Geralt of Rivia looks tired. His nearly eight-year-long journey, beginning on PC and eventually expanding onto console, has seen him turn from a young, cocky, and at-times lecherous mercenary to an old, cocky, and far less lecherous mercenary. But the gruff demeanor and stern tone is as much of an illusion as it is reality. Returning players will notice that the years have taken a toll on the renowned monster hunter; his patchwork of scars reveals the physical toil he’s endured, but the exasperation in his voice and weariness on his face betrays the countless acts of brutality he has witnessed and participated in during such a volatile, violent age. As he attempts to cope with the emotional and personal schisms brought about by the return of his memory, he must also face one of the more serious threats to date: the Wild Hunt.
This ancient myth is made very real in Geralt’s world, as the roving band of spectral knights has begun to appear with alarming frequency throughout the lands, bringing with them bitter cold and death. The mysterious cavalcade isn’t merely out to torment peasants but to also ensnare one of the most precious things in the White Wolf’s life: Ciri, a young girl he helped to raise but who had until recently been missing. She’s returned, and the Wild Hunt is after her. Now the chase is on, and players must set out on an expansive journey throughout a massive open world to track down and reach Ciri before she is taken by the Hunt.
The Witcher 3 picks up after its predecessor, but just how much the latter impacts the new adventure is up to the player. When setting up a new game, a menu offers the chance for players to choose whether or not they would prefer to simulate a save file from The Witcher 2. Although the results aren’t immediately noticeable, this setup makes for a tidy if confusing workaround for console gamers, as the ability to import a save file is only available for the PC version. If players opt for a clean slate, then they can begin the game without having to worry about dealing with Geralt’s previous actions, whether that be a deal with the wrong person or a murderous outburst. For those who choose to simulate a save, the impact of their decision isn’t entirely clear. In fact, over an hour goes by before the outcome of the choice comes into play, which ends up revealing itself in the form of a conversation. A certain character questions Geralt about his past in an effort to clarify spotty reports from the imperial archives. He will go through a series of events, and the player gets to choose what Geralt did in those particular situations. For those who played The Witcher 2, they can quickly and easily replicate the path they took, or they can switch things up to see what changes. How these are answered is important because they affect how others behave towards the player. For the review, I chose to emulate a save file since I played through The Witcher 2 for PC, so bear in mind that some events mentioned might not take place for everyone, which, coincidentally, is just the kind of distinctiveness that I like in my role-playing games.
Reuniting with Ciri isn’t easy, and true to series tradition, Geralt will have to associate with some unsavory folk and make many difficult choices. Those who have previous experience with the series won’t be surprised by the wobbly morals of the people met or questionable deeds done, but the grimy nature of the world and its inhabitants will feel unique, if not refreshing, to many newcomers. The lands are reeling from a massive war, with muddy, corpse-strewn battlefields dotting the countryside, refugees seeking alms at city gates and in makeshift camps, soldiers bullying locals, bandits prowling the trails, and the unscrupulous conniving and clawing their way to the top. However, not all is as it seems. Additional dialog options flesh out characters’ personalities, and quests large and small unravel to become more than the black-and-white affairs they may initially seem. Characters have long memories, too. An example of how even the best of intentions counts for little is when I decided to stick up for a barmaid, which resulted in a brawl that left several men in a bloody heap on the floor. Instead of thanking me, the woman begin to shriek and yell, telling me to get out. Hours later, I found myself in another tavern located in a city far away from the tiny hamlet where the brawl broke out, being yelled at by the very same barmaid, who was accusing me in front of everyone of being a murderer. Those types of punch-to-the-gut moments are common. Every time I thought I was doing good, my actions would cause someone to suffer in often unforeseen ways. There were a few times when a response didn’t play out quite the same as the text option seemed to indicate, but the majority of the events unfolded in a way that fit perfectly with a world that seems to know nothing but suffering. It got to the point where I felt just as cynical and irritated as Geralt. It’s hard not to after finding an unfinished love letter in the pockets of a drunk, overly confrontational local, or when a quick reply to hasten a scene results in refugees being turned away from the only safe city in the area. It’s a harsh world, and navigating it will call for a rare level of consideration.
