The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Developed by: CD Project Red

Published by: WB Games

Available for: PS4, Xbox One,  PC (reviewed)

There’s something truly magical about The Witcher 3. Initially, I felt unsure of why the game compelled me so. It has a massive landscape full of quests and NPCs, sure, but so do many games now. It has loot to be found, a horse to ride, extensive voice acting, and every other checklist feature one might expect from a Triple-A RPG, and while welcome, none of these features really ‘woo’ me these days. For awhile, I thought I was simply burnt out on the genre, that the abundance of open-world RPGs that have dotted the gaming landscape since the success of Skyrim had left me in need of a break. But CDPR’s latest title brought me back in an epic fashion, and after over a hundred and fifty hours with the game, I’m prepared to call it the most important RPG of this generation – and a golden standard for the genre going forward.

For those unfamiliar with previous titles, or the series of Polish fantasy novels that they’re based off of, The Witcher games follow protagonist Geralt of Rivia, a mutant warrior trained from childhood in dazzling swordplay, the use of toxic potions, and in-depth lore on the world’s creatures to be an unrivaled monster slayer. Despite their effectiveness, witchers are a dying breed; the process used to mutate them has been lost to time, and popular opinion has swayed against them, with common folk often considering them as freakish as the monsters they hunt. In the absence of public acceptance, Geralt found solace in two people in particular – his on-again-off-again romantic interest, Yennefer, and his ward/adopted daughter, Ciri – neither of whom have been seen since the end of the Witcher books that the games take place after. Having recently recovered from a bout of amnesia, Geralt has set off with his mentor, Vesimir, in search of Yennefer, and this is where the game begins.

The Witcher 3 does an admirable job of introducing new players to the universe right off the bat, using a dream sequence and a relatively small tutorial zone to establish characters and story beats. Each of the game’s main draws – combat, alchemy, monster hunting, difficult decisions, and character conversations – get their turn in the first few hours, and it’s a good thing, because there’s plenty to learn.

The detail on characters and armor is exquisite.

Though players have an extensive talent tree and plenty of dialogue options to pick from, this isn’t Dragon Age or The Elder Scrolls, where you create a character from scratch. You’re playing as Geralt (and sometimes Ciri, in brief linear segments I don’t want to spoil), with everything that entails. He’ll always be fairly dry and sarcastic, though there’s plenty of room to decide just how nice, or how much of a jerk, you want to be as him. He’s primarily a swordsman, so combat is melee-oriented, with Geralt alternating between light and heavy strikes, rolls, parries, pirouettes, and simplistic magic spells called Signs, such as Quen, which summons a shield to protect the witcher, or Axii, which can stun and eventually mind control foes. Though the combat itself is fairly basic, it never gets old, due in large part to the sheer variety of enemies and their attack patterns. From swarming drowners to huge, lumbering elementals, there’s no lack of monsters and men for Geralt to slay, and the creativity of their designs is endless. Each enemy type has their own entry in a detailed bestiary, which provides both useful information about how to defeat them and fascinating lore as to their origins.

On higher difficulties – which I strongly recommend, as the game gets very easy, very quickly on the default mode – it’s also beneficial to make use of potions, decoctions, and oils to even the odds. Oils can be applied to one of Geralt’s two swords to increase the damage dealt to certain kinds of enemies, rewarding preparation with increasingly huge attack bonuses, while potions and decoctions have varieties of different effects that can turn the tide of a battle, but also fill a toxicity gauge that starts dealing damage to the player if it gets too high. Early on, preparing with these alchemical lifesavers turned brutal battles into more manageable fights, but by late-game, even on the Death March difficulty, I was able to mow down even the toughest foes pretty effortlessly, rendering them moot.

Though the action sometimes gets a little easy, the game manages to remain fascinating throughout its full length, in no small part due to the incredibly lively, in-depth world that CDPR has managed to realize. The graphics and soundwork are both stellar, and do The Witcher 3 many favors towards increasing immersion. Colorful flowers bloom in the morning sun, wind sways the trees all around, and stormclouds gathering in the distance threaten rain with low, ominous rumbling. Graphics downgrade controversy aside, this is one of the most gorgeous games I’ve ever played, and screenshots don’t do it justice; the animation and detail of everything on display is best seen in motion, with the dense, quality sounds of nature and civilization alike selling the illusion of reality. This is all the more impressive considering the size of the game; there are two main regions and a handful of smaller zones that add up to be considerably larger than even the likes of Skyrim or Dragon Age: Inquisition. Characters are just as masterfully crafted, with subtle animations and nearly lifelike clothing and armor making every conversation and cutscene an exhibition in modern computer-generated art.

