The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Witcher...there's so much in this word. It's been 5 years since its release and this game still lingers on people's lips. This was, of course, facilitated by the Netflix series of the same name, but now it’s not about it, but about the game.

I first became acquainted with this universe in February 2017, when I was able to update my computer. It’s probably even good that I launched this Game for the first time 2 years later, because at the start there were a lot of bugs and shortcomings that were corrected with the “first day patch”. Enough with the introduction, now on to the review itself.

When I first launched The Witcher, I knew practically nothing about this universe. Before that, I had only read the first book by Andrzej Sapkowski “The Last Wish” in an electronic version (if you read the books, you will notice references to some plot twists during the game), I only knew that there was a world around the 12-13 centuries, in which there is Geralt, Ciri, Triss and Yeniffer, and they are somehow connected with each other and the plot and narrative are built on this.

However, ignorance of this universe in no way prevented me from enjoying the narrative of the plot, the gameplay (by the way, I played on the penultimate difficulty), the world around me, interaction with it, etc. On the contrary, I wanted to know more about this, which is why in the next month I bought the entire series of Sapkowski’s novels in a bookstore, conditionally divided into 2 books: “The Witcher” and “Ciri”. But now, again, about the game, and not about the books.

What I liked:

Plot. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be interested in the story in this game. It’s not just that this game received 92/100 points on Metacritic and more than 200 awards like “Game of the Year”, “Best Story” (sorry for the tautology) and many others. During my first playthrough, I was interested in exploring the world, walking through the forest away from the highway, completing additional quests to get to know the world better, studying the population of this world, how they live, what problems and concerns they have. In terms of additional tasks, you really need to think and look for several solutions, because the outcome of the quest depends on this. For example, in one of the tasks you need to bring a horse to a peasant, but in the description it was listed as “bay”. Personally, I had to go on the Internet, find out the coloring of horses, what they are, otherwise the hind ones would not have been completed. Another task (which I can immediately remember at the time of writing this review) was to understand how a woman’s husband died in their family home. According to one outcome, he himself died, but if you are a little inquisitive, you will find out that this husband did not die of his own free will. Yes, even helping a simple troll draw a coat of arms was very funny :) Talking about the fact that depending on the phrase you choose in the dialogue in story tasks, there can be a completely different outcome in the future world - whether an important person will die, or live, or the like , it’s not even necessary. By the way, about peace.

The world around us. Huge world. Just walking along the road or through the forest, listening to the leaves of the trees rustling, their crowns, birds singing, the occasional howl of wolves gives an incredible atmosphere. And when it rains, everything changes - the clothes on the GG become wet, you can hear the drops knocking on the tree trunks, how you yourself, sitting on the other side of the screen, want to wrap yourself up warmly and drink hot tea (or whatever you drink in cold weather :P) .

In the Blood and Wine expansion, the environment is radically different. If in Toussaint (addition) everything is in warm colors, a relatively calm world in which you feel bliss and tranquility, then in the “main game” everything is gloomy, cold, inhospitable, dangerous, from which you want to get away (I personally noticed this contrast when, after the main plot came to Toussaint, completed a couple of tasks and returned to the vicinity of Velen).

Combat system. At the beginning, Geralt has a couple of chains of attacks, consisting of weak and strong attacks (For the latter, in addition to LMB, you will need to hold Shift), but as the game progresses, new attacks and techniques appear. If you catch the rhythm, the fight will be like a dance, from which I received incredible pleasure. One strike, two strike, three strike, dodge. Block, counterattack, hit, hit, dodge, etc. In addition, you can and should supplement your “dance” with the help of signs and additional weapons - bombs, a crossbow, which gives a little variety, so to speak.

For witchers the battle is the basis of income and survival. To live, you need to kill monsters (people can be monsters too), and without the proper skill and knowledge, such a witcher will either die of hunger, or he will be killed by a simple Ghoul at the first order, let alone a Wyvern, Basilisk, Neckers or the like.

Gwent. Now this is a separate game, similar to the “in-the-witcher” game. In The Witcher, Gwent is quite simple, you just need to understand the order of play of your opponents (which practically does not change), and adapt to it. But even such a seemingly trifle is given enough play time. After the very first game of Gwent, the task “Collect all the cards for the game” appears, and I personally was interested in looking for them (this is where the meme “How about a game of Gwent?” came from). The game will feature a Gwent championship, which, to be honest, was not easy for me to win and I had to restart the game several times.

Escort. The music that accompanies you during the game is incredible. During battle, during conversations, walking around the city or outside it - all this enhances the atmosphere a hundredfold, and you seem to be next to Geralt and traveling with him.

In addition to the advantages, of course, there are also disadvantages, which I would call features that you will have to put up with.

Environment. The world is truly huge, and CDPR was given a difficult task to ensure that the player does not get bored during the game. To do this, there are question marks “?” on the map, which conceal either a place of power that gives Geralt an extra point for leveling up, an additional quest, or a hidden treasure. And to be honest, during the second playthrough I was no longer so interested in studying all the “?”, especially on the Skellige islands. But CDPR coped with the task. Personally, for the first time I was interested in finding out what these unknown places “?”...

Combat system. Despite the above, in the second part of The Witcher there were several fighting styles, while in the 3rd part there were only two types of attacks. For me this is not critical, but some “oldfags” (which includes one of my friends who talked about the second part of the series) may not like it.

"ENT". In the game "Wild Hunt", and in the books "Wild Race". For some, it may not be clear what this is all for, why this and that, what is the meaning of certain moments. And to understand, you need to get to know the universe better - play the first 2 parts, read books, which can take more than one week or month, which can be an unaffordable luxury for busy people. Moreover, in the books Sapkowski does not directly talk about the “Conjugation of Worlds”, about witchers, sorcerers, and about the world in general. You will have to search and find out about all this yourself.

Again, based on my experience, I will say that I easily understood the essence of the game, knowing almost nothing. It was after finishing the game that I became interested in this universe, but I was able to find time to read the books only in April of this year, which I am incredibly happy about. After the books, I learned more about why “Wild Hunt” is looking for Ciri, I understood many references in the game, I saw some of the characters in the game from a different perspective, I learned the story of Geralt’s acquaintance and relationship with this or that person.

This is a Game with a capital G, which has become for me more than just a Game, which left a huge amount of emotions. The most heartwarming moment in the game is the video at the end, in the “Blood and Wine” add-on, after which you understand: “This is the end, the story is over...”

This is my first serious review, I didn’t say a lot because it needs to be seen and felt.

If you are still thinking about purchasing and have not launched The Witcher, then know that it is worth it, and I envy those who will play this Game for the first time.

Thank you for reading to the end. I hope The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will hook you as much as it did me :3