Players can still do a lot of good, though whether that’s out of the goodness of their heart or for a few handfuls of coin is up to them. One of the most impressive facets of The Witcher 3 is the wide variety of activities. In addition to the main story quests are secondary ones that feature numerous characters from previous installments. These are often quite involved, unfolding over several sequences that will have Geralt lending a hand in some surprising ways, from performing in a play to witnessing specters relive a revolt in a remote swampy outpost. Witcher Contracts are more investigative in nature, with players needing to engage Geralt’s Witcher senses so that clues can be highlighted for examination. These culminate in battles against stronger creatures, but the pay and experience rewarded are significant, and hagglers can even talk some needy folk out of a few more coins; many also feature interesting subplots, making them more than just fodder for grinding. There is much more, including stashed Witcher gear to track down, piles of treasure to uncover, places of power to gain a skill point, monster hordes to clear out, roaming bandits to fight, deserter camps to clear, sudden quests that spring up, and the chance to liberate hamlets from violent occupiers so that locals can return (and set up shop). The amount and extent of these side quests and activities is staggering, and I spent days playing without ever progressing the main plot.
Equally impressive is the size of the world. The navigable area is massive, and it’s completely open for players to explore. It’s so large that there are three modes of travel beyond swimming or hoofing it on foot: fast travel from one discovered signpost to another, by horse, and by boat. A counter keeps track of how many steps the players are from the custom or quest waypoint, while a dotted line ensures that Geralt will end up exactly where he needs to be. The caches of loot and squads of cutthroats already offer a strong incentive to explore the world, and the conveniences only added to my desire to uncover everything that I could, making this one of the few games where I opted to skip fast travel much of the time. Geralt’s horse, Roach, can also be summoned from nearly anywhere, offering a reliable way to get around and avoid dangers. There are some caveats, however: Roach will automatically stick to paths but run off of them when commanded to go faster, which can be frustrating, and he is also susceptible to fear, bucking Geralt if he becomes too scared. He also has a tendency to hang on objects in the environment, and although he can be manually commanded to jump, it seems an automatic leap would’ve been a much better fit given the number of objects littering the environment. Boats are everywhere and freely available—helpful but strange, since they must cost an astronomical amount in a world of peasants—and offer ways to explore islands, dive for sunken treasure, and safely scout locations. There are dangers in the water as well as in the sky, but the only real threat to Geralt’s safety was my piloting skills when navigating tight spots. Taking more scenic routes also offers a chance to see more of the land, which is recommended, as a lot of effort has gone into making the world a dynamic, vibrant one: villagers go about their business and talk to one another, passersby make snide comments about Witchers and nonhumans, children play, dogs and chickens run around, and random robberies occur that can be prevented. All of this provides a tremendous atmosphere and sense of place. Seeing the skies darken while in a rickety boat, pulling up to a tavern on Roach in the midst of a rainstorm to try my hand against the locals in a card game, and hearing a villager whistle one of the game’s songs, it seemed like I’d been visiting these lands for years—though, in a way, I guess I have been.
But the world is full of dangers even for a Witcher. Fortunately, Geralt is every bit as deadly as he’s ever been. As a Witcher, he has access to mutations that improve his performance in combat, expand his alchemical options, and allow him to cast minor spells. By linking mutations to the appropriate skills, he receives a modifier that provides additional bonuses that increase as similar skill types are added and leveled. Physical combat revolves two attack types, a light and a heavy, as well as his two swords, a steel one for humans and beasts and a silver one for monsters. He also has access to a crossbow, for pulling in enemies, and a variety of craftable items, including explosives, blade-augmenting oils, and restorative potions for stamina (to cast spells) and adrenaline (to enhance melee attacks). His spells are drawn from five signs that give him magical powers, with Igni allowing him to attack using fire, Aard for pushing and attacking using telekinesis, Quen for summoning a shield, Yrden for laying traps, and Axii for fooling enemies during combat and influencing conversations. Signs, combat elements, and alchemy can all be levelled on the character screen, with numerous avenues to progress in each area. There are several skills for each category, and more advanced forms of each skill become available as the total number of points allocated to the host category increases.
