Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review

Game of Year 2015

                

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best games I have ever played. I’ve only just recently heard of The Witcher which is based off the book series of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. Everything in The Witcher 3 was created out of pure love. Created by CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3 boast a fully realized, living, breathing world that is unlike anything I have ever experienced while playing a game. The game sets the bar so high for quality that I am worried that future games won’t come anywhere close to it.

The game takes place in a medieval setting with war, swords, magic, and monsters. It continues the story of renowned Witcher, Geralt of Rivia. A Witcher is a human who was experimented on as a child to bestow them with super strength, stamina, senses, and the ability to use some magic. Witchers are known to be the best monster hunters in the world and are usually hired to handle monster problems.  I was worried that I would be lost because I haven’t read any of the books or played the previous games, but the Witcher 3 solves that problem early on in a clever way that I won’t spoil. You will have a greater appreciation for the world if you have played the previous games, but it isn’t in anyway necessary to fully enjoy the game. Geralt is on a quest to find his long lost protégé Cirilla who is being chased by the “Wild Hunt” (think Game of Thrones White Walkers that can teleport where they want). Geralt wants to find her before the Wild Hunt do.

The Witcher 3 is an open world RPG where players can explore locations, fight monsters, take on bounty contracts, race horses, and pretty much do everything you can think of in a medieval style game. What makes the game so special is the effect that you as a player has on the world. Open world games usually give you the choice of being good or evil, with not much of a middle ground. The Witcher 3 presents players with choices that never have a clear effect when you make them. Usually, without knowing it, the game makes you choose the lesser of two evils and I really enjoyed how it made me really consider my options. Sometimes people in the game lie to you, so you can’t go around trusting everyone you come across.  I’ve never struggled so much with choices in a game. I usually play games as a paragon for all things good, but you quickly learn to be more rational about your decision making.

The Witcher 3 is gorgeous from a technical and artistic perspective. I got a decent computer rig with a Nvidia GTX 970 and Intel core i5, so I was able to use the maximum settings and it performed at a smooth 60 frames per second at 1080p resolution. The world looks so alive, with a complete day and night cycle, dynamic weather, impressive lighting and shadows, draw distance detail, and a lot going on in the background always. Geralt even has real time beard growth. Each part of the world feels different and has its own sense of flora and fauna. The swampy lands of Velen are home to people who are just trying to survive and its host to a lot of bandits. Novigrad is a large bustling town full of shops, bars, arenas and host to many interesting characters. Each environment feels unique and it never gets dull to look at.

Geralt can fight monsters, complete quests, and explore the world to gain experience points to increase his level. There are always quests to do or events to take part in and completing these missions are the best way to get stronger and get the best equipment. Leveling up increases stats which allow you to be able to dish out and take more damage as well as equip better weapons and armor. Each level awards you with an ability point to put towards a specific skill branch. This allows you customize Geralt based off three properties, Physical attacks, Sign (magic), or Alchemy. You must spend carefully because you have limited spaces for the skills you acquire, and some skills are just more useful than others. Alchemy seems like it could be very useful, but there isn’t much incentive to acquire those skills over attacks and magic.

Combat in The Witcher 3 is also satisfying as it rewards careful preparation and strategy. You will die if you go into battle swinging your sword recklessly. Human enemies can easily surround you and even if you are at a high level, you can still be defeated rather quickly. Monsters are more interesting to fight as they require a bit more planning to be successful. Monsters have various weaknesses that can be exploited to defeat them. After defeating monsters, your bestiary updates with helpful information about the monster you defeated. Books scattered across the world also contain useful information about monsters. Before battling you can drink special potions you create to give you enhancements that will help in battle. You can also apply oils to your blade that will deal extra damage if the oil is strong against a specific monster type. On the standard difficulty level applying oils and potions isn’t really needed but on the higher difficulty it is somewhat a necessity for survival I recommend playing on the difficulty above normal to get the most out of the game.

The Witcher 3 is a product that was made by a developer that only has 2 other games to its credit which are the prequels to this game. It when given enough time and care that a game can be everything that a developer wants it to be. The Witcher 3 cuts no corners and gives you a world that you can spend easily over 100 hours in and still not finish everything there is in the game. It’s gorgeous, engrossing, thoughtful, and overall entertaining. I recommend going out and supporting a developer like this because you can tell it was a labor of love and they deserve praise for what should easily be the best game of 2015 and should be considered one of the best games of all time.

Score: 5 out 5

Pros:

• Gorgeous, fully realized world.
• Great characters and writing.
• Always new and exciting things to do.

Cons:     

• Occasional glitches
• So much content, might be overwhelming.
• Requires a lot of time to get the most out of the game.