'The Witcher 3' Expansion 'Hearts of Stone' Out Today, Physical Copy Delayed In North America

After 16 batches of free downloadable content ranging from alternate costumes to New Game+, the world of the The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting another dose of gameplay, this time from CD Projekt RED's first paid expansion for the game, titled Hearts of Stone.

The new DLC contains 10 hours of gameplay with a few new additions, such as the Runeword and Glyphword mechanics (which provide certain special abilities in combat), the use of Signs, and Alchemy.  Along with new characters, it also features a standalone story, with Geralt traveling to No Man's Land and Oxenfurt while under contract from the mysterious Man of Glass.

You can grab a digital version of Hearts of Stone for $9.99, or if you were lucky, you can pay an additional $10 for a limited physical version that contains two physical Gwent decks, a real-world version of the popular card game in Geralt's world. If you bought the game's Expansion Pass, you're also eligible to place an order for the Gwent decks in a special website.

Unfortunately, those who bought the physical version of Hearts of Stone will have to wait a little longer. On October 12, the development team's community lead, Marcin Momot, wrote on the game's forums that North American customers won't get it for "several days" due to logistical problems with GameStop, the main retailer for the physical copy of the game.

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