The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the final part of Geralt of Rivia's adventure trilogy. 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 many 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 other northern lands. Meanwhile, the famous witcher Geralt and his wise mentor Vesemir are on the trail of the missing sorceress Yennefer, the long-lost love of the White Wolf. You will encounter an adventure-filled game world, a brilliant plot, an excellent combat system, stunning graphics, non-linearity, multiple endings, and a cozy atmosphere of Slavic medieval times.

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

With the release of Witcher 3, CD Project set new standards for the genre, gaining worldwide recognition and love from fans. When creating the game, the author of the series of novels "The Witcher," Andrzej Sapkowski, consulted the developers.

The studio engine REDengine 3 delights with high-quality multiplatform graphics and dynamic weather changes. For the first time in the series, high-polygon models of the main characters have been created, along with detailed models and animations of monsters. Nvidia technologies have been applied to create grass, object shadows, hair, fur, and fabric.

Witcher 3 is the first game in the series with a fully open world, set in the Kingdoms of the North during the third invasion of the Nilfgaardian Empire. The game area of Witcher 3 is 30 times larger than that of Witcher 2, and players can use a horse — Roach — for transportation.

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

The rest of the game world offers vast mountains and valleys, fields and forests, rivers and lakes, caves, and underground vaults for exploration. There are swamps and "dead places," where monsters usually reside. The bestiary of Witcher 3 is extremely diverse; players 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 numerous events, both random and scripted, programmed as closely as possible to reality, making it interesting to explore.

The "Wild Hunt" is not just the title of the game — it is a squad of elite ghostly riders from another dimension, a dying world of elves, who are trying to move into the human world. It is led by the elven king Eredin, who is willing to open a portal at any cost, kidnapping people who can lead him to Ciri. The antagonist does not even realize that Geralt is comparable to him in strength and cunning.

At the same time, the Nilfgaard Empire is absorbing the Northern Kingdoms one by one. The player can choose one side of the conflict to contribute to the political structure of the game world by participating in battles and sieges. Meanwhile, 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 participates in them or not. Each main quest offers several development options that affect the game's ending. The writers have carefully crafted the story, dialogues, and added many cutscenes.

Secondary quests have set a high standard, as most of them are well-developed and stand out from standard open-world quests of "kill" and "fetch." The storyline can be completed quickly in 40 hours, as expected in 50. The same amount of time will be spent exploring the game world and completing secondary quests.

The combat system has been completely overhauled, allowing Geralt to fight multiple opponents at once. The combo and chaining system is absent; the player must simply time their attacks, defend, counterattack, dodge, and take cover. The mechanics of silver and steel swords remain unchanged, but an alternative has been added — bombs and a crossbow.

The system of five magical signs has been improved; now they can be used both in combat and in everyday life. To complete quests, you often need to use "Witcher senses" and interact with the game world. Monsters and beasts have gained strengths and weaknesses, and you need to know the latter to deal with them quickly.

Alchemy has become more complex, but by drinking potions, Geralt gains special abilities, increases his stats, or boosts damage against specific enemies. The maximum character level is 70, but it changes depending on the game's difficulty. As before, Geralt can enhance his talents by choosing a specialization and corresponding skills.