The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review

"The Best Witching Ever"

Campaign

Witching has quickly become a new aspect of my life as I rode in full steam towards attempting to finish this entire title during the last week. It's consumed vast sums of time which is very remarkable considering I usually run through games the fastest I possibly can and I tried that here as well. Though it's just not possible in this title as the narrative itself is one of the longest and well developed stories I've played in gaming ever.

That doesn't even amount to the quantity of side quests, helping out others or just taking on various hunting requests. You could seriously get lost in this world no matter what sort of player you are, it's honestly wonderful. To build on that, the actual world itself is one that's perfect to loose yourself in. Every inch of land is covered in realistic floral, all these plants sway to the wind below the outstanding sky that usually has too glorious of a glow.

Even with all this happening there's tons of animals or regular AI characters moving about in their day to day lives. It's a very full world that feels alive, honestly it's very surprised that the game runs so well considering the also very quick loading times. The entirety of the map is just massive and you constantly are checking out new areas as you travel between the various continent spaces you visit for quests.

Going onto discussion of the actual story of the game instead of just going on about the atmosphere you're on a quest to find Ciri. This will take the might of every Witching skill you have and the combined force of almost every friend you've ever come across. Travelling from place to place you'll search for clues and chat with various folks in order to gather information.

It's a lot more in-depth than that as every single damn person wants you to do something for them, though it does sum it up nicely. That's really only even less than the halfway point as afterwards you must then work towards eliminating the hunt which in itself is a long process. You also have many moments that are usually done in flashbacks where you play as Ciri which is a very powerful individual further piecing together her travels.

I found it strange how much length was left considering multiple points where the story would end only to continue for a many hours more and get to that point again. There almost too many ending portions, yet I compare that to the Lord of the Rings where you just go with it as the journey is ever precious. Getting towards the end of my tale I was almost worried I'd face another Mass Effect type scenario of sorrow as choices do matter and I was happy to be treated with the exact sort of ending I hoped for.

Gameplay

The world is absolutely stunning as I noted above and really not filled with very many glitches or issues. I did have some problems with my horse getting stuck on things of not moving how I wanted, but in the overall scheme of how many hours I played that was a tiny issue. It's very impressive how they managed to actually get a world of this scale going it'll certainly be the benchmark for many years to come.

Both movement and combat is fluid without much issues of getting around in the world. The whole level and crafting system is also well formed into an easily understood format that makes it simple to create what you need. Difficulty is a strange aspect for me in this as it seemed to spike at times, but before the halfway point it got really easy in combination of character leveling and that I fully understood the patient combat system at play here where a Witcher always waits from their moment to strike.

The Conclusion

The Witcher 3 is one of the best games I've ever played and certainly the top contender for Game of the Year. It's visuals are stunning and the world is perfect to lose yourself in. The story itself has every sort of plot line you could imagine with tales of detective work; dramatic sections, plot twists and even the always satisfying comedic aspects.

To be honest even, I felt it was too long at some aspects, though many will love that this a tale that truly lasts in length. This is a definite RPG experience that puts shame to other games, a benchmark for years to come. I could write forever on the things I killed, the people I met, or the cinematic glory I viewed across my travels though you honestly need to experience that for yourself.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review on Xbox One
Review Code Provided by Evolve PR

Rating Overall: 10