"The Witcher 3" release date is pushed back as far as February. Insiders confirm development is complete, but will take time polishing the game's rough edges before release.

"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" is reportedly being tightened up, removing bugs, tweaked to ensure smooth gameplay. CD Projekt Red's Miles Tost set the tentative release to February next year.

The good news is that the bulk of the development is complete, and developers are in the process of putting the finishing touches into the game. "The additional time that we have is really something that we use for polishing and not for creating new content because that is mostly done."

The Quest mode is a concern for the developers, in consideration of gamers who read the books the game is based on. Tost assures the quests are integrated into the main story, and most of those involved in development read the books for reference (theepochtimes.com)

One thing that's left out of the game is the persistence of fetch quests, side missions which are basically chores or errands. The challenge lies in ensuring gameplay is enjoyable in the absence of a feature that's a staple of most RPGs.

Jakub Szamalek resolves the problem in an earlier interview with PC Gamer. The few fetch quests that make it to the game are completely tied into the narrative. "Even when you have a simple structure it's something we're compensating for in the story."

It's yet to be confirmed if "The Witcher 3" release date is the conclusion of the franchise. The developers promise an expansive world that rivals "Skyrim," with an estimated 100 hours of content, and 50 hours of interactive gameplay (pcgamer.com).

If playable sneak peeks of the game are considered, the scale of the open world is equally rivaled by its graphical detail. The Witcher aims to offer players freedom to roam without straying too far from the storyline.