After a series of free DLC content for "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," game developer CDProjektRed is releasing the game's first paid story DLC, "Hearts of Stone." However, community manager Marcin Momot stated that in order to access the DLC's content, the player needs to be level 30, whether or not they have finished the main campaign. 

"You can play it after/during the main story. The HoS quests will be level 30+ though," reads Momot's reply via Twitter to a fan asking if finishing the main campaign will be a requirement as "Hearts of Stone" is a story DLC instead of a regular item pack. 

Momot also confirmed via Twitter that the requirements will scale up for New Game Plus. 

This supports fan speculations that the story DLC may not be an epilogue to the game franchise, similar to "Trespasser" for "Dragon Age: Inquisition." Instead, it will, more or less, serve as an aditional side-story to the main game. While unconfirmed, this may also be the case for the next story DLC. 

"Hearts of Stone" is the first paid DLC for "The Witcher 3" after CDProjektRed released upwards of 16 free downloadable content packs. It will be followed by "Blood and Wine." Both expansion packs will be available for those who paid for the game's season pass although they can also be purchased separately. The two DLCs will offer over 20 hours of additional story and gameplay. 

"Hearts of Stone" will be released on Oct. 13 and, according to GamesRadar, will be offered in both physical and digital versions. The physical version will come in a special box set that includes a download code and two physical Gwent card decks — the Monsters and Scoia'tael sets. 

Digital consumers can also avail of the Gwent cards by visiting a special site and showing proof of purchase.