So far this generation, there have been many good games that have shown glimpses of what this generation is capable of, but very few have shown more then glimpses. Only a few are games I would consider to be great, Sunset Overdrive and Bloodborne. That list of great games has expanded though with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which shows what Role Playing Games are capable of this generation.
The Witcher 3 follows Geralt a well-known Witcher and all around badass. Geralt is tasked with finding Ciri, who Geralt considers to be his daughter for the most part. Ciri was raised by Geralt for most of her young life and contains an extraordinary power that the Wild Hunt wants. The Wild Hunt is a group that can travel through dimensions and want to use Ciri’s power for their evil doings.
The Story
The main story focuses on Geralt tracking down Ciri and usually always being one step behind her. During his travels Geralt meets a variety of characters that help provide information about where Ciri went by making Geralt doing quests for them. While doing chores for these characters gets old after a while the characters themselves are interesting and provide for very good side quests. The main story will run about 25-30 hours, while moments of the main story feel padded most of the main story quests are entertaining or provide moments of character development. Overall the main story of the game is good and is worth playing through with the second half of the main story being much better than the first half which takes a while to get going. While the main story is good, the aspect of the Witcher 3 that shines the most is its side content and quests.
Questing
The Witcher 3 has perhaps the best collection of side quests I have played in an RPG before. Many of the side quests are rewarding by either giving you some good loot or a satisfying and interesting story. The quests range from helping a fellow Witcher with getting revenge, to helping out with an assassination plot, and everything in between. None of the side quests are bad, as I found pretty much every one that I did to be at the very least good. Witcher contracts are another thing you can do that involve investigating and hunting down a variety of monsters. Most of the contracts follow a typical pattern of using the Witcher senses to track the monster and then killing the monster. This does get repetitive but the story involving the monsters and the monsters themselves help make the up for the repetitiveness. The fights with monsters at times can get intense and require you to use your skills wisely. I would highly recommend doing as many side quests and contracts as you can because they all are very enjoyable to do.
Witcher World
The world of The Witcher 3 can range from being beautiful to being dark and depressing. The world is highly detailed and very impressive for such a large open world. With 3 large open world areas and 1 small open world, there is a never ending amount of things to explore and do in the world. The map will eventually be littered with things to explore and collect, and for be overwhelming for some. The Witcher 3 contains one of the largest open worlds I have experienced with plenty of places to explore and items to collect.
Combat
Combat is the weakest part of The Witcher 3. The combat feels repetitive and usually involves mashing on the light or heavy attack to finish enemies. The signs that Geralt to can use help add flavor to the combat but after a while you end up using only a few of the signs since most of them seem pretty useless against basic enemies. While I wouldn’t say the combat is bad, I would say in a game with many great parts in it, the combat is the weakest part of an overall great game.
Crafting
Another surprising part of the game-play is collecting and crafting items. Exploring the world can help lead to finding awesome swords or armor that is strangely addicting. Crafting is another way to get new weapons and armor, but I found that at a certain point, the items found while exploring were much better than the weapons you could craft.
Skill Points & Abilities
Throughout the game Geralt gains skill points which can be used to add new abilities and also upgrade abilities. You can use skills points on a variety of abilities ranging from improving certain signs to improving alchemy abilities. Depending on where you invest most of your skill points you can make a character who is focused on melee combat or using signs.
Overall
The Witcher 3 is one of the best RPGs I have played in recent years and has some of the most engaging and interesting side content you can find in a western RPG. The character driven stories are the strongest part of the game with characters like Geralt and Ciri being great characters to play and learn more about. While aspects of the actual game-play may be some of the weakest part of the game, the weak parts in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt could be considered strong parts in other games. After investing 70 hours into the game I still feel like I have plenty to do and explore. The Witcher 3 shows what RPGs for this generation are capable of and is without a doubt the best RPG to come out so far this generation if not one of the best RPGs to ever release.