In its latest investors report, CD Projekt Red has reiterated that the recently announced remake of The Witcher will be an open world game. It's also being described as a "modern reimagining" of the 2007 title, which comes as no real surprise when you consider how janky Geralt's inaugural adventure is by today's standards.
The original The Witcher does feature some fairly open environments, but it's certainly not what you'd call 'open world'. Given the success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — CDPR's first open world game — this move makes sense, although it's worth repeating that the remake isn't being handled by CDPR. It's been passed off to fellow Polish studio Fool's Theory, which houses developers who previously worked on The Witcher. It's all come full circle!
It'll be a long time until we actually get to see this remake in any kind of action, though. CDPR has all but confirmed that the project is in very early stages of development, and that it's likely several years — at least — away from release. It's being made with Unreal Engine 5, by the way, and will make use of technology that's also being used for CDPR's entirely new The Witcher saga.