A disclaimer, first: these five stars are not because of the current version, but rather for what this early access foreshadows in my eyes. There's still much work to do to get a complete and stable product, but damn isn't this good already. There are some bugs occurring here and there, and cinematics of dialogues and cameras often need fixes, but keeping in mind that it's still a work in progress, the game is actually really enjoyable already. The sheer amount of content, for an early access, is impressive: dialogues for deads, animals, or unlocked by class, background, or knowledge gained from exploring the world are so many that I could keep playing it forever. Not to talk about the many, more or less subtle ways that the story may progress depending on who's side you'll decide to take, how you'll I'm currently playing two different online games, and multiplayer works pretty nicely as well. I almost reached 50 hours of gameplay in total, and I'm pretty sure the count will be in the hundreds already when the game will be ready for the actual release. There are so many released games that let me down and for which I didn't even reach 5-10 hours that I lost count, and here I am spending tens of hours on an early access. Does this game deserves 5 stars as it's now? No, of course not. But will it, once it's complete and release? I've got no doubts at all about that.
An interesting turn on the now famous and already tested formula of Gwent with a twist on narration during the Second Nilfgaardian War (the one told in the books). Instead of being just a witcher, killing monsters and saving a daughter, we play as a queen without a crown but with a partisan army against a black sea of nilfgaardian enemies. Instead of being multiplayer, this game is a singleplayer experience with balanced encounters, amazing puzzles, and over the top voice acting and narration. The world is there, it's dark, it's dirty, it's in shades of grey in a morally ambiguous war. If you played any of the other Witcher games, you'll feel right home.
