Witcher 3 The Wild Hunt – The One
What can I say about this beautiful masterpiece that hasn’t
already been said? It’s amazing beyond words. It’s immersive,
epic and everything a game of this genre and scope should be.
They’ve nailed almost everything. There are a few minor glitches
here and there, we will get to those a bit later, but no game
is without its flaws. If I had to choose one game to play for the
rest of my life it would most likely be this game. It offers over
a hundred hours in the base game alone, without the DLCs which are
another hundred. So, without further banter let us dive right into
this truly wonderful experience.
The very first thing that caught my eye in this game was,
and you might not believe me here, but the horse riding animation.
It’s so beautiful, natural and fluid. The one thing I’ve always felt
most games never did right was the horse riding animations, but CD
Projekt Red nailed it. It’s not far-fetched to say that I fell in love
with this game when I saw it. After that, the way the world looks and
feels just captured all of my attention. The way the world reacts to you,
the dialogues, everything about it just seems so alive and vibrant.
You really feel like the game world is real, and don’t even get me
started on the smaller details like the fact that NPC’s run for shelter
when a rain starts. As for the story there isn’t a single negative thing
I can say. Every decision has a consequence, not all of them are clear at
first, but they all catch up to you. It feels like there isn’t a single
dull or generic quest. Even the minor fetch quests have in depth plots
and decisions to make. They all feel meaningful and fun. Now, let’s take
a break from praising it and address the elephant in the room, or rather
the horse outside the room trying to get in through the window as you whistle.
That’s right I’m talking about, by now infamous, Roche teleport issue.
For all of you who are not sure what I’m talking about, your horse,
hilariously named Roche, is always available for you to ride. The only
way they could make this possible is to have your brave stallion follow
you around. Within the context of the story that’s precisely what is
happening, however in the world of video game design this is incredibly
difficult and not at all practical to do in such an open world where you
character can spring and jump though all kinds of terrain. So they fixed
it by having your faithful companion appear near you whenever you whistle
or call him to you. This of course makes for some hilarious and sometimes
damn near frustrating results (ie having him appear on the other side of
the river from you). There is a simple fix for this where you just run so
that Roche isn’t on the minimap and call him again he then appears near you
usually in a more appropriate location. Other than this, another
frustrating issue that plagues this game is the loot tables. To clarify,
you’ve just spent half an hour studying a particular high level monster,
brewing potions and coating your sword with oils. You had an epic battle
and managed to overcome it only to have it drop a sword worse than the
one you have. It kind of makes you feel like you’ve wasted all that time,
but by now there is probably a mod or a patch that fixes that issue.
With that I would end the negativity and go back go praises. So a huge
reactive open world that constantly changes plus amazing gameplay and
mechanics and a truly captivating and immersive story. What more can be
said about this wonder? How about the characters? The lovable or annoying,
depending on how you play it, protagonist Geralt who is an amazing and very
deep character. His romance with the mage Yennefer, the love he bears for his
step-daughter, and by far one of the best villains, the always present
threat of the spectral riders known as the Wild Hunt. Throughout the game
I always felt haunted by them, no matter what I was doing. The combat done
amazingly, the character growth in terms of levels and skills also done
flawlessly and like every good RPG you are allowed to develop your own
play-style. Every battle requires careful preparation and feels like it
takes ages. Some even having multiple stages and chasing parts. By this
point it feels like there isn’t anything left that would make this game
even better, but wait, there’s more. There is an entire new card game
called Gwent, and of course you can collect cards and build decks. It
plays a semi-important part in the overall story but is a ton of fun
once you get into it. All this, put together makes for one of the best
and most interesting games ever made and that’s without the expansions.
There are two of them that add a ton of new stuff to this, already
unbelievably amazing, game. This includes an entire new area on the map,
new monsters to fight, an all new Gwent deck, new ways to enhance
Geralts mutations, dozens of new quests and characters and you can even get
an estate which you can upgrade so that Geralt finally has a place to call
home. When you finally complete the second expansion you get a
satisfying conclusion to this epic tale.
CD Projekt Red really outdid themselves with this game
setting a new standard for open world RPGs and games in
general. It is really an amazing and unique experience which
I recommend to everyone. There are times when I truly wish I
could forget this game only to play it again and relive all of
those sweet feels again. Well, that’s it for this review, so
what are you waiting for, go and play it. Good luck and have fun ^.^
