The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review

Winter is Coming:

Ever since the first Witcher game stole the hearts of die-hard RPG fans, CD Projekt Red have refused to rest on their laurels. Their spectacular realization of Andrzej Sapkowski’s low fantasy world and the daunting depth and complexity of the title carved out a place for them amongst the most hardcore of fans, but with its sequels – 2011’s Assassin of Kings and now The Wild Hunt – CDPR have been working hard at opening the series up to more players without compromising their vision.

It’s a difficult balancing act, but I’m pleased to say they’ve accomplished what they set out to do: the Witcher 3 is the series best outing to date.

Storyline:

Stepping once more into the weathered shoes of Geralt of Rivia, players assume the role of the Witcher – a race bred solely to combat the demons, monsters and evils spreading throughout the world of ‘The Continent’. These Witchers are a feared, hated but sought after people. Their freakish looks, resistance to aging and their strange, secular lifestyles lead many to believe they themselves are a twisted entity, but their handiness with a blade and their penchant for decapitating beasties makes them a necessary evil in the eyes of many.

When we join Geralt this time around he is on the hunt not for a monster, but for a young ward he once trained. He has been asked to search the lands for Cirilla, who may or may not have fallen in with the wrong crowd. Pretty soon it becomes apparent that the Wild Hunt – a dangerous travelling band of icy swordsmen – are chasing her down too, and Geralt’s search turns into a race.

The story itself is a great motivator to play through this massive game. It’s peopled with interesting and believable characters that help keep the game moving, and the Wild Hunt themselves are so mysterious that I couldn’t wait to find out more about them – especially as they’ve been mentioned numerous times throughout the series but never fully explored. The massive world is also full to bursting with quests and side stories that can be approached and tackled at your leisure, and there’s so much here that every player will have different tales to share with their friends. This breadth of content makes for some incredible emergent gameplay, and it’s these unique stories that truly push Witcher 3’s narrative into unparalleled heights.

Gameplay:

The Witcher 3 is a vast, expansive game set in a vast, expansive world. The mechanics underlying combat, levelling, crafting and adventuring truly match the giant scope of the game. It’s for this reason that the Witcher 3 can feel overwhelming and terrifying at first. Indeed, in my first ten hours exploring the Continent I was still learning new things, discovering new mechanics I’d never understood and realizing how – in one way or another – I’d not been making the most of CDPR’s deep game. Even now, as I explore the world post-game I’m finding things out. It’s both a rewarding and daunting experience, and one many players have been turned off by with past entries in the series.

With the Witcher 3, CDPR have created a starting point that serves newcomers and more casual players far better than the studio ever have before. There’s a myriad of options and fine-tuning to fiddle with so that players can customize exactly what kind of experience they’re looking for, and a whole stretch of land that acts as one massive tutorial (whilst still being a vital and enjoyable part of the main game). Ultimately, you have to invest yourself in the Witcher 3 – the more you give, the more  you’ll get in return – but know this: it’s not a game for a brief session here and there. Expect your nights to be dark and full of terrors.

As Geralt you’re expected to do a lot of things. Slay local monsters that have been terrorizing townsfolk, find hidden treasure, explore dungeons and even play a card game here and there. There’s so many options available at all times that the main questline can often feel secondary – after all, would you rather hunt a griffin or look for an NPC that never seems to stay in one place long enough for you to catch up? Right, Griffin it is.

The real meat and bones of the Witcher is – for me at least – contracts. These big missions allow you to track a large boss monster, learn about its strengths and weaknesses, and prepare for an epic showdown. Making sure I’d done my prep work, brewed the right pre-battle potions, sharpened my sword at the local blacksmith, slicked it with the right oils, and laying down the right signs – magic spells Witchers can cast pre-emptively or in the heat of battle – made me feel like I was truly owning the title of Witcher. Once the beast was slain, I truly felt like I’d earned it.