Blogger Tests Realism of The Witcher 3 River — CD Projekt Red Delivers Rockstar‑Level Detail

Initially the blogger assumed the developers had simply simplified the system and opted not to simulate flowing water. However, he discovered a separate mountain river system in which water does flow, suggesting the Pontar’s stillness isn’t due to technical limits.

While scouring the riverbanks Any Austin noticed signs of flooding — stagnant pools at the edges, eroded soil, and a stretch of land that appears notably raised above the norm.

The mystery began to resolve when it became clear: the map shown in The Witcher 3 represents only a fragment of a larger world. In reality the Pontar extends far to the right and originates in mountains on the eastern edge of the world; players only see a small portion of the river.

River mouths can take many forms depending on environmental conditions, including marshes and estuaries (an outlet that widens toward the sea).

It’s possible the original channel ran through Oxenfurt toward the ocean near Novigrad, but later the Pontar overflowed and created new channels across the lowlands; a shift in sea level could have flooded the area and stalled the river’s current.

Several details support this interpretation:

• an oddly shaped, scalloped shoreline (notably along the southwestern coast);
• visible traces of flooding;
• evidence of saltwater intrusion from the ocean — in the Crooked Marshes you can see both dead and surviving trees. The blogger suggests the developers selectively replaced some tree models with ‘dead’ variants when designing the location.

For his investigation Any Austin also played The Witcher 2 with cheats. That game also features the Pontar, and its swamp felt more vibrant than in the third installment — a difference he attributes to salinity. Hydrologically, the second game aligns with The Witcher 3.

Using the gathered clues, the blogger traced the Pontar’s course: it runs from the eastern mountains over a waterfall, then past a fishing village and a large lake through a normal channel —> widens with tributaries from the hills —> spills across the plain forming a marsh —> narrows into a channel by La Valette castle —> and finally drops into the ocean.