Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a spin-off from the popular video game series The Witcher. It offers an experience that combines the strategic play of card games with the narrative implementation of a role-playing game, inspired by the universe created by Andrzej Sapkowski. CD Projekt Red, the developer, released the title beginning with the PC version in October 2018 after which it expanded the support to various other platforms. Here we’ll take a deep dive into what Thronebreaker is and what it offers in terms of cheats, tips, and more.
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales Premise
The game features a single-player storyline, with the player stepping into the golden armor of Queen Meve. The Queen is the ruler of Lyria and Rivia, the latter which is familiar to most The Witcher fans as the protagonist Geralt’s homeland. The game is based on a depiction of the world before the events of The Witcher. Players start a campaign as the Queen that takes them across the lands under Nilfgaardian invasion, where each decision could impact the narrative and future gameplay. The world of Thronebreaker includes five distinct, new regions added to the lore, which are displayed in isometric graphics.
The game uses the rules of Gwent as the core of the combat gameplay. Gwent is a card game from The Witcher, released also as a standalone collectible card game. While the gameplay is similar to Gwent, there are quite a few differences that make it easier. As a single-player experience, players hold a deck of cards that represents the forces of Queen Meve and combat AI opponents. They will draw cards from the deck and try to beat their enemies on the battlefield during a best-of-three format. Each round lasts three turns, and the combined power of the units on the battlefield at the end of each round will determine the winner of that round.
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales Characters
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales follow the story of Queen Meve, the ruler of Lyria and Rivia who is taking action against the Nilgaardian Empire into her own hands. The cast of characters includes her inner circle with various personalities who join in on the quest, such as her trusty lieutenant Reynard Odo, the not-so-trustworthy advisor Count Caldwell, and her son Prince Villem. The game is a narrative experience combined with card game battles. This makes the non-player characters and the dialogue extremely important to the progression of the game. Choosing your path in dealing with these characters has a tangible effect on where the game takes you next.
Key Characters
- Queen Meve: The protagonist, ruler of Lyria and Rivia, known for her strong leadership and combat prowess. She takes on the quest to combat the Nilfgaardian forces while dealing with the political realities of allies and enemies.
- Reynard Odo: Meve’s loyal lieutenant who provides support throughout her campaign. He served under King Reginald, the husband of Queen Meve, before his passing.
- Count Caldwell: The chief advisor to Meve, whose loyalty is questionable. He appears in the game as both an ally and an enemy.
- Prince Villem: Villem is the oldest son of Queen Meve and King Reginald. Although a blood relative, he might not be all that loyal to the throne.
- Gascon: Initially a bandit leader opposing Meve, he later becomes an ally after being captured and released. As the leader of the Strays of Spalla, he is known as the Duke of Dogs.
- Duke Ardal aep Dahy: The commander of the Nilfgaardian forces and a primary antagonist. He was a powerful political actor during different Nilgaardian emperors.
- King Demavend III: The ruler of Aedirn, who is an ally to Meve in the campaign against Nilfgaard. Demavend III fought the Nilfgaardian Empire in both the First and the Second Northern Wars.
- Brouver Hoog: Brouver Hoog is the leader of the dwarven clan from Mahakam. Queen Meve travels to Mahakam to ask for the help of the clan against Nilfgaard.
- Black Rayla: A captain from Aedirn under King Demavend III, also known as Rayla of Lyria and later White Rayla. She is a full-blooded warrior and a veteran of battles against Nilfgaard.
- Isbel of Hagge: Isbel aep Muir Moss is a mage from Lower Alba under the Nilfgaardian Empire. She comes to Queen Meve’s help after being rescued from Aedirn.
- Gabor Zigrin: A Dwarf explorer from Clan Zigrin who becomes one of Meve’s companions with the visit to Mahakam. He’s a guide at the Mahakam Ale Festival.
- Barnabas Beckenbauer: Barnabas, known also as Bibi to his friends, is a gnome inventor and an explorer from Tir Tochair.
Games in the Series
The Witcher series is a fantasy series based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. The game series started with the introduction of The Witcher in 2007. While popular, it truly made it to the mainstream with the third title, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, released eight years later. The series has since been expanded with spin-offs and even two popular television shows and an animated film on Netflix.
Recently, the series has also spawned games involving the card game Gwent from The Witcher titles, including Thronebreaker. More The Witcher games like The Witcher 4 are currently in the making.
- The Witcher (2007)
- The Witcher: Crimson Trail (2007)
- The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011)
- The Witcher Adventure Game (2014)
- The Witcher Battle Arena (2015)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone (2015)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine (2016)
- Gwent: The Witcher Card Game (2018)
- Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (2018)
- The Witcher: Monster Slayer (2021)
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales Cheats
Cheats in the traditional sense are not found in Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. While we cannot give you the codes or cheats, we can list all the trophies and achievements for the PlayStation and Xbox respectively, so you can collect all of them on your preferred platform.
