Possibly the best RPG I've ever played. Not to say I hunt them all down, but to take the crown from Morrowind is no small feat. An excellent story on its own but gains even more depth if you've read the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, also well worth your time. It doesn't have the instantly gripping, fast-paced start of the second game, but it builds in a way that is ultimately more satisfying. Saying too much would risk ruining a few moments so you'll have to take my word, and everyone else's, on that. Gameplay is nicely rewarding and the challenges are effected by more than the difficulty. A powerful shield is almost like cheat mode and a few fights would have been incredible tests of skill without it. I'm not ashamed to have relied on it more than once. You could easily forego it if you're a master at dodging or maybe at knockdowns, or have a panache for setting people on fire. My only complaints are partially of my own making: If you want to complete every quest and point of interest then the pace of the story will suffer somewhat and in Skellige you'll grow to hate the water. And you'll learn, never trust a horse. The visual design has captured the atmosphere of the Witcher's world wonderfully. From the brown, dirty, muted life of war-torn rurals, to the frigid beauty of isolated islands, to the lush splendor of a perpetually partying dutchy. The only disappointment is that the graphics themselves could have been much better - luckily we have mods for that. There's simply nothing to complain about with the audio. Beautifully scored, and with excellent foley work, the emersion is wonderful. As with any RPG, you'll also wish the game had five times the voice content, but what is there is still impressive. As I mentioned, there's no lack of mods to help further enrich things as well. Too many to list but I strongly recommend two: The HD Reworked Project - an impressive bump without changing the world All Quest Objectives - will save a lot of wasted time
