CD Projekt has released the patch notes for the coming 1.20 update to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which makes a number of improvements and fixes to the game, including one that will be a big boon for Gwent card collectors: A new book called A Miraculous Guide to Gwent, which displays the number of cards missing form your base-game deck, and information on where to get them. New players can get the book from the Gwent scholar in the prologue, while those of you already deep into the action can pick it up from the merchant near St. Gregory's Bridge in the Gildorf district of Novigrad.

Other big changes include the addition of optional enemy upscaling, which will make low-level enemies more challenging (but won't affect experience points, loot, or quest rewards), and an increase in the incidence of certain monster-based ingredients required for high-level alchemy. The inventory and journal have been improved to make them easier to use, automatic drawing and sheathing of swords can be disabled, and this is a big one there will be a fix for a bug "whereby Geralt's clothing was not properly restored after sex scenes.

Oh, Geralt.

There are quite a lot of other fixes and tweaks, most of them for the base game but some specific to the Hearts of Stone expansion. A rollout date wasn't announced, but CD Projekt Community Lead Marcin Momot said on Twitter that it will be out after this weekend, but shortly before the Blood and Wine expansion goes live on May 31, and Tom Senior's review says that it's very good indeed. Full patch notes can be found here, and the relevant discussion of the update on the CD Projekt forums is here.

I had to double check the date, but yes, here we have the launch trailer for The Witcher 3's massive Blood and Wine expansion. That is, the launch trailer for an expansion that's still a week away. Does that make sense? No. Is the trailer packed with unmentionably horrible monsters? You're darn right it is.

CD Projekt Red has broken out the bestiary for Geralt's trip to Toussaint. I spied the nightmarish giant centipedes of the Witcher 1, a smattering of barghests (the beast!), and something that resembles a Dark Souls boss. Proper witcher's work.

Interesting choice of soundtrack, but I suppose it's hard to conjure primal rage on the lute.

Blood and Wine releases May 31, and Tom has a preview to whet your blade.

It's hard to accept that The Witcher 3 is the final instalment in CD Projekt's RPG trilogy: it's a hugely successful series, and usually when a series is hugely successful a studio (and especially its publisher) wants to capitalize on it. Don't hold your breath though, because even though the series may have a future, it won't come to fruition for a very long time.

Speaking to Eurogamer, studio co-founder Marcin Iwinski was not ambiguous about the game's forthcoming Blood & Wine expansion being the end of the line. "As we said before, never say never [but] right now it's really Blood and Wine. This is the end," he said.

"Blood and Wine is [the] closing and there won't be any Witcher any time soon - if there ever will be one. And I would really like to see how people feel about it, if they will enjoy it."

Look, I love The Witcher, but I'm pretty happy for CD Projekt to move on. The Witcher 3 is about as good as a modern, big budget, open world fantasy RPG gets, and now I want the studio to tackle an incredibly ambitious science fiction version of their brilliant formula. Oh, and would you look at that, Cyberpunk 2077 exists. It'll likely take a long time, though.

"Blood and Wine has an impressive stat sheet: 90 new quests, 20 new monsters, 100 pieces of armour, an upgradeable vineyard [and] new mutations," Tom Senior wrote in his preview of the expansion, which releases May 31.

It's easy to get the impression through most of the new Witcher 3: Blood and Wine trailer that CD Projekt is showing off. Or maybe it's more of a victory lap; a trip to Disneyland after spending the better part of a decade wallowing in the worst excesses of low fantasy. Either way, it sure is pretty. Until it isn't.

My favorite part of the video has to be the moment when Geralt strides toward the hulking, windmill-smashing monster with a tired, slightly bored, and entirely unimpressed look on his face. But the real problem in Toussaint is something entirely different and more sinister, and definitely not to be taken so lightly.

But it is a lovely land, isn't it? I'm really looking forward to seeing what CDPR does with it. The previous Witcher releases have given us some stunning eye candy, but the seeming shift away from the day-to-day misery of the peasant class is a real change of pace. Monsters must die, sure, but who says you can't have fresh air, sunshine, and nice things, too?

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine comes out on May 31. Have a look at our hands-on preview here.

The best monster slaying series on PC is up to 85% off at GOG.com until June 1. And wouldn't you know it, The Witcher 3's second expansion, Blood and Wine, releases May 31 rather convenient for the thrifty witcher.

As you'd expect, the biggest discounts are on the back catalogue. The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings get the full 85% discount. So does The Witcher Adventure Game, the digital adaptation of The Witcher Board Game.

The Witcher 3 has a smaller but substantial 50% markdown. If you're binging, The Witcher 3 and its expansions together get 33% off. And finally, if you just want a good deal on either expansion, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine can be bought separately at 10% below RRP. I'll let you penny-pinchers in on a secret though Blood and Wine is actually 10p cheaper on Steam.

Own up, then: who cast Axii on CDPR?