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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open-world action adventure game that is controlled in the third person created by CD Project Red.
The gameplay consists of action role playing elements where the player journeys through a vast world leveling up their character and his equipment in order to progress the storyline.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Immersive story
The dialogue of the game is very intriguing and is voiced superbly, making for a very immersive experience as far as story is concerned, making the "role-playing" part of RPG a very strong part of this game. It is through the care the developers took to implement such realistic writing and voice work that makes the game so intriguing and an experience to play.
Pro Good gameplay and combat
Though player reactions to Witcher 3 combat has been very polarized, many people thought it was great, compared to most RPGs. One needs to be very good with swordplay controls (higher difficulties) to get out of a combat alive. Add in dozens of enemy varieties and it gets even more challenging.
Pro Amazing fantasy world yet a sense of realism even in the most intricate details
A dark, adult-oriented world, the Witcher is unlike most dark fantasies and it's not at all a high fantasy. It's a weird mixture of both with a distinct taste of folklore fantasy, which makes it even more compelling than most other fantasies as it pays as much attention to kings, wars and palaces as it does to lower class prostitutes, beggars and homeless children suffering from horrors of war.
Pro Attention to detail in almost every facet of the game
The Witcher 3 is how an AAA title should play, sound, and feel like. Its deep combat, beautiful graphics, amazing sound, interesting quests, immersive story, and almost every other aspect of the game has a surprising amount of polish.
Pro Choices matter
The Witcher 3 has three completely different endings. The decisions during main quests and side-quests affect how the endings play out, adding up 36 possible outcomes. It feels refreshing to actually impact your character's fate and not just trot along a path to an inevitable conclusion.
Pro Side quests are as good as the main quests
There are almost no lazy "go get me 12 turtle shells" quests in the Witcher 3 and you get to experience some amazing writing even in the most obscure side quests.
The Witcher 3 sets a new standard with how well-done the side quests are. Since Geralt is a witcher, meaning he specializes in dealing with monsters with his swords and magic spells, people often go to him when they need a monster problem taken care of. Some of these problems involve people who have lost loved ones to a monster and simply want help tracking down their corpses to give them a proper send-off, or they want Geralt to take revenge by tracking down the monster and killing it. These side stories go a long way to humanize the minor characters, letting you feel their grief, hopelessness, or anger within only a few short minutes of speaking with them and getting the quest details. It's impressive that the writers manage to consistently pack so much emotion into these optional quests that you might not even choose to play through.
Pro Lots of random side quests
You can just walk around for hours, find abandoned structures, caves, etc and find interesting side quests to do.
Pro Your choices lead to morally-gray consequences and multiple different endings
There are rarely any right answers when making decisions. The situations that the story puts you in are unique and oftentimes unsettling, sometimes leaving you agonizing over which dialog option to pick during story conversations. During your first playthrough, it's isn't obvious which of your decisions are "important" and will impact plot outcomes, making you think critically about all of your choices. Most surprising are the critical decisions that determine which ending you get -- once you see your ending, you learn how organic everything is, with the game keeping track of your relationships with other characters in subtle ways.
Pro The soundtrack is well constructed and complementary in almost all situations
While exploring, doing a quest whether it is main or side one, the music in the back always enhances your game play. When a fight starts it pumps you up by playing Slavic or Celtic beats, and on a heartbreaking scene, it slows down its pace and plays an instrumental that rings even after you close it. You won't even notice, but you start to hum Skelliege sound or Priscilla song in your daily chores.
Watching the sun set over the horizon while the Kaer Morhen tune plays was one of the best moments in the game. Without the songs to complement it, the side quests or the battles would have started to feel like a chore after a while on doing side content.
Pro Vast and beautiful open world to explore
The world is gorgeous in how untainted it is, with many locations to see and visit. Full of vibrant life, the medieval-style setting is simple and understated, with wide open fields, rainy meadows, snowy mountain ranges, and modest wooden towns and cities for you to roam around on horseback or on foot. There are tons of secrets to find all over, like monster lairs to destroy for loot, treasure maps to follow, and hidden side quests in remote villages. The in-game clock keeps the skies changing with the hour as you cross from city to city, country to country, brightening the horizons with brilliant, golden sunrises in the morning and burning crimson sunsets in the evening. Everything is amazing to look at, encouraging you to wander around aimlessly just to take in the sights.
Pro Thoughtful and expansive story with well-written characters
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt tells a deep and intricate story about the main character, Geralt, on his long journey to find his adoptive daughter, Ciri, who's on the run from the evil, supernatural warlords of the Wild Hunt. You spend the game following various leads on Ciri's whereabouts, meeting up with old friends, former lovers, powerful politicians, and all sorts of people from many walks of life. These characters usually want something in exchange for giving Geralt the information he wants, leading you down some unexpected and eye-opening paths as you learn more about who they are, how they met Ciri, and how she helped them grow as people, letting you form a bond with her through these thought-provoking tales. And as Geralt either helps or hurts these people himself, he inevitably impacts their lives in even more ways.
Aside from the main story, there are also two great expansions: Hearts of Stone, and Blood and Wine, both of which offer their own amazing narratives with hours and hours of content. Hearts of Stone has you get involved with a shady, all-powerful manipulator who gives Geralt a series of seemingly impossible tasks, while Blood and Wine lets you explore the rolling hills of the wine-loving country of Touissant, with all the political intrigue surrounding the Duchess there.
The Witcher 3's story has so much to offer, easily keeping you hooked for well over a hundred hours as you play and replay the base game and the excellent expansions.
Pro Convenient ways to get around the massive world
The world is intimidatingly massive but thankfully there are ways to cut down on travel time. You can ride a horse, use a boat, or just simply fast travel to explored locations. This makes the experience more accessible and enjoyable as a whole.
Cons
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Pro Memorable and meaningful side quests
The Witcher 3 sets a new standard with how well-done the side quests are. Since Geralt is a witcher, meaning he specializes in dealing with monsters with his swords and magic spells, people often go to him when they need a monster problem taken care of. Some of these problems involve people who have lost loved ones to a monster and simply want help tracking down their corpses to give them a proper send-off, or they want Geralt to take revenge by tracking down the monster and killing it. These side stories go a long way to humanize the minor characters, letting you feel their grief, hopelessness, or anger within only a few short minutes of speaking with them and getting the quest details. It's impressive that the writers manage to consistently pack so much emotion into these optional quests that you might not even choose to play through.
Pro Main character is not the chosen one, and you're not the most important person in the whole universe
In the Witcher, Geralt is special, yes, to his friends. He is capable too but for many, he is just another freak of nature. Many will hate him for no reason at all, and the world doesn't rely on him to solve any problems, and not that he'll do anything for free anyways. This is what makes it so real and believable. Everyone wants something, and you want it too.
Con A very dark world
World of Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski, the famous Polish writer on whose books the game series is based upon, is very dark, complicated and mature. There are no good or bad choices; only lesser evil. Don't go expecting a 'Dragonborn' welcome for a Witcher. People dread you. And your impact to the world is minimal but greater for individuals (unlike most fantasy RPGs). And that impact may not be a good one - people can get killed, as in real life.
Con Story feels like a chore
Most quests feel like a chore in that it is basically fetch quests in exchange for information to advance the story. While this is often a mechanic found in games to keep the gameplay long it does get tiresome.