The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review (PC)

excellent
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  • Game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • Platform: PC
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The Witcher 3 review on PC

Few role-playing game franchises have earned a following as big as The Witcher saga made by Polish studio CD Projekt Red. What started out as a niche experience based on novels popular mostly in the East European country is now a blockbuster property that's finally seeing its third and final installment debut across PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

With the promise of big adventures for protagonist Geralt of Rivia, an even bigger open world, and lots of refined mechanics, The Witcher 3 is looking set to be one of the biggest games of the year.

Does The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt manage to live up to all the hype and all the lofty promises from its developer or should Geralt head back to a life of solitude? Let's find out.

Story

The Witcher saga has always taken great pride in its stories, thanks to the rich world originally envisioned by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski in his own novels. While the first and second titles focused a bit more on story than on gameplay or environments, The Witcher 3 brings forth a huge open world not to mention more refined mechanics.

This doesn't mean that the plot suffers. Quite the opposite, as the story benefits a lot from the bigger world, not to mention the larger number of quests, both in terms of main and side missions, not to mention the special Witcher contracts.

The main plot revolves around protagonist Geralt of Rivia and his quest to find his adoptive daughter Ciri. Apparently the mythical Wild Hunt wants to use Ciri's powers for nefarious purposes and it's up to everybody's favorite white-haired witcher to stop the evil force.

Unfortunately, while the story certainly has plenty of great moments, Ciri's importance is a bit lost on those who haven't read the novels or are aware of Geralt's special relationship with her. What's more, while many different side quests and monster contracts are well-written, the main stories fall short.

The plotline revolves mostly on Geralt visiting different zones in the open world, doing a favor for someone, and then getting a new clue about Ciri's whereabouts, leading him and players to a new person that needs a favor.

This circle gets a bit tedious after a while and, while you can certainly entertain yourself with side missions and other activities, it does put a hamper, especially since quite a few segments involve a bit of useless padding in the form of lengthy journeys or extraneous objectives.

CD Projekt Red made quite a big deal about the many different possible conclusions found in The Witcher 3, depending on the actions of the player, and some are certainly more exciting, or satisfying, than others. Your choices have a pretty big impact, although some results are more obvious than others, or surprising, depending on how much foreshadowing you managed to spot.

Epic battles in The Witcher 3
Epic battles in The Witcher 3

Gameplay

The Witcher 1 was an old-school RPG that took great pride in its complex mechanics and the huge amount of time required to master them. The Witcher 2 started out as a bit more streamlined experience but it too needed some improvements through updates in order to become accessible for newcomers.

The Witcher 3 lowers that barrier of entry a bit more, but this doesn't mean that it's gone full casual. The many different mechanics, from fighting, to using magic signs, potions, and various gear to overcome enemies still reward strategic thinking and time spent learning the ins-and-outs of the RPG.

While the normal difficulty may seem a bit easy for veterans, it's very easy to encounter tougher enemies, so keeping the regular mode means that you might escape with your life from such encounters. The open world is the main culprit and, although most of the quests have recommended minimum levels for the player, roaming the world can often produce over-powered opponents that can kill you before you manage to escape.

Combat is much more intense and fast-spaced this time around, as Geralt is a bit more agile than in previous installments. His magic signs have also gotten a bit of an upgrade, as you access alternate modes once you level them enough. As such, the fire-based Agni can unleash a short burst of flame at first, but you can soon unleash steady torrents of flames at your opponents, drastically turning the tide of battle.

Besides relying on just your skill, you can also brew and drink potions, which are a bit simple this time around to craft and use. While the regular difficulty won't exactly deliver solid challenges, you'll still have some uses for the potions, provided you don't overdose on the toxic liquids.

One aspect of the game that goes a bit against you is the camera, which is a bit tough to wrangle, as well as the controls, as The Witcher 3 doesn't exactly play that well with a mouse and keyboard. After patch 1.03, things are a bit better but a controller is still advised if you really want to enjoy the RPG.

