer some insight, starting with the news that enemies willl in general be stronger:

"What carries over?

Player experience (if you're below level 30 when finishing the vanilla game, you will be bumped to level 30 for the start of NG+), items (excluding: quest items, books & letters, Gwent cards, usable items, trophies), money and alchemy recipes.

When starting New Game Plus you can select any difficulty level.

You can obtain the Death Match achievement when playing the NG+ mode.

What's the starting level of the character when beginning NG+?

The same that you had when finishing the game, if above 30, otherwise you start at level 30. You also get a free Clearing Potion at the start so you can reset your skills and try a different build."

That's a fair amount of information, but hardly anything particularly surprising - you'll keep your weapons and your level and fly back into the game in search of greater challenges. You'll still have to progress through the entire story (if you want to) and it seems like you won't just be able to traverse the world as you see fit. We're assuming Momot means 'Death March' above - which is an achivement for finishing the game at that high level.

More challenging enemies would make a big difference to Wild Hunt - by the time you reach the end game all but the most isolated monsters on the map are easy fodder for your swords. But it will be a tough balance to strike - making minor enemies too tough would make every single fight a grind.

The feedback so far to New Game Plus mode has been positive, though some forum folk are up in arms over the loss of Gwent cards, given how much effort it takes to get them first time around. It makes sense to remove the items, some of them are earned from signficant character interactions during your run, and we'll have to wait and see how CD Project RED deals with the criticims.

The New Game Plus DLC will be coming in the next few weeks. More as we get it.

-Daniel Anderson