The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)

The first time I saw The Witcher 3 was in a behind closed doors hands off demo at E3 2014. We got to see about 35 minutes of gameplay and the Griffin boss battle. I was utterly blown away by how grand and detailed the entire game was. Even the main character’s voice, the gruff gravely raw delivery of Doug Cockle’s Geralt of Rivia seemed to showcase a level of craftsmanship you don’t see in many games right now.

Geralt is a “Witcher”, basically a semi-socially accepted bounty hunter. While he does the dirty work that most villagers don’t want to do, he is a mutated human, and somewhat of an outcast to society. It’s a job that has a high reward, but also a lot of risks, as the dealings of a Witcher are mostly taking care of monsters. And that’s where the game excels.

Even in the beginning area, The White Orchard feels massive with hours and hours of content. I ended up doing pretty much everything I could do before moving on and seeing that the game really opened up afterwards. It’s these side quests that ended up being my favorite part of the game. Most games don’t go into much depth for a side quest that might not be seen by most players, but I always felt rewarded for taking the unbeaten paths, and coming upon some of the most interesting sections and storylines by avoiding the main story.

The Bloody Barron was a particular stand out, which showcases the game’s phenomenal writers, and it’s that writing that captivated me throughout my entire play through. The pure charm and wit expressed in the dialog and character interactions held my attention far beyond those of normal game’s writing standards. It really raises the bar, and shows why a great writing staff that loves the source material, along with high quality voice actors can propel someone like me to spend over 120 hours in the game.

I had such a great time with the game, that I ended up playing to 100% completion. After doing every side quest, and main storyline mission, I followed it up by traveling around the entire landmass known as “The Continent” from Velen to Novigrad and even Skellige. I traversed every inch of the game with my trusty horse named “Roach” (Geralt doesn’t believe in naming his horses anything other than Roach), and sought out every single question mark and possible interaction in the game.

I found the main story of Geralt trying to find his semi-adopted daughter Ciri to be quite enjoyable and heartwarming, which is saying something special, given Geralt’s extremely rough demeanor to, well, pretty much everything. He’s about as aloof as you can get, but when he starts getting into contact with some older companions and even romantic flames for bygone years, he really opens up. One of my absolute favorite parts of the entire game was a cutscene taking place in a pub/inn, where a bard named Priscilla sings a hauntingly beautiful song written about him and Yennifer (Geralt’s on again off again romance). It’s a stunning scene, one that will surely last with me well beyond my playtime of this game.

While I can understand some of the initial complaints about the game’s combat, or some of the more difficult control of the character, the developers CDProjekt RED have taken great strides to wipe out nearly every single qualm I or anyone else I talked to had. The patches came pretty quick out of the gate and even  with some free DLC, which ended up being mostly cosmetic. But it's the thought that counts I guess.

I actually found the combat to be quite engaging, especially on the hardest difficulty. After a few deaths  early on with some water monsters called drowners. I ended up diving deep into its inventory and bestiary, which allowed me to learn about the various monsters in the Witcher universe and learn their weaknesses and exploit them. Giving Geralt two different swords was also really interesting as well. A steel sword for human enemies, and a silver sword to take care of monsters. Applying various oils and taking potions also helps prepare for tougher fights and is the ultimate distinction between conquering or bringing on defeat.

Combat also integrates a whole magic system, which I’ve never been very fond of in games. It’s something that never really interested me, but I actually ended up learning quite a bit with this game, and it felt nice to flex my gaming muscles a bit to learn new techniques I usually wouldn’t touch. The five different magics in the game are Aard (Telekenesis), Yrden (Magic Trap), Igni (Fire), Quen (Shield), and Axii (Mind). Utilizing these magics in tandem with swordplay really opened up the combat. Geralt’s animation also brings about almost a ballet of violence that you rarely see in most games.

The massive world is filled to the brim with additional world building and lore. It is what will keep people like myself engaged after being drawn in with the painstakingly masterful craftsmanship of the game. I truly believe this is the new watermark for Action RPGs and helps elevate the writing in games as well. I’ve played through thousands of games in my life so far, and The Witcher 3 really stands out as such a high point that I already know it will be in my Top 10 Games Of All Time list, and hopefully is high up as well. This is a gamer’s must play.