PlayStation Trophies
| Achievement | Description | Trophy Type |
| I’ll show them! | Finish the Thronebreaker tutorial. | Bronze |
| All Present and Accounted For | Win a non-Puzzle Battle without any of your units being killed. | Bronze |
| Dog Trainer | Train your first Gascon Unit. | Bronze |
| At ease, Private! | Train your first Raynard Unit. | Bronze |
| One Big Happy Family | Own at least one copy of each non-Reynard, non-Gascon unit. | Bronze |
| Hoarder | Obtain 10 trinkets. | Bronze |
| Plutocracy | Earn 10,000 or more gold. | Bronze |
| Pilgrim | Pray at 10 Shrines. | Bronze |
| Cartographer | Collect 15 Treasure Maps. | Bronze |
| I’ll probably need this later… | Gather 5,000 wood throughout the game. | Bronze |
| I want YOU for the Lyrian Army | Recruit 200 Soldiers. | Bronze |
| Revenge is best served cold… | Kill count Caldwell. | Bronze |
| A-ten-hut! | Unlock all of Raynard’s Buildings. | Bronze |
| Tax Collector | Find all golden chests. | Silver |
| Burn After Reading | Read all spymaster letters. | Silver |
| Arms Race | Obtain all weapons. | Silver |
| Those gears are turning… | Complete 20 Puzzles. | Silver |
| In Good Company | Play 5 or more characters in one battle. | Silver |
| I have the power! | End a round with a score of over 300. | Silver |
| Once more! Again! | Use Meve to trigger allies’ Loyal abilities 100 times. | Silver |
| Party’s over! | Kill 9 enemies simultaneously. | Silver |
| Out of the sizzlixer into the fire | Recruit Barnabas Beckenbauer into your army. | Silver |
| Do no harm | Recruit Isbel into your army. | Silver |
| For the Good Book states… | Recruit Eyck into your army. | Silver |
| Arf! Arf! Grrr… | Recruit the dog into your army. | Silver |
| Never give up, never surrender! | Complete the main story line for Lyria. | Silver |
| Among the Ashes | Complete the main story line for Aedirn. | Silver |
| We have the high ground! | Complete the main story line for Mahakam. | Silver |
| Witcher to the Rescue | Complete the main story line for Angren. | Silver |
| There’s no place like home… | Complete the main story line for Rivia. | Silver |
| Dogs of War | Unlock all of Gascon’s Buildings. | Silver |
| Gvaern Ichaer | Defeat Gernichora. | Silver |
| Distillation of Filth | Kill the Manticore. | Silver |
| Perfectly harmless… | Defeat Kelltulis the dragon. | Silver |
| Lord of the Moulderwood | Defeat Eldain. | Silver |
| Army Camp Tycoon | Fully upgrade your army camp. | Gold |
| Living Legend | Get all trophies. | Platinum |
Xbox Achievements
| Achievement | Description | Gamer Points |
| I’ll show them! | Finish the Thronebreaker tutorial. | 15 |
| All Present and Accounted For | Win a non-Puzzle Battle without any of your units being killed. | 15 |
| In Good Company | Play 5 or more characters in one battle. | 15 |
| One Big Happy Family | Own at least one copy of each non-Reynard, non-Gascon unit. | 15 |
| I have the power! | End a round with a score of over 300. | 15 |
| Hoarder | Obtain 10 trinkets. | 15 |
| Through the Fourth Wall | Find an Easter Egg. | 15 |
| Plutocracy | Earn 10,000 or more gold. | 15 |
| Was that supposed to hurt? | Win a non-Puzzle Battle with less than 10 damage taken in total. | 15 |
| Pilgrim | Pray at 10 Shrines. | 15 |
| Cartographer | Collect 15 Treasure Maps. | 15 |
| I want YOU for the Lyrian Army | Recruit 200 Soldiers. | 15 |
| I’ll probably need this later… | Gather 5,000 wood throughout the game. | 15 |
| Never give up, never surrender! | Complete the main story line for Lyria. | 15 |
| Among the Ashes | Complete the main story line for Aedirn. | 15 |
| We have the high ground! | Complete the main story line for Mahakam. | 15 |
| Revenge is best served cold… | Kill Count Caldwell. | 15 |
| Witcher to the Rescue | Complete the main story line for Angren. | 15 |
| There’s no place like home… | Complete the main story line for Rivia. | 15 |
| Dog Trainer | Train your first Gascon Unit. | 15 |
| At ease, Private! | Train your first Raynard Unit. | 15 |
| Dogs of War | Unlock all of Gascon’s Buildings. | 15 |
| A-ten-hut! | Unlock all of Raynard’s Buildings. | 15 |
| Gvaern Ichaer | Defeat Gernichora. | 15 |
| Tax Collector | Find all golden chests. | 30 |
| Burn After Reading | Read all spymaster letters. | 30 |
| Arms Race | Obtain all weapons. | 30 |
| Those gears are turning… | Complete 20 Puzzles. | 30 |
| Once more! Again! | Use Meve to trigger allies’ Loyal abilities 100 times. | 30 |
| Party’s over! | Kill 9 enemies simultaneously. | 30 |
| Out of the sizzlixer into the fire | Recruit Barnabas Beckenbauer into your army. | 30 |
| Do no harm | Recruit Isbel into your army. | 30 |
| For the Good Book states… | Recruit Eyck into your army. | 30 |
| Arf! Arf! Grrr… | Recruit the dog into your army. | 30 |
| Distillation of Filth | Kill the Manticore. | 30 |
| Perfectly harmless… | Defeat Kelltulis the dragon. | 30 |
| Lord of the Moulderwood | Defeat Eldain. | 30 |
| Army Camp Tycoon | Fully upgrade your army camp. | 50 |
| Return of the Queen | Finish the Thronebreaker campaign. | 100 |
| Living Legend | Unlock all achievements. | 100 |
Thornebreaker: The Witcher Tales Cheats FAQ
Do you need to know the ins and outs of Gwent to play Thronebreaker?
No, the game is designed to accommodate new players and the Gwent-related gameplay in Thronebreaker is a little simpler than the actual Gwent found in games like Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.
Was Thronebreaker made by the same people as The Witcher 3?
Yes, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is made by the same developer, CD Projekt Red, as the other Witcher series games.
How does Thronebreaker relate to The Witcher 3?
Thronebreaker provides a storyline that complements the universe people know and love from The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. The game takes place before the events of The Witcher 3, during a conflict known as the Second Northern War.