In the new "Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales" you'll play through a card game experience unlike any other. As of writing this, I have played for a little over 12 hours on the game's hardest difficulty setting: Bonebreaker. Having completed every Gwent quest in The Witcher 3, and Thronebreaker being a Gwent RPG, I felt comfortable in hopping directly into the fire and seeing how unforgiving it was. And... Let me just say, the start of this game--while you're learning all the card mechanics--it is very unforgiving--but it does get easier. There are 3 main types of battles in Thronebreaker. You'll have your traditional Gwent gameplay where you will play an opponent for 3 rounds, you will also have shortened battles where you'll only play for one round, and finally, you'll have puzzles--which are based on playing your cards in a perfect order while there are custom rules on the board. Your first puzzles will be very hard while you are learning the game. Aside from Gwent, the game offers a lot of exploring--that explore definitely adds a value of immersive gameplay. You feel like you're a part of the world, and not just playing a linear card game. There are main quests, side quests, puzzles, and looting. Without all of that, I don't think I would have given the game nearly as much time as I have already. Moving on from gameplay, the art style is beautiful and simplistic. You feel like you're walking through a story-picture-book and the cutscenes reaffirm that feeling. The cutscenes seem simplistic and heavily writing based, but if you like lore--there's going to be more than you could ever imagine soaking in. Even after 750 hours of Witcher 3 gameplay under my belt, countless hours of reading Witcher lore on wikipedia, as well as reading the first half of the first witcher book "The Last Wish", a lot of the lore in Thronebreaker still went over my head. To wrap up, this game is a must try, and I look forward to beating the game in the coming days.
