The Witcher 3's Polish Geralt Gets AI Voice Help After Actor's Stroke

A new expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, arriving over a decade after the base game, is using AI to solve a unique problem. According to reports from IGN and PC Gamer, Polish voice actor Jacek Rozenek, who plays Geralt, suffered a stroke in 2019 that permanently altered his voice.

Rozenek's voice is now lower and gruffer than it was during the original 2014 recordings. Since the new expansion, Songs of the Past, is set within the same timeline as the old game, CD Projekt Red wanted the performance to match. With the actor's consent, the studio used an AI voice tool from a company called Respeecher to modify his new recordings.

Per PC Gamer, a Respeecher artist said the process took dozens of hours to train models on Rozenek's old lines and to capture the emotional range of the performance. Rozenek told Game File he has "great trust" in the developers and feels good about the acting result.

The studio emphasized this was an exception. A CD Projekt Red producer told Game File the company would not use such AI tools on a performer's voice without their direct permission, calling this situation unique due to the actor's health. The tool is not planned for use in future Witcher projects where an older Geralt's deeper voice would fit the story.

This isn't CD Projekt Red's first use of Respeecher. The company previously used it with family permission to recreate the voice of a deceased actor for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3.