The Polish developers don’t add darker, more serious themes to their games just for show — they do it to challenge themselves.

It’s no secret that Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 tackle heavy themes, but some standout moments truly deserve our attention. In an interview with GamesRadar about the Bloody Baron and Sinnerman quest lines, mission lead Philipp Weber said: these quests in The Witcher 3 tackle miscarriage and domestic violence, while Cyberpunk 2077 touches on crucifixion. Weber said that no one in the studio takes these themes lightly.

“We don’t do heavy things for the sake of edginess… We do heavy things if we have something meaningful to say, and then we dare to go there. The Bloody Baron, for us, really is the benchmark. Some people in the studio had problems with Sinnerman. I’d say that if you never have these discussions, you’re probably not making art, if there’s never a question of whether we should be braver and go deeper. Maybe there’s something that could make people feel uncomfortable. Are we ready for that? I think these are the kinds of discussions we still have today, and they’re important, because otherwise, you’ll never be able to create something like this,” said Weber.

It’s an interesting tightrope to walk. Every art form has its out-of-control fantasies and challenging texts. Games that avoid these rougher elements often end up with less compelling stories. Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s story suffered in part because it was heavily sanitized and felt more like The Avengers than anything else. Without those tough conversations, there’s no trick to deploy. And it’s hard to argue with the results, considering The Witcher 3’s massive impact on gaming culture…

Source : PCGamer, GamesRadar