Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

I was looking for a fun strategic deckbuilding experience. I got that to a small extent, but the gameplay pacing is hindered by the necessity of going around every corner of the map looting bushes and chests so that you can afford camp upgrades which in turn allow you to build cards to customize your deck. But even then, you need to pour even more currency into buying these cards, and that's not even to mention that you need a ton of currency to afford increased deck limits. What this ends up boiling down to is that you have pretty much no customization options at all until near the end of each chapter, at which point they take away the important cards of the deck you built so that you are forced to play new factions at which point you have to go looking through bushes and chests again. This type of gameplay does not belong in Thronebreaker. Other than that, the production value is top notch. The art is beautiful, and the gameplay is smooth and fun. It's just too bad that the pacing of the game is so bad.

First of all I want to unerline that I am writing this as a loyal fan of the Witcher (books, comicbooks, games), so my opinion is rather subjective. The best part of the game is the story and everything that comes with it. It was engaging enough that it kept me by the computer for solid nine hours, which almost doesn't happen to me. The dialogues are extremely well written, the voice acting is absolutely superior to everything you've heard so far, and the plot is surprising. Another great aspect is that the choices we make actually matter (they don't only change the ending, but also the current in-game situation, similar to the Witcher 3, only that it hurts more to realize that you've fucked up sometime before). The gameplay is less amuzing, but it is good enough to keep a player entertained throughout the game. What bothered me as a Gwent veteran (I've been playing since it was released), is that it I sometimes do not get what is going on on the battlefield; it is simply confusing when ten cards at a time trigger their abilities and the whole screen flashes. I also feel like the difficulty level, even when set to the maximum, is still rather easy. Puzzles are as hard as they are on the lowest difficulty, and regular battles were never a challenge for me. Exploring the map is pure satisfaction. It is somewhat similar to what we've seen in Heroes of Might and Magic series, but much, much nicer. The way the game looks is astonishing and the animations are smooth. Couldn't be better. In conclusion, Thronebreaker will definitely satisfy those who buy it for the story (which I guess is the vast majority). However, those who search for demanding and complex gameplay may be left with a rather disappointed face.

Well, I can say that a lot of effort and creativity went into this game. The artwork is beautiful, the music is good, the voice-acting is professional. The story tries to interact with the player, such that occasionally you get the feeling that your decisions affect the gameworld... But that's about it for me with the positives. The game consists basically two parts. In the first one, you explore the map while collecting resources and engaging with the world in a limited fashion. I found this part to be very tedious. The pathfinding is really poor, so that you have to click click click until your finger is sore. The second part makes up the battles in the form of a card game. I liked Gwent ok in Witcher 3, but here after my n'th card battle this has also become very repetitive. The puzzles with their unique solutions are sometimes interesting but oftentimes tiresome. The game is also pretty long (given its merits). After the second map I just wanted it to be over. The story didn't really strike a chord with me. I found the NPC's that travel with you very one-dimensional and uninteresting. The enemies are of cardboard quality villains. Still, after many "against-all-odds" victories I found myself rooting for the Nilfgaardians (they are the enemy). I think this should have been a game designed for and aimed at moble devices and mobile gaming. It looks nice, but has very limited features and is extremely repetitive. It sells itself (partly) as a role-playing game, but all the decisions I made have consequences which felt extremely arbitrary. At none of my choices was I really able to contemplate future consequences, because what happens next often made me say What?!.

The save system. There are no way to manually save your game before an important choice so you could retry it if, you know, you misunderstood characters or just missclicked. For me it was the Lyria act, where I could help Eyck with the beast so he joins me later. Instead of choosing to help him, I mistakenly let him go right away. And that's it, he is gone. And the savepoint is now there, I cannot just rewind a bit, and must play from THE VERY beginning. Statistics tells me that I've played for 5 hours. Well, 5 hours spent for nothing, because I'm very attached to every decision I make, and thus I can't let things be like that. However, I don't want to play being at risk making that kind of mistake anywhere else in the game again. Please, CDPR, I believe in you, you can do your game more friendly. I really want to immerse into the story from one of the favorite fantastic worlds I know, but not in that nervous way. I'll wait just here.

Only negative feedback I might have is that character control in the open world part can be improved (as a MOBA player the only thing I had difficulty with). Athmosphere 5/5 Music 5/5 Quest Design 5/5 Storyline 5/5 (Great little touches to Witcher Series troughout the adventure) Price Range= Well worth 25E. CDPR is all about attention to details and they prove it with Thronebreaker once more. Great pleasure to have CDPR in the gaming world. It is obvious that devs and creators are true enthusiasts and true gamers unlike the huge part of the indurstry. Witcher is a huge world and we are expecting more from you. (Also impatitent for CP2077) With love. A gamer.