The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — the final part of the trilogy of adventures of Geralt of Rivia. In 2022, all its owners received a free next-gen update to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition — the most complete edition of The Witcher 3, including all expansions, add-ons The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine and The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone, as well as numerous graphical improvements.

The events of the third part begin shortly after the finale of the second. Nilfgaard has successfully conquered Temeria and plans to subdue the rest of the northern lands. Meanwhile, the famous witcher Geralt and his wise mentor Vesemir are on the trail of the missing sorceress Yennefer, the longtime love of the White Wolf. You will find a world full of adventures, a brilliant plot, an excellent combat system, stunning graphics, non-linearity, multiple endings, and the cozy atmosphere of the Slavic Middle Ages.

A role-playing game in the vast fantasy world of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 19, 2015, as a continuation of The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and concluded the trilogy about Geralt of Rivia.

With the release of Witcher 3, CD Project set new standards for the genre, received worldwide recognition and the love of fans. While creating the game, the author of the Witcher novel series, Andrzej Sapkowski, consulted the developers.

The studio engine REDengine 3 delights with high-quality multi-platform graphics and dynamic weather changes. For the first time in the series, high-polygon models of the main characters, detailed models, and animations of monsters were created. Nvidia technologies were used in the creation of grass, shadows from objects, hair, fur, and fabric.

Witcher 3 is the first game in the series with a fully open world, its action takes place in the Northern Kingdoms during the third invasion of the Nilfgaardian Empire. The game zone of Witcher 3 is 30 times larger than that of Witcher 2, and players can use a horse — Roach — for travel.

The world is divided into regions with different landscapes and development, inhabited by various ethnic groups. There are 15 full-fledged states and more than 20 principalities and free cities, which, depending on the player's actions, will unite for resistance or be conquered. The design of the settlements resembles medieval Eastern Europe, but there are Scandinavian-type buildings.

The rest of the game world offers mountains and valleys, fields and forests, rivers and lakes, caves and underground vaults for exploration. There are swamps and "dead places" where monsters usually live. The bestiary of Witcher 3 is extremely diverse; on the player's path, they will encounter not only bandits and wild animals but also vampires, ghosts, ogres, earth elementals, griffins, succubi, and other monsters.

The game world is filled with many events, both random and not, programmed as close to possible reality as possible, making it interesting to travel through.

The "Wild Hunt" is not just featured in the game's title — it is a squad of elite spectral riders from another dimension, a dying world of elves, who are trying to relocate to the human world. It is led by the elven king Eredin, ready to open a portal at any cost, for which he kidnaps people who can lead him to Ciri. The antagonist does not even realize that Geralt is comparable to him in strength and cunning.

Meanwhile, the Nilfgaardian Empire is absorbing the Northern Kingdoms one by one. The player can choose one of the sides of the conflict, participating in battles and sieges, to contribute to the political structure of the game world. At the same time, Emperor Emhyr orders Geralt to find and save Ciri.

Unlike other role-playing games, the mechanics of Witcher 3 allow the player not to take on secondary quests, events will unfold regardless of whether Geralt participated in them or not. Each story quest offers several development options, affecting the game's finale. The writers have meticulously worked on the story, dialogues, and added many cutscenes.

Secondary tasks set a high bar, as most of them are well-developed and starkly different from the standard open-world quests of "kill," "fetch." The plot can be completed quickly in 40 hours, as it should be in 50. The same amount of time will be spent exploring the game world and secondary tasks.

The combat system has been completely reworked so that Geralt can fight a large number of opponents simultaneously. The system of combos and strike combinations is absent; the player must simply strike, defend, and counterattack in time, dodge, and take cover. The mechanics of the silver and steel swords have not changed, but an alternative has been added — bombs and a crossbow.

The system of five magical signs has been refined, now they can be used both in combat and in everyday life. To complete quests, it is often necessary to use "witcher sense," interacting with the game world. Monsters and creatures have strong and weak points, the latter need to be known to deal with them quickly.

Alchemy has been made more complex, but by drinking potions, Geralt gains special abilities, enhances his characteristics or damage against certain enemies. The maximum character level is 70, but it varies depending on the game's difficulty. As before, Geralt can improve his talents by choosing a specialization and corresponding skills.