The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Spins, Pirouettes and Feints.

[Introduction]

With three hundred and twenty hours in CDPR's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I feel myself finally somewhat capable of talking about it. It's a game that frankly needs no introduction and for better (or for worse) set CDPR upon a path to success. Critically acclaimed as one of the greatest games of the last decade, game of its year, and holding no shortage of awards, it truly stood out as a diamond in the rough of what was otherwise considered a mediocre franchise from a small studio out of Poland.


[First Impressions]

If the third installment to the main series was your first one, then it was hardly an issue. The game sets itself up in that you needn't have played the prior two games to get yourself involved in the plot. It starts as if you hadn't, but has plenty to offer for those that did. Through the tutorial start of the game you're immediately greeted by one of the primary themes of the game: maturity. In that being the protagonist Geralt's naked and bathing form, and his romantic interest Yennefer's finely crafted figure. The game also makes a big show of the graphics which still hold up today. Upon entering the balcony you're given a view of one of the best vistas you'll see in the entire game; the mountains of Kaer Morhen.

Shortly after, you're introduced to your basic controls and streamlined downstairs where you'll soon partake in your first bit of combat in the form of training. The combat itself feels fine at first. Parrying and dodging are responsive, you've a lot of evasive actions in the form of short accurate steps or big diving rolls to avoid danger. The combat itself isn't too complex with attacking in the form of light and heavy attacks, though you do learn more moves later, it never really becomes overwhelming. Signs are also a part of your kit; including up to five with these being Aard, Igni, Yrden, Quen and Axii which I'll talk about more later.

After the brief tutorial you're thrown into the actual game world and one of the things that was immediately apparent to me was the difference between fighting people and fighting monsters. You'll be set upon by several Ghouls which are Necrophages (essentially just undead) that are agile and have almost pack-like behavior, they can also regenerate their health. They skitter around on all fours and use leaping attacks. These leaping attacks can't be blocked by a parry of your sword, or well, they can but you'll be staggered if you do. Instead you need to outright avoid attacks from monsters that come in the form of claws, wings and tails, immediately setting them aside from your regular human foe.

The introduction of the game will railroad you up until you get to the first Inn at White Orchard, where the game finally opens up to you somewhat in the form of multiple quests, points of interest, general exploration and smaller activities like the card game Gwent. But White Orchard is still just a beginning zone before you get into the actual world map.


[Development]

Directed and published in-house; the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt began its development in 2011, though that was a delayed beginning for the game as 2008 was its originally planned development start. Interestingly enough for such a widely successful game the Witcher 3 was funded entirely by CDPR. It was first-most a game for the franchise's frankly niche following, and I won't mince words, my own experience only started with the second game.

The development saw its own issues in the form of cut content and nearing deadlines though many of these features were re-introduced to the game free of charge as DLC after the initial release. This is what truly began the foundation of CDPR's good will from consumers. They certainly could have stopped development after release, but at the time they felt they owed it to their dedicated fanbase to release what they were still working on with no strings attached. The DLC was well received, and as a result the game and company were both regarded highly and CDPR was soon considered one of the most consumer-friendly developers in the industry.

The music for the game was directed by Marcin Przybyłowicz who did such work on the previous Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and later went on to direct the music for both expansions to the Witcher 3. Interestingly enough another composer was brought on in the fashion of Percival, a Polish folk band. It was an unconventional work agreement as the band members were not formally trained, and as a result there were difficulties to work around in such regard.

It needn't be said but despite the attempts to reintroduce cut content to the game, there was plenty missing. Some might recognize from the early trailers that the UI was quite different, or that certain quests or scenes simply didn't exist in the final game. The choices behind this may have been to keep people from guessing what quests they were going to undertake, but it could just be as well that they scrapped it for other reasons entirely.

Whatever bumps and turns the development took though, it can't be argued that the end result was nothing short of a fantastic piece of both story and world design.


[Game Mechanics]

In regards to basic movement one might find that Geralt is surprisingly sluggish in responding to analogue inputs. There is however a workaround for this to enable more instant responses in the options. The game can feel somewhat clunky at times in regards to fine movement, but otherwise it works just fine.

Combat while interesting at first can leave a bit to be desired later on. While some sword moves become available later on you're limited by the skill tree in how many you actually get. Going into light attacks will give you a fast spinning attack that deals plenty of damage, and going into heavier attacks allows you to charge each strike for extra damage. When dealing with enemy soldiers wielding a variety of weapons you can parry and counter, and be treated with some delightful finishing animations that play smoothly and then throw you right back into the fight. Dealing with monsters does away with such fanciful flourishes however, and when you're done fighting a monster they'll promptly just fall to the floor.

The Signs are varied but frankly have limited use in combat unless you go hard into the Signs tree. Igni will either send forth a wave of fire or a sustained gout if you spec into it. Axii will stun opponents briefly, or when specced will convert enemies to allies for a duration. Axii can also be used in certain dialogue options to essentially jedi mind-trick peasants. Aard is a knockback effect directed in front of you, or a circular area of effect when specced. Aard can also be used to knock away arrows and bolts. Yrden was a very situational one for me and mostly only gained use when around spectres and ghost type enemies. Yrden can temporarily immobilize or slow down an enemy, or in the case of spirits make them more corporeal. Quen found the most use as it works as a handy shield that will protect you from one or several hits. The enhanced version of Quen forms a spherical barrier around you, but I seldom found much use of it when the original was a shield that also let you stay on the attack.

