The Witcher 3 is not your ordinary RPG.
With an overwhelmingly large open world, enchanting stories and decisions that can sometimes decide the fate of an entire community or even a kingdom, the Witcher 3 is by far one of the best games ever made if not the best.
With 1.5 million preorders before its release in 2015 and 4 million copies sold in the first 2 weeks, the game was an instant success. By December 2019, the game along with 2 expansion packs: Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, had sold a total of 28 million copies worldwide. The game was CDPR's biggest hit.
The game was very well received both among players and critics. It ranks at #20 for the highest played game on steam to this day. For a single-player offline game, this number is huge. (Source.)
It is also the 2nd highest-rated game ever on steam with 98.1% positive reviews.
The Witcher 3 Has A Huge Map.
Considering the base game with only Novigrad, Velen and the Skellige Isles, the open world map of the Witcher 3 spans 136 km2 which is at least 3.7 times bigger than GTA: San Andreas (36 km2), 1.5 times bigger than GTA 5 (81 km2), 3.3 times bigger than Red Dead Redemption (41), 3 times bigger than Far Cry 4 (46 km2) and 3.5 times bigger than Skyrim (39 km2).
Every nook and corner of this expansive map is filled with activities. Bandit camps, treasure guarded by monsters, abandoned sites, monster nests and loot hidden underwater by pirates fill the whole of the map which makes exploration worth the time and effort.
The Graphics
The graphics of TW3 is by far the best I have seen in my entire life of gaming. The game features a dynamic time of the day and dynamic weather as well. Hell, it even has a dynamic beard and hair growth.
The sunrise, sunset and the starry night are truly mesmerizing. Every single element in the game is made with such high quality that every once in a while you'd want to sit back and enjoy the beautiful world of the Witcher 3.
Most parts of White Orchard, Velen, Novigrad and the Skellige Isles feature a dark and somber mood very well suited for a war-torn land. The constant rains and thunderstorms fit right with the landscape.
However, the land of Toussaint which is introduced in the Blood and Wine expansion pack looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale.
I remember the first time I ventured into Toussaint, I was in awe at how beautiful the graphics were. Everything was so bright and exquisite that no matter how many times I have been there, every time I go back from the locations from the base game to Toussaint, I get the same feeling of awe and wonder like I did the first time.
The Content
The story is the best aspect of this game.
It is set in a fantasy world based on the novels by the polish author, Andrei Sapkowski. It features Geralt of Rivia, a legendary witcher, and his story. Witchers are a class of monster hunters trained since childhood in combat, magic, and alchemy and are stronger than the average human with their physical abilities enhanced by undergoing mutations.
The game starts in Kaer Morhen, the castle for the witcher school of the wolf and after a quick introduction quickly performs a time jump to show Geralt and Vesimir, his witcher mentor and teacher in the present timeline. From there on, they are on a quest to find Yennefer, his lover and Ciri, his Goddaughter.
Apart from the main quest, there are hundreds of sidequest which heavily influence how the main quest progresses. While exploring the vast map, Geralt will run into lots of caves, bandit camps, and monsters. While some caves are just ordinary caves and some monsters are just regular monsters, a lot of them have unexpected outcomes.
Killing a monster might unlock additional sidequests or sometimes sparing a monster may change the course of the main quest itself. The bandit camps and caves contain lots of treasure but some of them might even contain legendary witcher gear. So it is worth it to explore every inch of the map.
“Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitrary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.”
― The Witcher, The Last Wish
There are a lot of choices to be made in this game and more often than not these choices have consequences which sometimes only show up late into the game. These choices can influence the outcome of a number of events. A lot of the time, you will have a hard time choosing between the different options and it will often shake your moral compass and throw you off guard.
Would you throw a baby into the oven? Would you let a succubus go or spare her? Would you help in the assassination of one of the kings?
Choices like these can have a deep impact on how the game progresses and which ending you get depends a lot on the choices you make along the way.
How About A Round Of Gwent?
No review of The Witcher 3 is complete without talking about Gwent.
The Witcher 3 has a side-game called Gwent which in itself can easily be a standalone game which is what exactly happened. After how much the players liked Gwent, the developers went ahead and created a standalone game.
Gwent is a CCG game that you can play with the many different merchants, traders and even the Emperor himself. There are 4 different factions with 5 card types: close combat, ranged, siege units, special cards, and legendary cards. The specialty of legendary cards is that special abilities or special cards have no effect on them.
There are a lot of cards to collect and the outcome of the game depends on what deck you have.
Gwent sometimes can also head to a lot of hilarious events as you can see above. Encounters like these have made Gwent the most meme-able aspect of The Witcher 3
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It would be an understatement to say I love The Witcher 3. It is by far the best game I have ever played. I have played a lot of games and this is the only game which has touched me emotionally and I highly recommend you give this a chance.
Given the track record of CD Projekt Red, I am also very excited for Cyberpunk 2077 which is set to come out this year.
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Cheers,
Rahul.