The first real "next-gen" game.
PC version reviewed.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an RPG published and developed by CD Projekt for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.
This review has spoilers!
GAMEPLAY
Perhaps the most important thing to be noted for people who have played the previous two titles in the series is that the combat has been improved. No longer does it feel like you're throwing yourself at thin air, instead of that floaty, awkward stuff from Assassins of Kings it actually feels like Geralt is fighting something, even if it can feel a little rigid at times. It's not perfect but it feels so much better than before.
There's a lot of depth to potions and signs, I liked how you had to make sure you brought along the right potions to combat specific monsters on higher difficulties and how despite the shield sign seemingly being the best, the others could still be useful against certain enemies if you knew what you were doing. Despite that, the actual combat itself could often be clunky and awkward, leading to frustration, not to mention some of the enemy AI could certainly have used some more work, most specifically humans, who often just stood around waiting to get hit.
Side quests do have more depth to them than most games do, however the formula seems largely the same where you follow some tracks with your Witcher senses and are eventually faced with a morally ambiguous choice. They are somewhat repetitive, but are still for the most part engaging.
I wasn't a huge fan of Gwent, but I'm not a fan of card games anyway, but it did seem to have some depth and plenty of ideas put into it. I really liked that the game gave you the option to just ignore it if you wanted to as well, offering alternative ways to complete things that would require it, such as levelling up your Witcher signs or even just bribing people.
I wasn't really sold on the open world style quite frankly, it really shows once you've finished the quests and contracts as the game feels completely dead and empty. One reason games go open world is so that they can give the player the option to approach parts differently, going in all guns blazing or as quietly as possible, but Wild Hunt doesn't do this, you can only ever go in as the game wants you too, which is pretty much never quietly.
Some of the villages do have some interesting backstories and hunting down specific armour designs by exploring some specific ruins can be quite fun. However outside of a few interesting ones the majority of caves and ruins are pretty dull and boring (especially the ones in the main quest for some reason), and pretty much anything else is just map filler like random weapon caches. Now I'm not saying the open world is terrible, I just feel it could have been better. Perhaps keeping the game in the style of Assassins of Kings could have kept things a bit more coherent.
STORY
Continuing their strong form from the previous two games, CD Projekt Red create a great main cast of characters, all with plenty of depth and charm to them. It's crazy to think that Ciri and Yennefer hadn't been in the previous games, despite their big roles in the books, but still slot back in so brilliantly. However if you've played The Witcher 2 you will know that CJ Project Red can write fantastic antagonists too, however they really dropped the ball with Eredin, who they'd built up so well in the previous games too. I think someone counted he had about 16 lines in this game.
Speaking of Witcher 2, so many story threads are just ignored and it almost seems like this game is trying to close out a different trilogy, I mean Emyhr was essentially the main antagonist who had been pulling all the strings in Assassins of Kings, yet here he largely acts as an ally, who also has completely different ambitions for Ciri than in the books too. Any other decision you made in the previous game (Deathmold and Anais, Iorveth or Roche) is as good as ignored, aside from the fate of Letho.
Now if CD Projekt Red wanted to tell a different story from the books, it could have worked fine if they stuck to it, but instead they then go on to try to tackle the White Frost from the books, which seemed to be a more background thing, rather than a major pressing threat. I can actually understand why Andrzej Sapkowski doesn't like these games when the final third of this game really does almost come across as badly written fan fiction.
That's the difference between this game and Assassins of Kings though, this one is far superior on the gameplay front, whilst Assassins of Kings is much better on the story front. That's not to say this game has a dreadful story, the game has some really powerful moments, such as when Geralt finally finds Ciri, and overall the first two acts hold up quite nicely, even if the first act drags a bit at times. It's just that the final act is just so frustrating and shows off all the flaws that the previous acts occasionally had but instead for whole thing.
I also can't help but feel a bit disappointed at the endings, of which there are actually only four endings, not the hundreds that were promised, and those four endings only rely on a few later parts of the game, rather than your actions through the whole thing. Some of these decisions don't really even make sense in the grand scheme of things when compared to other choices too. Declining to help Ciri's friends get some horses has no consequence, yet giving her a necklace rather than letting her destroy something is a major decision... it's just strange.
GRAPHICS
SOUND
The soundtrack is outstanding, some of the songs such as The Hunt is Coming and The Wolf and the Swallow are really fantastic pieces of music, and there are many, may more I could name too. It's not really criticism of the game but I do feel a bit for Adam Skorupa, who's only influence in this game seems to be the main theme, despite being the lead composer for the great soundtracks of the previous games.
VALUE FOR MONEY
Whilst the DLC model the game has is fine, that's all it is really. It's actually the same DLC model Skyrim had, with a smaller story expansion and a larger map expansion, as well as a few new things put in with updates such as horse combat and new finishing moves. That's essentially CD Projekt's model for this game, aside from instead of putting new things in free updates they advertised them as free DLC for good PR. Well done to them for that good business move.
OVERALL
It's really hard to justify just what this game deserves as a rating, since it improves a lot from the previous Witcher title, however it also fails to live up to some aspects of it too. The combat is much better than the previous games, but still isn't that great in comparison to other games, the story gets a bit convoluted and messy in places, whilst Assassins of Kings had a much better story which this game even seems to go to certain lengths to ignore.
I did really enjoy Wild Hunt on my first playthrough, but when I went back to it again I realised that the game had plenty of flaws. Even with those flaws being recognised this game is definitely worth experiencing, even if it's only once. On a good day I'd call this an outstanding game, because in terms of content, sound and graphics, the richness of characters, it is just that. However its somewhat disappointing story and far from perfect gameplay means that I feel it just falls short of being so, and I can only call it a great game instead. Either way it's still absolutely worth your time.
The story of this expansion was great and Gaunter O'Dimm wasn't just among the best antagonists I've ever seen in a video game, he was one of the best characters I've seen in a game full stop. The brilliance of him really helps make up for how disappointing Eredin was in the main game.
I loved the gradual build up of O'Dimm's character, from more subtle things like showing up whenever he was needed or knowing far more than he really lets on, to freezing time and walking down from the heavens. I'm really glad they didn't just shove in a simple boss battle with him in like so many other games would, instead going for a riddle, something far more suitable for his character. The fact that the best ending, in my opinion, is letting him win and taking nothing from him as a reward, rather than trying to be a hero or accepting something from him, is a testament to how amazingly frightening he is.
Some complaints I do have with the expansion include the new merchant, who is way too costly for what he offers. There is also a small village called Erde, that was in the game before the expansion, that had a really creepy atmosphere as the village is dark and gloomy thanks to the surrounding forest, but once you install the expansion it puts a giant sunny hole leading to a beach in the middle of the trees, ruining that amazing atmosphere.
If you're going to get this game then you really should pick this expansion up with it too, I'd say just for the amazing couple of lead characters, but then that's actually just what the expansion is about.