The tree I found to be most broken however (trivializing the game even on Death March) is also my personal favorite, that being the one that focused on alchemy and bombs. In the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt potions are a large part of your gameplay. They can do many things ranging from simply recovering health, to making your blood deadly to vampires, and to granting you quicker reactions or making your strikes hit harder. There are a dozen to choose from and there's also decoctions that are essentially more powerful, but a lot more situational and unique in what they provide. You can create your potions from herbs and monster materials gathered in the wild, and can imbibe as many as your toxicity cap will allow.

There are also blade oils in the alchemy tree which can be applied to your blades to give you an edge against a particular type of opponent. Going up against Necrophages? You've an appropriate oil to apply to your silver blade. Spectres? Got you covered. Draconic? Definitely. There's an oil for every situation, and later in the alchemy tree you'll also get increased resistance to the enemy type of the oil you're using.

Bombs also come into play with alchemy. They can be simple explosive frag bombs like Grapeshot, or an explosion of bitter frost and cold like Northern Wind. Some are situational, like Dragon's Dream which fills the area with flammable gas that you can then ignite with Igni. These bombs can also work particularly well against certain monsters and foes, which brings me all towards one of my favorite things about the game.

Preparation.

This feature was a lot more prevalent in Witcher 2 but had its shortcomings in when it could be used (And we lack traps in Witcher 3.) But the idea of hunting a particular foe, knowing what you're going up against, and then deciding you need that oil, this kind of bomb, and preferably these types of potions. Then you go about gathering the ingredients to craft what you need, and before you engage you prepare by utilizing them all. Something about it all just clicks with me, for it really makes me feel like I'm a Witcher, hunting my target, studying it, and taking every advantage I can to dispatch of it as easily as possible. In my opinion that is one of the strongest aspects of the game's design. Less so the combat itself, but the preparation of it.

Did I forget to mention you get two swords? Steel is for humans and mundane creatures like wolves and bears. Silver is for anything supernatural or fantastical in nature.

As a side note there's also a crossbow present in the game that comes with several types of bolts, though one in particular, the tracking bolt, makes me think that at some point monsters were meant to flee and be tracked down following a blood trail that you made. It was seen in one of the early demos with a flying feathered beast, but such did not sadly make it into the final game.

I should also mention that alongside side-quests and the main quest there are contract quests. These are quests that specifically have you find a notice upon a board hiring a Witcher. You accept the contract, negotiate the price with the one who placed it, and begin with a point in a direction. As you progress through the contract you'll discover what type of creature it is you hunt, and where its lair is, or how you might trap it. While on paper I love the ideas of contracts, eventually I found that they all played the same. You pick up a contract, you go to the objective area, you find some clues, you find out what the monster is, you prepare and kill the monster. I'd have personally liked there to be less guiding and more twists when it came to these contracts.

All in all though, the Witcher 3 grounds itself as an RPG with stats, items, equippables, upgrades, crafting and numbers. These numbers can be laughably put in your favor, but if an RPG isn't what you're after you might want to look elsewhere.


[Graphics]

The game holds up beautifully, what can I say? Even after almost six years now. You can quite easily tell when something doesn't hold up in texture when you get a close up of a face or a piece of gear, but the world design itself holds true. The dilapidated ruins of Kaer Morhen, an old Witcher keep crumbling away with time and its surrounding untamed wild lands. Ard Skellig and its distant mountains and stormy seas, and that Celtic architecture that tells as many stories as the people that inhabit it. Even the war-torn bogs and marshes of Velen have character to them, a truly dreary place with sorrow down every path, war-crimes on display, and desperate men banding together in shadowed forests.

The game might've lost a bit of its gleam and its luster in the form of texture, but the design itself is timeless, and a good design is always going to show through all else.

I would also be amiss not to mention how keenly crafted each area feels when following along paths. With high cliffs holding narrow passages to quiet streams flowing through a forest, rocky outcroppings, comfy villages, the simple nature that is found around you at most times. I can only feel that much of it would've been enhanced with a first-person view.


[Story]

The story is really where the game shines, and where most of its accolades come from I imagine. The story is based of course upon Andrzej Sapkowski's novels The Witcher, though the games are considered non-canon and take place after the books. As a result there are some heavy Polish folklore themes present within the game, but also of other cultures too.

The story revolves around Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher by trade. Witchers are mutated humans, they have enhanced strength, agility, reactions and live well beyond normal lifespans. Often recognized for their cat-like yellow eyes and the two blades upon their back. Though people don't trust Witchers as much as they used to, seeing less need for them despite the threat of monsters which they are the utmost professional hunters of.

