The Witcher 3: Songs Of The Past Uses AI To Help Geralt’s Polish Voice Actor

Published Nov 12, 2026, 6:38 AM EST Josh Coulson is an editor at TheGamer covering breaking news on everything from colorful platformers to the latest Lego sets. Primarily a news writer since 2018, Josh has covered just about every major game from the past decade. Now an editor, their focus has shifted to being the leading affiliate expert at the site, building relationships between TheGamer and global brands including Mattel, Funko, and The Pokemon Company. When gamers hear that AI has been used during a game’s development, many of them will immediately see red and vow to never play that game ever again. There are ways AI can be used for good in gaming, though, as CD Projekt has demonstrated by using AI tools to ensure Geralt’s Polish voice actor, Jacek Rozenek, can return for The Witcher 3’s Songs of the Past DLC. The Witcher 3 will get a big new expansion in 2027 titled Songs of the Past, 12 years on from the base game’s original release. For the various Geralt actors around the world who speak for the Witcher in different languages, that meant returning to the recording booth to record more lines. Getting Geralt's Polish Actor Back For Witcher 3 DLC As Stephen Totilo explains for Game File, it wasn’t that simple for Rozenek, the iconic actor behind the Polish version of Geralt, who many place on the same pedestal as the lead’s English actor, Doug Cockle. Rozenek suffered a stroke in 2019. Even though he was unable to speak for months afterwards, he returned to the world of The Witcher in 2021 to record more Geralt lines. Just a few for the next-gen update that released in 2022. “I was so exhausted after this recording,” Rozenek told Totilo. However, it wasn’t just the effort needed to record new dialogue for Geralt after recovering from a stroke that posed a problem. The stroke, and subsequent recovery, means Rozenek sounds different now. Not ideal when Geralt, in all languages, needs to still sound the same as he did in the base game. CD Projekt invited Rozenek to the studio to record some lines so developers could assess how much his voice had changed. They discovered that, although Rozenek’s voice had indeed recovered after the stroke, it was lower and gruffer than it was when he originally read for Geralt over a decade ago. Using AI To Tweak Geralt's Voice That’s when CDPR floated the idea of using Respeecher, a Ukrainian company that specializes in using machine learning to alter voices in video games. The studio had turned to Respeecher for help before. It wanted to bring back Viktor Vektor for Cyberpunk 2077’s expansion, but his Polish voice actor, Milogost Reczek, had passed away. With his son’s blessing, CDPR recruited Respeecher to help recreate his voice for the expansion. The process was significantly different for Rozenek. Thankfully, Rozenek is still with us, and he recorded all of the Polish dialogue for Geralt in Songs of the Past. Respeecher has then taken those recordings and was tasked with making it sound like Rozenek’s original Geralt voice so it wouldn’t sound different and be potentially jarring for those playing in Polish when the DLC drops next year. The process took dozens of hours, with Respeecher developers noting that really nailing Rozenek’s emotional tone in the tweaked recordings was the biggest challenge. If Geralt's Happy, We're Happy Screenshot taken by James Lucas. The most important part of all this, of course, is that Rozenek is on board, and it sounds like he most certainly is. “The point is that this voice should be as close as possible to my voice from 12 years ago,” the actor explained to Totilo. “When it comes to the dynamics of the voice, when it comes to the acting aspects, I feel very good, really very good,” he added, quite rightly pointing out that his voice is only part of what he brings to the table. It’s his acting ability, the life he brings to Geralt, his inflections, his emotions. It’s a whole package, and it’s why CDPR felt it needed Rozenek before it could really move forward with Songs of the Past. It’s a heartwarming story about AI use in video games where there are proverbial fires caused by that very topic everywhere you look. Whether it be the admission by House House that AI was used sparingly during Big Walk’s development, or untalented people using Claude to rip off other people’s games. It’s refreshing to see that there are ways AI can be used positively to aid game development. Released May 19, 2015 ESRB M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content Developer(s) CD Projekt Red Publisher(s) CD Projekt Red Engine REDengine 3 Cross-Platform Play yes Cross Save yes Genre(s) RPG, Action, Adventure