Geralt has access to so many interesting skills and abilities that I never felt like I had enough points to go around. If I wasn’t trying to bump Axii to fool enemies and talk my way out of fights, then I was trying to beef up Igni so that I could spew a stream of searing flame from my hand, or improving my resistance to toxins so that I could chug more potions. Many of these skills are necessary, too, as enemies come in all shapes and sizes. Teeth-grindingly accurate archers will have to be neutralized with an advanced parry that knocks away arrows and a quick flurry of light attacks, while fire elementals will require explosives that freeze everything in their blast radius and specters magical traps to anchor them in the material world. Combat can feel a little clunky at times, though. The targeting system is too quick to switch away from immediate threats in favor of others that are less so, even when locked. Tight spaces also caused problems for the camera, which would fail to show enough of the surrounding area.
Swords and spells alone won’t be enough for some enemies, and that’s when the game’s extensive crafting system comes into play. Powerful weapons, armor, and brews can be created from the dozens of ingredients attainable from plants in the wild and off the bodies of defeated enemies. Merchants and craftsmen offer ready-made items, but I was able to commission some of the best from all of the ingredients I obsessively gathered. Almost every chest, sack, and crate can be looted for goods to toss in myriad concoctions, but be warned: if a town guard notices the theft, they’ll deliver a beating and then take some coin for their troubles.
Given that the world is so vast and so heavily populated, the game suffers from some performance problems. Texture draw-in and polygon pop-up is common, and it can affect gameplay at times. Some creatures have stilted combat animations that make it difficult to properly time a parry, while at other times I got stuck in an object because it loaded after I had already been standing in the same spot. There are other issues as well, such as items being difficult to pick up because either the interact button didn’t appear or nothing happening when I pressed the button after it did (causing me to turn into a helicopter, sweeping round and round over times), weird sequences loading during load times (Geralt would suddenly be standing in another location before the game loaded again to finish the first loading sequence), and item icons distorting into weird artifacts in the menu. The game was reviewed using a code, so it was played entirely off the hard drive, and I found it would become more unstable the longer I played. Oddities increased after an hour and a half or so, with characters taking longer to load into a scene, magic effects not appearing during combat, and so on. A patch became available as I was writing this review, but I still experienced all of the aforementioned problems after downloading it, and I’d say a few of the graphical anomalies actually increased. The good news is that the game’s design is fantastic, which is something that’s far more difficult to fix with patches.
Bugs are a nuisance, but they cannot take away from the immersive and genuinely intriguing experience offered by The Witcher 3. I knew the game had its hooks in me when I didn’t want to make a difficult decision because I genuinely cared about the characters involved in the dispute. The fantastic voice acting and writing gives life to everyone, even the lowliest bit character that will only be seen for a 15-minute quest, and it’s easy to become enamored with the world. And the frequent negative repercussions from helping others require an amount of restraint rare in open-world games. The volume of material is vast, and the quality is outstanding. Whether it’s reading the various scrolls, letters, and books to get more lore, engaging in funny or biting conversations, or trying to navigate Geralt’s love life, there is so much on offer and so much of it is outstanding.
Overall: 9/10
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s relentlessly grim world of mud and guts, deceit and suffering hosts a fantastically engaging story that sits comfortably in the top echelon of the genre. Performance problems crop up frequently, but those shouldn’t—and likely won’t—stop players from losing themselves in one hell of an adventure.
(This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher.)