Admist a market full of greedy AAA developers with a desire to squeeze every penny out of their starved consumers with as little effort as humanly possible, CD Projekt Red has risen above all of its competitors as a shining bastion of hope for great RPG games in an era of deceitful game making, overpromising devs, and DLC apocalypses. Truly, the title "industry leader in creating RPGs", though self-proclaimed, is well deserved. Coming back to this game after having played the most recent Mass Effect game in the franchaise, I can say that Witcher 3 has completely ruined every single player game I've ever played and will play, or at least until their new IP, Cyberpunk 2077 comes out (for which I am EXTREMELY hyped about). Whether it be Bethesda and their same-formula and bug-brimming developing philosophy, Rockstar and their we-got-the-money-so-fuck-you-customers attitude, or EA and their fuck-you-period mentality, CDPR has completely earned my trust in them and will guarantee my pre-orders for all of their games in the near future. Unlike ME:A where I felt like the developers cheated me with their over priced, half-baked game and will likely force me to pirate their future installments, I actually felt like I OWNED money to CDPR for buying all of Witcher 3 for only $40 USD. Before you read any further, I can say that though no game is perfect, this game is as close to perfection as possible. 9.5/10. Warning! Minor spoilers ahead! The combat, though decent, is probably the weakest aspect of the game. Late-game combat on higher difficulties pretty much has you resort to hit-and-run techniques. Dodge in, get a few slices in, dodge out. The potions hardly make a huge difference until the late game, since you won't have the recipes until then. Crafting weapons and armor, then upgrading them, will likely cost you a kidney and a half because they were designed to be gold sinks. (Seriously, upgrading my house takes 10k gold, and my armor and weapons ate well over 100k) You can try all sorts of combat styles, but in the end you will always resort to the spin attack strategy with 3 attack mutagen slots. Gwent. It definitely was fun the first time, but it gets pretty old since the mechanics are very simple and NPCs are not very smart. New Game + also resets your card collection (CDPR WHY????!!!), making the process extremely tedious the second time. Just use some mods to be able to buy every card and use another to enhance the cards. The in-game version is basically just a tutorial for the actual Gwent game they're currently developing. Go play that instead. The graphics are absolutely fantastic. Witcher 3 will have such diverse landscapes with day night cycles that it's a wonder how they managed to get every cutscene to look perfect under every possible weather and time of the day. Just get yourself a good monitor and GPU, and prepare to hover your fingers over the screenshot button everytime you see an amazing vista, because it looks gorgeous everywhere. From Novigrad's insanely large city to the fairy-tale like landscapes of Toussaint to the beautiful nordic landscapes of Ard Skellig that Skyrim could only dream to become, it is a feast to the eyes that few games can be compared to. The music is also incredible. They seem to be both memorable and relevant to whatever event and place is around you. In particular, the "Fields of Ard Skellig" and its soothing gaelic music feels like you're a viking sailing the open seas and being serenaded by the sirens (What now, you piece of filth? :D ), and I often find myself walking around Beauclair just to listen to "the Slopes of the Blessure". One scene in particular, though, struck a chord with me that I HAVE to mention. About 1/3 of the way into the game, your dwarf friend Zoltan will bring you into a tavern after nightfall. What I initially expected to be only some filler cutscene ended up being my favorite scene in the entire game, and that is Priscilla's song, "the Wolven Storm", where she sings about the romance between Geralt and Yennefer. Between the emotions of both the crowd and Priscilla, the meanings behind the lyrics, and the amazing lute solo, I had a smile on my face the entire way through the scene. Seriously, just look up a video of it, it really is that amazing. CDPR's practice with DLCs is another thing worth giving a shoutout to. Unlike some other (Eack FA) companies, CDPR charges only $10 and $20 for its 2 expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, respectively. Hearts of Stone focuses on its storyline while establishing more areas in the existing world and improving the base mechanics. Blood and WIne, on the other hand, offers a vast new land to explore equivalent to about 1/3 the size of the vanilla game. These DLCs are not only so huge they could very well be their own games, but also a sign of goodwill for a AAA developer to its loyal customers, something that has sadly become a relic of the bygone gaming past of the mid-late 2000s. Leaving the best for last, the story telling is perhaps the strongest aspect of the game. Every character is extremely memorable, the main quest will make you beg for more on what will happen next, all the side quests are interesting enough for me to want to complete them. The world feels very established, especially if you've played the previous 2 games and read the novels and short stories (Though the author proclaims the game is not canon to his story). This game very much feels like Game of Thrones, in the sense that there are no "good" or "bad" decisions. Everything is morally grey, and YOU are the one who has to pick the lesser evil of the two, or sometimes 3. Unlike Bioware's "If I choose not to be an asshole and murder people, I will definitely be rewarded in this game or the next" approach, in Witcher 3 sometimes it's the better option to kill off a psychotic murderer so that they don't go off killing more innocents. Pretty much everything that can be said about Witcher's plot has already been said, and I'm not really going to spoil anything. If you're reading this and you call yourself a gamer, buy this game now. If you don't want to dredge through the horrendous Witcher 1 graphics and gameplay, just watch a 30min summary of it. Though only 1 decision from Witcher 2 really affects your gameplay at all in the third, and only for a side quest, I highly recommend you complete it. The game establishes much of the lore of its universe, has a cliffhanger ending that sets up the beginning of the third game, and it always feels nice to see someone you've previously seen in another game, even if they are foes. 9.5/10
