After finally reading the books I decided to play through the game series. I first played The Witcher when it was new, but I didn't get far back then. I was actually surprised how similar it is to the Witcher 3. A lot of ideas have carried through the series and there's some familiar gameplay elements. These ideas and elements have of course been refined (or changed if you like) throughout the trilogy. The Witcher is rough around the edges, but still very much playable and overall I enjoyed my playthrough. The combat is pretty easy on the medium difficulty setting. If you prepare well for combat (drink a few potions and enhance your swords, and make sure you have the right sword equipped!) you wont face any huge challenges. The story is great, but some things seem a little off for a book reader (at least for me). Mainly that Yen and Ciri have been replaced by Triss and Alvin, and no one bothers to tell Geralt about these most important women of his life! Triss certainly seems to be overjoyed for Geralts amnesia.. and a lot of other women too. My main gripe with the game is that there's a lot of just running back and forth and waiting around. There isn't any kind of fast travel (aside from a few portals in one chapter, and even those are pretty useless) or Roach, so you have to run everywhere. A lot of the time you have to meet a person or go to a place at a certain time, so if you have nothing else to do in the meantime you have to wait, and to wait you have to find a spot to meditate. I tried to manage my guests so that theres as little of waiting and running around as possible.
I think the story is great and I pushed throuhg the game just to see how it ends. It ends in a cliffhanger, but it's still a satisfying ending AND there is a sequel coming. Sadly the gameplay is very repetitive and not really my cup of tea. You fight the same enemies with the same arsenal throughout the game. Sometimes I just ran past areas as quickly as possibly to get the story going. I hope they make some major improvements to the gameplay for the sequel. If you like a good thriller, give it a shot. Otherwise, avoid.
This review is long overdue, but better late than never. I've been playing since the release with 2 playtroughs (normal and hardcore) and 311 hours under my belt. This is the kind of game I have been dreaming about ever since I played TES IV: Oblivion. A realistic open world game set in the middle ages with beautiful landscapes. This game certainly delivered on those dreams! KCD offers a immersive experience which you can truly get lost in. The graphics are gorgeus and the landscape is some of the most realistic and detailed I have ever seen on any game. Sometimes I just feel like taking a walk in the beautiful bohemian countryside. The game doesn't hold your hand and is not afraid to challenge you. This is very refreshing after playing countless braindead AAA games. Every gameplay aspect has a learning curve. You need to learn how to fight, pick locks or even brew potions. After all, you are just a peasant, right? It's hard at the beginning, but once you learn all the mechanics and get better at the game it feel's so satisfying. It's not a perfect game (none are). It has a certain jankiness to it and it has it's share of bugs, especially on release. I've had nothing game breaking, but I remember atleast one really annoying bug trying to f up my game. Also the rain is butt-ugly and sometimes it rains A LOT. Water in general is not very good looking. You can really see the love and effort that has been poured in to this game. Thank you Warhorse for this experience and I'm certainly looking forward to the sequel!
