7 years ago today, came a video game which shook the world of gaming to its core. Yes, we’re talking about The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt by CD Projekt Red which was the third game in the epic Witcher trilogy. Even as of 2022, we can say that Witcher 3 is one of the best RPG games of all time as well as one of the best games overall. Witcher 3 received a total of 260 Game of the Year Awards and was the most awarded game of all time until 2021’s Last of Us II. It boasts a rating of 9.3/10 on IGN, 93% on Metacritic and a whopping 9.7 on IMDB. In 2020, Gamesradar listed it as the top game of the generation.
Critic rating and honors aside, Witcher 3 has shipped over 40 million copies, making it one of the best selling video games of all time. It has a massive fan following which also makes it one of the most popular games ever. Even today, the game continues to be a blast and recently it saw a spike of 550% in it’s sales owing to the release of Netflix’ The Witcher. Not just that, Witcher 3’s expansions have major following of their own. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone was the first expansion pack released of 12th October, 2015 and Blood & Wine was the second expansion pack released on 31st May, 2016.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings celebrated it’s 11th anniversary yesterday, i.e., 17th May. Owing to that, Witcher Trilogy is available at an 85% discount on various online seller websites. And today, in the honor of one of the best games ever made, grab your steel and silver swords as we dive into this review special of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.
Read about The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Complete Edition next gen update delay and timeline here.
Is Witcher 3 Worth It?
Since gaming is an expensive and time consuming task, gamers are often skeptical about certain games. Well, Witcher 3 is not one of those games which you should worry about being good. It’s an incredible experience right from the opening all the way to the end, which makes it a no brainer. If reading the first two paragraphs of this article wasn’t enough to pull you in, let me help you out.
Witcher 3 is a game suitable for each and every kind of gamer. You like RPG? Play Witcher 3. You like open world? Play Witcher 3. You like action? Play Witcher 3. You are a sucker for incredible stories? Play Witcher 3. You call yourself a fan of dark fantasy / horror / fantasy / magic / drama / thriller / mystery? JUST PLAY WITCHER 3!!! Still not convinced? Let me tell you what’s good about it in detail.
Why is Witcher 3 Good?
The biggest reason by Witcher 3 is good, is that there is hardly anything bad or wrong about it. From story to gameplay, from graphics to immersion, from a massive open world to a soul touching main plot, Witcher 3 has it all. Witcher 3 picks up from Witcher 2: Assassins of the Kings but you won’t feel left out even if you haven’t played Witcher 2. Witcher 3 is a world of its own that takes a lot from Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel but presents it in such a way that players are left stunned and rooting for more.
But hey, don’t worry about more as it is a lot! With a main story that lasts of 50 hours and two expansions which last over 10 hours and 20 hours respectively, even the stories alone provide you around 100 hours of gameplay. Add to that, side quests, contracts, treasure hunts and massive open world exploration, you can easily extract around 300 hours of gameplay from Witcher 3 and its expansions. But if you are not a completionist and just want to experience the story, you can wrap it up in 100 hours depending on your gaming skills and game mode.
You might be wondering that with 300 hours of gameplay, how much is worth it? In one phrase, ALL OF IT! In these 300 hours you will never once get bored as even the side quests and contracts have intriguing storylines and plot. In fact, I’d suggest that you should experience all these side quests at least once, after or before you are done with the main plot.
Witcher 3 main story follows Geralt of Rivia in a quest to find his adopted daughter Ciri with the help of Yeneffer of Vengerberg, poet Dandelion, and numerous other allies. But he isn’t the only one on her trail, as the sinister Emperor of Nilfgaard, as well as the King of the supernatural phenomena known as The Wild Hunt are also after Ciri. Geralt is in a race against time to find her as the fate of the world rests in his and Ciri’s hands. But before that, GWENT?
What Is the Point of Gwent in Witcher 3?
Among all these mini games, GWENT is the most interesting as well as exciting game. GWENT is a card game with involves 4 different sets of cards, where each game consists of 3 rounds. Your objective is to win two of them and the aim of each round is to obtain more points than your opponent. Once you win a game of Gwent from an NPC, you win a card from any 4 sets which you can add to your collection and use in the following games. The cards feature characters from the game itself are divided into various categories like hero, medic, spy, so on and so forth. While you might find it a little hard in the beginning, it quickly become addictive and you end up playing Gwent more than the actual game.
That aside, you can opt for horse racing and fist fighting as well. Unlike Gwent, the rewards from these two activities actually help you in the main story as well. From horse racing you obtain different equipment for your horse, Roach, which grant to faster speed, more courage, and what not. Similarly, fist fighting grants you added experience and enhances your raw strength.
Is The Witcher 3 Hard?
Yes and no, as it depends on your gaming skills as well as the mode you play it on. Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt has 4 major difficulty modes:
- Just the Story (Easy): Enemies have -50% health, deal a normal amount of damage.
