This feels like a really good mixture of parts of all the dark souls games. Combat (mainly weapon usage) feels a bit like Dark Souls 2, but quicker, with sidesteps replacing the rolling. Jumping mechanics gives it a bit more verticality and some additional puzzle solving that goes with it. The setting and area layouts are great, it makes me want to explore all the nooks an crannies and with the usually challenging mobs and bosses it's a really fun adventure going through the non linear levels.
I was a fan of the series from when the first game launched and notwithstanding the somewhat quirky controls in each game, i got lost in the world setting, the stories and the characters. The third game even being open ended and huge somehow managed to not just retain these aspects, but heighten them even more. From the 100+ hours i played the game i have experienced going about doing simple witcher's work, then suddenly being drawn into state affairs, love stories, epic fights and all of this reaching climax at the end of the main story. During all this time i got emotionally attached to some characters, which i almost never do in other games and to a point where i had to load an old save just so that i could get a better ending. Apart from the really interesting story and characters, the world is massive and beautiful, so the adventure part of the game is great. The combat i found passable and often even fun. You don't have all that many varied moves, but some fights (with weapon wielding humanoids especially) can be rather fun with all the parrying, deflections, faints, bombs etc. The things i found lacking were the items, alchemy, skills. The only worthwhile items seem to be the witcher's gear which you have to do some interesting quests to find, but it somewhat dulls the character building, as other gear becomes rather useless. The alchemy has seen a rather sharp drop from the first game where you could try out different mixes of things and get new potions and the skill system doesn't seem to change the combat all that much from when you start, apart from your stats getting better. All in all, the good parts of the game really triumph over the bad ones and the game leaves a long lasting impression.
Was not expecting this game to have semi real orbital mechanics, aerodynamics and real world units (not in all cases). I just started the game, but already have a much better understand of how orbits work all while playing a game - pretty neat!
