Developer CD Projekt Red will use artificial intelligence tools alongside voice actor Jacek Rozenek to recreate Geralt of Rivia's Polish voice in Songs of the Past, the expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt scheduled for 2027. This decision aims to maintain the character's audio consistency following health issues that affected the actor's vocal cords in 2019, with his full consent.
A health struggle and a historic performance
Jacek Rozenek has portrayed the monster slayer in Polish since the inception of the franchise, earning widespread acclaim from fans. In 2014, he recorded around 10,000 lines of dialogue for the main release of The Witcher 3, a game that went on to sell over 65 million copies worldwide. He continued the role in the expansions Hearts of Stone in 2015 and Blood and Wine in 2016, establishing himself as the definitive voice of the witcher for the Polish audience.
However, in 2019, Rozenek suffered a severe stroke that directly impacted his vocal cords and rendered him unable to speak for months. Following intensive rehabilitation with daily training sessions lasting six to seven hours, Rozenek recovered his speech and returned to the studio in 2021 to record new lines for the next-gen update released in 2022, an effort that left him deeply exhausted but determined to resume his professional career.
Technology dedicated to vocal consistency
Looking ahead to Songs of the Past, an expansion announced in May that will add new adventures to the original game, developers invited Rozenek to their studio to evaluate his current voice. Localization producer Mikołaj Szwed noted that while Rozenek had made a remarkable recovery, his voice sounded noticeably lower and gruffer than it did a decade ago. This change, while natural after such a medical event, posed a technical challenge for the game's narrative immersion.
Because the expansion requires new dialogue to be played alongside lines recorded in 2014—even in pre-existing areas of the game world—CD Projekt Red feared the sudden shift in tone would be jarring for players. With the actor's explicit blessing, the studio decided to partner with AI company Respeecher. This tool allows current recordings to be processed to match the vocal timbre the actor had ten years ago, preserving the essence of his original performance.
Using this technology, Rozenek's fresh performances will be paired with voice-matching models to align his tone with his 2014 work. The actor fully supports the initiative, describing it as a special case. The expansion will serve as a bridge before the release of the fourth main entry in the Witcher saga, planned for 2028. This decision highlights the Polish studio's commitment to maintaining the artistic quality of their works, always respecting the original actor and ensuring the final user experience is as seamless and consistent as possible.