It’s a good thing the characters look so good, too, because you’ll be spending a lot of time talking to them. Like many RPGs, The Witcher 3 is all about the conversations and the story, and in this respect, the game rarely disappoints. I was astonished to find that every quest in the game, even the shortest side missions stumbled onto in the wilderness, is handled with the utmost love and care typically reserved for main storylines. Cinematic camera angles, full voice acting, and difficult choices are the standard, not the exception, and almost every quest winds up subverting expectations in some way and having long-lasting consequences. As someone who quickly gets exhausted by the repetitive side content in many other open-world games, I completed every single quest in The Witcher 3, and didn’t feel like my time was wasted at all. I investigated the identity of a mysterious ‘deity’ demanding tribute from peasants, hunted down a Jack the Ripper-esque killer through the city streets, and solved a most unusual haunting; and all without even touching the main quest.

The Skellige Isles are a breathtaking sight.

Speaking which of, the main quest at first actually felt like the weakest link. After reuniting early on with Yennefer, Geralt discovers that Ciri has returned from wherever she had been traveling, and is in danger from the Wild Hunt – a race of elven spectres from another realm interested in her immense power for reasons unknown. The first half of the game can basically be summarized as ‘find someone who saw Ciri, ask them where she went, have to do errands for them to tell you, move on to the next person, repeat’. Though this formula gets pretty tiring, the people I met along the way had their own interesting stories, which softened the blow considerably. Without spoiling anything, the plot picks up in both pace and quality as Geralt closes in on his adopted daughter, and the second half of the storyline blew me away, frequently making me think that the finale was right around the corner, only for things to get better – or, in many cases worse, at least for the characters.

Outside of these minor quibbles, The Witcher 3 would be almost flawless, if not for the sometimes frustrating, often noticeable bugginess and lack of polish in certain areas. On land, Geralt controls admirably, but as soon as he starts to swim, the fun factor takes a deeper dive than he ever will; underwater controls are abysmal and inconsistent, resulting in more than one accidental drowning. However, diving segments are rare, which unfortunately can’t be said for the use of the most stubborn, stupid horse I’ve ever had the displeasure of using in a videogame. Geralt’s steed, Roach, often feels like more hindrance than help, getting stuck on terrain, randomly stopping in the middle of races, and sometimes outright ignoring commands. As I tried to wrangle her into submission, I felt more like I was mounting a large, angry housecat than a noble steed, and it wasn’t long before I just gave up entirely and did most of my traveling on foot. Though far less frequent and thankfully less obnoxious, other bugs do rear their head in the game, with noticeable graphics pop-in, inaccurate statistics, and the occasional hard crash to desktop. CDPR has been patching the game frequently though, with six updates in the first three weeks to stamp out these issues.

Making use of advanced signs can brutalize even dangerous enemies.

The Witcher 3 isn’t perfect; I don’t think any game is. But CD Projekt Red did something epic with Geralt’s final adventure, and I don’t use that word lightly. Not only did they manage to preserve the density and depth of The Witcher 2 during their first foray into making an open world RPG, they improved upon it. More than anything else, this game’s crowning achievement is proving that open world doesn’t have to mean filler, and it doesn’t have to mean fluff. Every hour of content in this massive title is worth doing, every nook and cranny worth exploring, purely for its own sake. That’s something I can’t say for many linear games, so to be able to say it for an open-world title is staggering, and I’m still wrapping my head around how they managed to pull it off in only three years of development. If you’re an RPG fan, I can easily say that I think The Witcher 3 is the best game in the genre in the last ten years, if not even longer. If you’re not an RPG fan, maybe it’s time to become one.

The Console Difference (From Andrew Semicek)

I had a chance to play Witcher 3 on Xbox One. While technically the weakest platform the game was released on the game is still just as great as it is on it’s counterparts. The game runs fluidly at a solid 30 frames with some dips here and there but does not take away from the game at all. If you have the choice I would advise playing it on a different console, but if you only have an Xbox One you will not be missing out on one of the best games I have ever played.