- Sword and Story (Normal): Enemies have 10% more health, deal 40% more damage.
- Blood and Broken Bones (Hard): Enemies have 20% more health, deal 130% more damage.
- Death March (Insane): Enemies have 80% more health, deal 230% more damage.
If you just want to experience the story, then my advice would be to opt for Just the Story (Easy) mode. If you want things to be difficult opt Blood and Broken Bones (Hard) mode. Now the best difficultly level to play Witcher 3 in my opinion is Sword and Story (Normal) mode as it doesn’t suck the fun away, but at the same time challenges you a lot.
Finally, if you have a death wish or have beaten the game at least once, try Death March (Insane) mode. This is majorly for the people who want to experience the battle prowess of The Witcher once again and are looking for a very difficult challenge. It has taken gamers more than double the amount of time and effort to beat Witcher 3 on Death March. This also makes it a very hard game, if you are “that kind” of a gamer.
That said, the battle mechanics of the game are awesome. From various kinds of swords and weapons, to magical potions and signs, it makes up for an immersive and interesting gaming experience. The five signs Aard, Yrden, Igni, Quen and Axii come in handy while playing the game. you can boost these signs as well by finding and visiting a Place of Power. That aside, the range of attacks include the usual light, strong, parry, evade, and dodge. The quick pockets include various types of crossbows, bombs, potions, oils, food, quest items, and what not. So, even though familiarizing yourself with all this could a while, but once you do that, it doubles the fun.
Is Witcher 3 Actually Open World?
Witcher 3 features a massive open world full of amazing things to do like mini-games mentioned above, side quests, contracts, treasure hunts, exploration, monster nests, etc. That aside, the open world of Witcher is beautiful with excellent graphics and real world like setting. But at the same time exploring certain maps like that of Velen can get really disturbing and horrifying. Such in the beauty of Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt that every map you explore has a different tone. Velen is full of poverty and monsters, whereas Novigrad is a beautifully constructed city which marketplaces, Inns, theatre and what not.
White Orchard is a relatively small map with various villages scattered around. Being the first major map, it sets the tone of the game. Similarly, Kaer Morhen’s Map is generally filled with wilderness but the main part of it is the castle where you train, make friends and battle! There is not much exploration in Kaer Morhen. As opposed to that, Toussaint has a colorful, and vibrant map which is huge with lots of things to explore. Skellige, much like Velen, is full of monsters and darkness but at the same time features high mountain peaks which deliver some of the best views in the game! So yeah, the maps and the pretty open world is another reason to play The Witcher 3.
Apart from that, Witcher 3 features one of the best soundtracks in the world of gaming. From the main game to the expansions, its soundtrack is unmatched. It creates an ambient atmosphere for each map and each event that immerses you even further. The Blood & Wine main menu theme, Silver for Monsters, Steel for Humans, and Hunt or Be Hunted are some of the most iconic and acclaimed soundtracks featured in the game. This is all thanks to Polish Composers Marcin Przbylowicz and Mikolai Stroinski.
Is The Witcher 3 Expansion Worth It?
Two of the biggest reasons this game is as epic as it is, are its two expansions. As mentioned above Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansion packs came in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Heart of Stone featured a very complex story which makes you question the very essence of rights and wrongs. The dilemmas gamers face while playing The Witcher is one of the biggest strengths of the game and Hearts of Stones expands on that dilemma. It features complex new characters like Olgierd Van Everec and Gaunter O’Dimm which takes the game to new heights. That aside, it introduces the concept of Enchantments which would help you a lot during battles.
The second expansion aka Blood & Wine is often called the best expansion in the gaming world ever. That is because it introduces a whole new map of Dutchy of Toussaint full of new areas to explore, new side quests, contracts, so on and so forth. Within this map, is a Vineyard called Corvo Bianco, which is awarded to Geralt in the main story of the expansion. You can refurbish it, hang paintings, weapons, armors etc, to receive various buffs and bonuses and it basically serves as Geralt’s new home. That aside, Blood & Wine features an longer, and even more complex storyline than Hearts of Stone and brings back the fan-favorite vampire Regis from the book. Also, you are introduced to new Grand Master Armors here which are superior to any and every armor in the game and grant you various set buffs. The concept of mutations is also introduced in Blood & Wine, so all in all, this expansion is one of the best things in the video game world.
So, after all this, we can say that The Witcher: The Wild Hunt is still one of the best open world RPG’s which took the gaming standards to new high. It inspired a lot of studios to step up their game and as a result, we have got so many incredible games in the past few year. Even after 7 years, there are hardly any games which could challenge the might of Witcher 3. But with the coming of Bandai Namco’s groundbreaking open world RPG Elden Rings, the shape of gaming industry is about to change once again. That said, Witcher 3 is, was, and will remain one of the greatest games ever made, and there are not many people who can deny this!
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