The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

So, CD Projekt RED crowned themselves with unprecedented success with the release of Wild Hunt, but is this the end? That's right, no! Shortly before the release of Wild Hunt, CD Projekt RED announced Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, expansion packs designed to expand Geralt's adventures. Now we will talk about “Blood and Wine”.

The addition was released on May 31, 2016 and is also paid. Its passage can be started independently of the main plot, that is, completed after the completion of the main plot or separately from the menu. Or you can even do it in parallel with the main plot, having previously upgraded Geralt. This is possible due to the fact that the add-on is implemented as a separate quest chain.

Plot

And again, as usual, we take an order from the notice board and go to the call to the Masons' Settlements. After meeting with Palmerin de Lonfal and Milton de Peyrac-Peyran, we learn that Beauclair, the capital of Toussaint, is in danger - a monster called the Bestia is killing people. And not just people, but people from the upper class and between the victims there is a certain connection that we have to find out about. And after a short showdown with the bandits, you go to the Principality of Toussaint itself.

As has already become clear, our task until the end of the expansion will be to prevent new murders and kill Bestia. And before the witcher has time to arrive in such a wonderful land, he immediately stumbles upon another victim.

In general, as soon as we get to Toussaint, the initial events quickly rush past us, presenting us with many epic moments, but then the pace slows down and everything goes on as usual - Geralt is investigating and looking for new clues.

The Principality of Toussaint is undoubtedly a wonderful place, which appears before us in bright colors, not to mention the fact that Toussaint is a completely new location, which is comparable to Velen and Novigrad, and the addition as a whole will captivate you for a complete passage } 30 hours minimum. Many people jokingly called “Blood and Wine” an addition that is larger than many modern games, but there is little laughter here. Other developers should think about this.

As a brief summary of the plot, we can say that the story turned out to be very exciting and no worse than the main plot. An excellent non-linear script, staging and dialogues will not let you get bored, and a bunch of innovations add even more variety to the game. In the game you will meet a lot of new and a little old (and, as always, I won’t say anything specific, bugger). But do you know what's the saddest thing about all this? The story of the addition “Blood and Wine” is the last adventure for Geralt. The developers deliberately left a message for all players at the end of the expansion, and you will easily notice it, since Geralt himself will let you know about it. I hope someday we will see the White Wolf again...

“There is something to stand out about”

And again, since this is an add-on, there is nothing special to talk about graphics and gameplay . Ha, have you already believed it? Well, in vain!

There are a lot of innovations and changes! And perhaps the most obvious change will be the radically redesigned interface. Perhaps in some ways it was inferior to the previous one, in some ways it was better than it, but in taste and color...

The second significant change, or rather addition, is a completely new location “Toussaint”. In the best spirit of game design! Toussaint is beautiful and unique, it is a pleasure to study and admire it.

Those who like to improve Geralt in every possible way and make him a killing machine will appreciate “Mutations” - something similar to skills, but much more powerful than them. You can get this new feature through a quest. There is also a lot of new equipment and armor in the game (don't be afraid - Roach is not left out)! By the way, you will try all this against new opponents.

Since there is a gambler in all of us, everyone will appreciate a new deck for Gwent called Skellige. The deck is very flexible and has several unique card skills.

I almost forgot about musical accompaniment. The composers know their business and new music. the accompaniment perfectly conveys the whole flavor of Beauclair. However, the music has changed course somewhat and now it is sharper, hotter, more aggressive. With martial music you feel a serious danger!

And perhaps the last thing I’ll mention is the localization of. No, I'm not saying that she is bad, quite the contrary, but she has some flaws. Finally no more of that stupid rewinding of character lines, hurray! But the typos are glaring.

Summary

Here it is - the culmination of the whole story. Geralt left beautifully... He left beautifully to my thunderous applause! And who knows when he will return?