I played this back in high school and it's been great to get a chance to play it again. At the time I had pirated it, so this is my first time seeing the cutscenes or hearing the dialogue. The game is still good -- but unfortunately has some issues that are common to old games, such as bad checkpointing and, in one case, companion A.I. so terrible it actually forces a reload. Definitely get it if you played it in the past, otherwise maybe think twice.
I personally have enjoyed the free-to-play Gwent client more than this. Thronebreaker has some unique charms, but when it comes down to straightforward Gwent games, it's always more interesting to play against a human than a computer. Still, if you've enjoyed Gwent, I'd recommend picking up this game, perhaps when it's on sale; you can regard it as the equivalent of a good chess problems book, for people who play chess. Thronebreaker adds new play modes and progression systems to the base game of Gwent. The former add a lot to Gwent, and it suggests that the Gwent client itself could benefit from additional play modes; but thus far I haven't found much incentive to use the latter, though that might change later in the game. You'll have special encounters with unique decks to enjoy, but ironically your deck-building will probably be slower than it is in Gwent proper. I still haven't met an encounter I couldn't best with the starter deck, even on the hardest difficulty; and even if I wanted to add some of the cards I've unlocked, I'd have to swap out other cards already in there, since the starter deck maximizes the deck power. In terms of story, Thronebreaker feels more like a Witcher fan game or a licensed product than an official release. The writing sometimes shows the dark and beautiful quality of the Witcher trilogy, but it isn't supported by the same haunting atmosphere -- so those moments catch you off guard, but the emotional impact is blunted. And a lot of that is an unavoidable consequence of the art style and soundtrack; it doesn't look or sound bad at all, but it doesn't look or sound like a mediaeval fantasy-noir game either. Overall, I'd give this a 3.5 if I could, and a 4 if it were about ten bucks cheaper. It's clear a lot of heart and talent went into it, as can be expected from CD Projekt Red. But if you're not already a fan of Gwent, I'd give that a try first and see if this is something you want to play.
