One of the most eagerly awaited RPG’s of this new generation of gaming has finally arrived and found massive success worldwide. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from Polish studio CD Projekt RED (the guys behind GOG.com) boasts a huge open world bigger than anything we’ve seen in Skyrim or even the GTA series, along with huge monsters to vanquish, towns to explore and quests to complete. I’ve been eagerly waiting to get by grubby mits on this game since it was first announced. The trailers have given me wanderlust, a thirst to explore this beautiful looking world and there was only one way to find out if it could deliver. I should probably admit this straight away and get it off my chest – This is my first experience in a Witcher game. The first two have been around for a while now on the last generation of consoles and always come up in the steam sale, but as life so often gets in the way of things I personally never had a chance to pick up a copy and get in to the game. There may be others who like me haven’t had the chance to delve in to the Witcher universe but don’t worry, it isn’t strictly necessary to have played the others but if you want an introduction to the characters, there are many online videos that can round it up for you. The story of The Witcher 3 carries straight on from where The Witcher 2 left off, following Geralt of Rivia trying to move on with his life. Geralt, one of the last Witcher’s left in this kingdom, often finds trouble. We start with a flashback, introducing the basic controls and some of the supporting cast, but more importantly, introducing the wonderful game engine and beautiful graphics this game produces. The introduction film rolls from a lovely 2D film in to a glorious vista out of a castle looking upon mountains and valleys (and an overwhelming urge to test if you can jump over the edge of your balcony which we all successfully did – Ed). The sheer scope of the world on show blew me away, just before the new mysterious supernatural enemy appeared – The Wild Hunt. Cue more cut scenes of battles, death blood and magic and I’m far too excited. If I was on an older console I’d have my hand on it now to check if it was melting, but this is truly pushing the Xbox One further than I’ve personally scene for a game like this, especially with it being a cross platform title. As you enter the game proper, the early promises of the game’s landscapes are continuously breath taking as you explore. This is a truly magnificent world that has been created here and CD Projekt Red have used everything to their advantage from clever lighting effects to fog and even rich colours, and the details in the textures and the character models are sublime, It’s been a long while since I’ve been totally blown away by a game’s graphics but I really have been. The world calls you to venture forth and find everything possible, which is something that can get rather laborious for me in other open world games. Multiple fetch quests and repetitive talk to someone, move along talk to someone, get gold… It can get very similar after a decade of great games. But the world allows you to pick and choose as opposed to the “accept everything” mantra that the Elder Scrolls games accidentally employ. In this realm you are directly drawn in to the magic and character of this world and its NPC characters. The voice acting is brilliant and it makes the NPC’s and main characters come to life, also bringing the world a much bigger sense of realness. It’s a realness that continues as you see the devastation that the ongoing wars have created in the landscape as you roam along with your quests. Racial hatred from people who have been pushed too far, pub brawls that the medicine of intoxication has encouraged, peasants and townsfolk with destroyed farms and homes. It’s a dark and murky world that you ride though and it creates some dynamic conversations and relationships. You end up taking on as many, or as little, side quests and contracts as you like, also making you turn a blind eye to petty crime or addressing peoples’ grief in their war losses. You can help rebuild businesses and towns by ridding them of their monsters and finding the culprits to crimes. Your efforts end up brining a new life and prosperity to a town or an area, like every decision seems to make even the tiniest impact on the people and world around you. Riding is an incredibly easy experience and like the other controls, works incredibly well, rivaling if not excelling Red Dead Redemption. Combat is easy to grasp and feels quite natural. Two attacks, heavy and quick, allow you pace your battle and movement. The swords automatically select between your steel people slaying sword and your silver magic slaying sword, as well as a crossbow for some distance fighting. You then have your easily selected magic attacks (only one at a time though), which can stun, set aflame opponents or even just shield yourself. All of these level up, as do your attacks and your character as you progress. The only issue with the combat is that the targeting system can be a little flakey, especially if you have multiple enemies around you. Using it can completely ignore a three-person attack and leave you well and truly flanked. Sometimes it can turn in to a hack and slash affair but there is a deeper side to the combat as you learn the nuances of the enemies. Prior knowledge is important, especially in the bigger boss fights, and preparation is key. It kind of reminded me of Monster Hunter. Researching the right traps, oils and signs are paramount in beating the bigger monsters in the game and actually give you a valid reason to use all of the crafting system that is on offer. Often, a crafting tree and be lost upon biasing your character towards strength or magic or whatever you choose to do. But with The Witcher 3, everything from trading for food, alchemy and weapon/armour enhancement all go hand in hand and are vitally important. Thankfully, the crafting system is fairly simple with a menu of recipes and an explained outcome along with the ingredients you need to create them. There’s so much going on in The Witcher 3, you’d be forgiven for wondering if the story gets a bit lost, especially between all the questing and need to explore. But I’m really pleased to say that CD Projekt RED hasn’t taken their eye off any ball at all. The balance between the story, the other quests and your general existence in the world is near perfect in its execution. I’ve not even touched upon the wonderfully presented lore, the intriguing mini-games such as Gwent and even playing lothario with Geralt’s natural ability to have sexual intercourse with every single woman he comes across… It must be his eyes or something. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a beautiful masterpiece with superb attention to detail, wonderful storytelling and all of it presented expertly and, above all, completely. This is how a finished game should feel (even though there’s a day one patch) and CD Projekt RED have certainly won brownie points for providing sixteen free DLC items after the launch, the game’s soundtrack in the box and a wonderful note expressing their gratitude to us for buying their game… You know what? THANK YOU, CD Projekt RED, it’s my pleasure to play your game, which in my opinion is the RPG to compare all others to and is quite possibly my game of the year. Miss this at your peril! This review is based on the Xbox One version of the game.
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