Another tricky feature is the horse combat, as Geralt can strike at foes while riding on his faithful steed, Roach. Unfortunately, this is literally hit and miss, as lining up swings of your sword is quite hard, both against enemies on the ground as well as those on horses. As such, it's often better to get off the horse and fight things in the regular way.

Intense weather in The Witcher 3
Intense weather in The Witcher 3

You can also employ the use of the new crossbow, which can be upgraded both in terms of power and variety in terms of bolts. Unfortunately, you won't use it all that much, as enemies can close gaps really fast. Even so, it's important when going up against flying enemies to get them back onto the ground.

The skill and inventory management system is also a bit more refined, allowing players to easily figure out just what they can improve and what gear they can juggle around. You can forge new pieces of armor, with different designs and looks, at smiths scattered throughout the world, but there are a few hitches. First, you have to find or buy the schematics, have the necessary materials, and then find a weapon smith or an armor one. Apparently every smith in the game's world has specialized in one or the other, leading to a bit of frustration.

Another pretty restrictive feature is the leveling up one, as you can spend attribute points on upgrading your fighting skills, your magic signs, or your alchemy, but you can only have a few of them active at the same time. While you can change them on the fly, its complexity is unwarranted.

Enemies are quite varied, ranging from the regular drowners, to giant, hulking bests including cyclops, harpies, and many others. Each use different patterns and strategies so players should always stay on their toes and adapt their styles.

By far the most impressive aspect of The Witcher 3, however, is the open world. There are plenty of role-playing games with big worlds but few match up to the environment of CD Projekt Red's magnum opus. Not only is it filled with lots of settlements, villages, towns, or cities like Novigrad, but it feels like a world that's alive. You'll see all sorts of different things while traversing it, from hanged bandits to roaming monsters, to all sorts of procedurally-generated situations that may or may not pique your interest.

While roaming the world is a blast, fast traveling falls a bit short, as you can only do that at sign posts that are few and far in between. As such, prepare to walk around or ride on your horse for quite a bit before being able to cut your traveling time.

Last but not least, while living the life of a powerful witcher, you can also engage in games of Gwent, the new card game envisioned by CD Projekt Red which has quite a few interesting mechanics. Lots of NPCs are well-versed in the mini-game but you need a few matches under your belt before you really understand its complexities.

Ride your boat in The Witcher 3
Ride your boat in The Witcher 3

Visuals and sound

The Witcher 3's visuals have sparked quite a controversy ahead of its debut due to the downgrade seen between early videos or screenshots and more recent glimpses at the RPG. While it's clear that CD Projekt Red wanted some much more impressive graphics initially than what it delivers with The Witcher 3 right now, it doesn't mean that the title should be disqualified.

It looks amazing in most moments, retains a solid framerate, and it's filled with great effects, animations, or textures. There are some moments when things slow down or when the camera doesn't want to cooperate, but these are few and far in between.

Special mention goes to the PC version when running on Nvidia graphics cards, as CD Projekt Red brings a lot of different GameWorks features, such as PhysX, HairWorks, HBAO+ or actual environmental destruction. While some of these features had a serious cost on performance in the original build, with patch 1.03 you can safely turn them on and enjoy the splendid effects.

The soundtrack is nothing short of amazing, delivering not just orchestral scores but also haunting vocals when exploring the world. The voice acting is top notch, with Geralt and the rest of the main cast delighting in their performances. Even random villagers sound believable while some monsters that can talk deliver some pretty menacing threats.


The Good

  • Huge open world
  • Intense and fluid combat
  • Great soundtrack and voice acting
  • Interesting missions

The Bad

  • A lot of repetitive main story missions
  • Fast travel requires tedious exploration
  • Complex leveling system
  • It's too easy to meet powerful enemies

Conclusion

The Witcher 3 is a fitting end for the saga from CD Projekt Red. It's also the most accessible title in the series and manages to delight through most of its mechanics, especially the huge open world. While the main storyline doesn't exactly live up to expectations and it has quite a few smaller annoyances, it's still a blast to play and should offer hundreds of hours of enjoyment to any RPG fan.

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story 8
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 9
audio 10
multiplayer 0
final rating 9
Editor's review
excellent
 
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt screenshots (24 Images)

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