In this chapter of Geralt's story he seeks his long-since absent ward, Ciri, by request, no, demand of the Emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis (Otherwise known as the white flame dancing upon the graves of his foes.) Amidst this search for his would-be daughter the land around Geralt heaves under the stress of a war fought on two sides; the ever expanding black empire of Nilfgaard and the Northern Realms, or what remains of them.

Geralt must navigate these torn lands in search for clues and leads, no matter what he gets caught up in along the way, be it powerful lords, treacherous vagabonds, or terrifying beasts. All the while as the mythical Wild Hunt, a mysterious group of armed riders that cross the night sky begin to intervene...


[SPOILERS]

I'll try keep this brief and speak more of what I find the good parts of the story to be.

First and foremost the story really strikes a chord. Geralt is in search for his one-time ward Ciri, it's your father/daughter story that really tugs at the strings in the way only they can, but there is a clear example I want to talk about that really exemplifies the game itself.

The Bloody Baron. This part of the main questline, and later side-quest, cannot be missed under any circumstance. As one of the earliest quest chains you get access to it really sets the morally grey tone of the world itself. Take the scene at hand for example. You arrive at a village, the peasants are downtrodden and fearful. They're all hiding away, telling their daughters to flee into the forest. You begin to question why. You enter the inn and as you ask the keeper your questions, in walks the men of the Baron. They ask questions of you first, and are none too polite about it. You can either rise to the bait and fight them all there and then, and likely make short work of them, or you could keep your calm as asked of you by the innkeep.

In the event you remain calm, and you let the situation simmer down, you find yourself free to leave. Heading outside the inn it becomes apparent what's happening. The Baron's men are stealing food, threatening the raping of children, abusing the elderly folk. Their threats are constant, and the fear is plain to see in the people. At this moment you draw your blade, you've seen enough, and you cut down every single one. You would think yourself heralded a hero, right? No. The peasants disagree with your choice, stating that you've only made things worse. That the next group that comes by will only be so much worse to them, and you can't stay to defend them forever.

And you've not only made it worse for them, but yourself too. You arrive at the Baron's village and find everyone hiding from you, and the guards hostile for recognizing you're the one that butchered their men.

Already you've made what some might consider the wrong choice. It might've been morally correct, but was it the actual correct thing to do?

Many similar situations like this arise with the Baron. You find him at first to be a drunk brutal man, with no care for the peasantry. But there is some truth to his words. He claims that without him his men would do so much worse. He holds the leash to violent dogs, to let them loose would be a foolish choice. You continue to learn of the Baron and these sides to him. He's in search of his own daughter, and his wife, and you agree to help in exchange for information on Ciri. But you soon find proof that he had a dispute with his wife, there's blood, spilled wine, sign of a struggle. It becomes clear that there was some domestic abuse.

But the Baron? For all his apparent misdeeds and flaws, in some strange way, genuinely cares for his wife and daughter and bids you help him, and that he'll do all in his power to see them again. He regrets his actions, claims his wife knew how to infuriate him. Bring in a miscarriage, a cursed creature born of it, and the Baron's acceptance of his mistakes when confronted with them all and you start to piece together your own thoughts on who type of man he is.

I won't say more on the Baron, but the end result is a deeply flawed man, but you can't help but admire his desire to undo all the wrongs, to be a better father and husband, and he would slay anything that gets in his way of that goal. Or maybe you'll outright hate his guts and think him nothing but a vile fiend? There's people on both sides of the fence when it comes to him, and that's fantastic.

The end of the chain is bittersweet no matter which way you slice it and that quest chain was by far one of the most impacting of the game, but there are many more like it.

Nearly all the side-quests have some kind of dilemma like this, a choice that might at first seem the correct thing to do but has the worse results, or in some cases you'll never find out if what you did was right or wrong leaving you to ponder. Even something so small as freeing a tied man at a river under threat of being eaten alive by drowners, but after freeing him you find him to have been a bandit and raided a nearby village, killing all that were there, and then he thanks you.

Your choices in the Witcher 3 are important, but I won't lie to you and say that every single one is. Anyone who expects that from a game is frankly expecting far too much. Technology isn't quite there yet, especially six years ago, but a lot of the major quests in the Witcher will change how the game ends, what wars are won, who lives and dies, what becomes of the island nation of Skellige under its new rulership and even the fate of Ciri.

If you want to play this and you're reading these spoilers without having done so then I urge you to experience it yourself. I won't say anything more of the main storyline itself for I've too much respect for it. Please enjoy it.


[Pros]

- Fantastic story.

- Beautifully crafted world.

- Timeless soundtrack.

- Immersive.

- Prepare for any encounter.


[Cons]

- Shallow combat.

- Repetitive contract quests.

- Distant parts of the map feel empty.

- Clunky movement.

- Easily breakable stat-wise.

[Conclusion]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a timeless classic and I'll often still go back and do entire playthroughs 100% with every objective on the hardest difficulty. The expansions I barely touched on here, but they add just as much story as the base game and are just as entertaining. The Witcher 3 doesn't require you to have played the previous games, but if you really want to know what threw CDPR into the spotlight and set such high expectations for its Cyberpunk 2077, then play this game and find out for yourself.

[Score]

9/10

/DEAD