Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

Expected it to be Gwent: story mode. Turns out to be one of the best RPG's I've ever played. A truly awesome game, CD Projekt Red did it again.

I did expect a good story from the Witcher universe, but I was still surprised by the length and constant quality not found in many games, especially not at this price point. Another strengths are interesting characters and decision making that make actually sense. The gameplay itself is innovative and well designed. I liked the ester egg with hearthstone. On hard difficulty the game has nearly 50h, when you are as bad as I with logic puzzles.

If you are into story driven games, cards and puzzle solving this game is for you. If you happen to play Gwent, enriching your card collection is an added bonus, but I would buy it even if you have no interest in Gwent. Story is solid and it fits really well into Witcher universe, there are many memorable characters, some hard choices to make and you are getting solid 35 hours of gameplay! For a person like me who happens to be Witcher's fan from before anyone thought about making it into a game (yes, yes I'm a boomer) it was a really satisfying game to play, thanks CDPR :)

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a Gwent card game with adjusted rules and you play in a role of the queen Meve, not the witcher Geralt. It’s a well written story about Nilfgaardian invasion, brilliant voice overs, lip-syncing and graphics. Dialogues are like Banner Saga’s (referenced in-game) and fully voiced. Meve is a spirited leader who will not avoid all the battles. You can make impactful decisions that will determine your next experience with or without your favourite companion/card. Later situations might require you to adjust your tactics or future options will scratch off 1 solution of outside-of-battle problems because you will be missing that one companion. The game has interesting worlds with various environments, finishing the story in one semi-linear world map will prevent you from going back to pick up some forgotten treasures or side quests. So glad, there’s so much content and story turns, it’s not straightforward when selecting ally or foe. Exploring the tactical map is casual and its features are easy to understand, you only use your left and right click on the mouse for controlling everything, map is showing you position of loot and encounters once you find them, or you can discover new ones at the signs or boards. Gather resources; gold, cards, soldiers and treasures which you will find plenty on your travels or build upgrades in a pitch camp’s Workshop, such as new cards, gold and exp boosts, then create additional cards in the Command tent or edit your deck which are limited. Most importantly, you can talk to your companions in the Mess tent who will add up onto the existing story of the game. You can have one Meve’s weapon and trophy per deck that have its own cooldowns, however trinkets are increasing by the time you proceed through the story, and units which you can earn in battle. You can access a pitch camp any time outside the battle. Shrines increase your morale which you can lose when choosing a certain decision over another.

Trudging through the war-torn Northern Realms as queen Meve was one of the most enjoyable role-playing experiences I have ever had! Here is a small list of things I enjoyed and one I wish was further developed: (+) - The drawn maps, in-game environment, voice acting, narration, music and card-art are all incredibly beautiful - The story is deeply engrossing, the characters you meet along the way and the relationships you forge with them feel very human and are impactful both story-wise and gameplay-wise - The Gwent battles are designed quite cleverly to tell the story of each encounter and the puzzles are all fresh and engaging. If you do not feel like playing Gwent, you can always choose the "skip battles difficulty" and just enjoy the story without pausing for Gwent battles. (-) - I wish the Gwent aspect of the game was given some extra care. It is interesting, yes, but it did not feel like a challenge most of the time (I must admit however that I am an experienced Gwent player). The AI, as well as the combos that are available to enemies, could use a little polishing. That being said, I am really looking forward to future RPG games from the same team of talented developers and writers! You have offered the world a role-playing gem with Thronebreaker, congrats!