Finally! As anyone with facial hair will tell you, it grows. Except in video games, where beards seem suspended in time. Not anymore.
In Witcher 3, the beard of series protagonist Geralt grows in real time. According to Eurogamer, the game’s developer, CD Projekt, said that the beard grows “as time passes” and when the character changes locations in-game. This was first pointed out by NeoGAF user His Majesty and German game magazine Gamestar.
“The beard has several ‘states’ and these states determine its length — the longest is really long but it’s not Gandalf-long,” CD Projekt’s Michał Platkow-Gilewski told Eurogamer.
However, if you download the game’s free Beard and Hairstyle DLC, Geralt’s facial hair will stop growing and remain unchanged throughout the game.
This is the first I’ve ever heard of a character’s facial hair growing real-time in a game. In other games, your character’s beard grows at certain points in the story, like in Assassin’s Creed, or you pre-set the facial hair, or, like in the Fable games, you buy beards and moustaches. I’m all for this in-game beard growing! Shaving mini-games too. Make it happen, CD Projekt! Do it.
The Witcher 3 will be out on May 19 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Comments
18 responses to “Beard Growth Comes To Video Games”
That sounds really cool, I remember a game that your physical stat reflected in your look….was it fable? cant recall but this is defiantly the next step.
I Believe fable changed depending on your “moral status” (evil or good)
games like GTA: San Andrews changed the way you look in relation to your stats as well
Fable did change your physical look as you level attributes.
Strength made your character more muscular. Skill made you taller (possibly leaner, but maybe that was just proportion changes). Will made your hair grey & added blue tattoo like runes.
The scar system was pretty cool too.
I had a cool Balvarine claw scar across my face on one of the my characters.
I hope they mean if you choose one of those beards, not just download the DLC. I’d hate to have Geralt’s beard stop growing just because I downloaded free stuff.
I also assumed thats what they meant.
This excites me far more than it should, in ways that make me feel dirty. Good dirty. Not the weird dirty.
Sounds sexy and exciting.
Finally! Someone was taking my vigorous letter writing campaign seriously.
From memory, don’t all the Arkham games feature at least stubble growth? I recall Batman going from clean shaven to spiky over the course of the night.
It’s ridiculous, mostly in a good way, what game developers have the time and technology to do these days.
They do. It was actually one of the things that instantly caught my eye when I played Arkham Asylum… It’s basically just at set points during the story where it changes though I believe. For such a seemingly small detail though it really does add to the overall progression of the character as his night goes on.
Though the Witcher’s system doesn’t seem much different at all really as it doesn’t seem like it is real-time at all. It sounds like you have to hit a loading screen or some sort of ‘check’ where it’ll just automatically update to the next state, so there wont be hours of Youtube videos focused solely on watching Geralt’s beard grow.
Yes, but is personal grooming part of the game too?
Brian Ashcraft needs to lookup the meaning of ‘real time’.
You started to grow a beard in Deadly Premonition if you didn’t regularly shave. You’d also have flies buzzing around you if you didn’t regularly change your clothes.
This guy gets it!
Shaving minigame!!! I want starburns!!!
Even Kojmia decided eventually that beard growth in video games was a bit too silly. http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg221/Derfonsic/beardscience-1.jpg
Mine doesn’t grow… my five o’clock shadow has taken 120 days to get where it is, and it’s still barely noticeable.