I'm playing The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt for the second time since getting it little over a month ago. It's entirely possible that I may be addicted to this game.
The Witcher franchise as a whole was completely unfamiliar to me before I first heard of this release. It's a rich fantasy world based off of a series of books, and this richness in lore is reflected really well in this game.
As a new comer there were definite areas where they did a bit of "recapping" for the sake of those who never played the previous games due to not having a PC or Xbox to game on. Catching up was easy, and thanks to the in-box Witcher Universe Compendium it was simple to slot in when starting the Witcher 3's campaign.
The story, without giving anything away, is fairly simple but fun to follow. The dialogue is interesting when helping you catch up, and I only noticed a few conversational clichés when having a tête-à-tête with an NPC. It's mostly fun to be the taciturn Geralt who gets annoyed with needless waffling, if you want him to. The only down side was that I often felt like I was in a 60s comic book, where everything is stated obviously for the sake of the reader. When it's obvious that someone tricked you, why is there an option to say: "You tricked me,"? It seems redundant.
The characters are well written and obviously they only had to build off of a firm foundation story-wise, but from my new-comer perspective there was an air of familiarity between old friends and acquaintances which was well produced. As much as certain dialogue elements were hopelessly and frustratingly obvious, there were many subtle elements to characters which made them feel more natural and made it easier to like them.
The vast, segmented, open-world is chock-a-block with things to do and discover. This game is truly an adventure, due to the lack of enemy scaling throughout the map. It's incredibly easy to run into a foe which towers above you in both stature and level. In those cases it's easy to just run away and come back later, but the Witcher 3 establishes early in the game that preparation is a key element to this game. If you encounter an enemy which outlevels you and has a little skull next to their health bar (the developers say it's to indicate that fighting them means certain death) then the right combination of preparedness and utilizing of the environment will help you defeat them.
The gameplay is something I find fairly satisfying. Normal movement is fairly standard, but I really like the elements of combat. Fighting can be great, especially when surrounded by enemies in an enclosed space. If you out manoeuvre them then you can easily win, but if you don't pay attention you get badly hurt. It's fairly simple, and might be too simple for more experienced gamers, but I really like it. You as the player can determine what your combat focus is but spending ability points in different areas of the ability tree, and this allows for some variety, but the same elements are usually ever-present.
As a faithful FIFA player, when it comes to graphics it takes little to impress me, so if you're reading this you might take my opinion with a pinch of salt. The visual elements of this game are quite beautiful, and they really got the lighting right in most cases. There are one or two issues which are affected by bugs, such as textures not loading in time or at all, but for the most part CDProjekt Red built a beautifully, intricately detailed world. The NPC faces are recycled without prejudice, which means that you can sometimes mistake a beggar or random passer-by for a secondary character that relates to the story who is identical in every way, but it's excusable when you consider the developer's means.
The soundtrack and ambiance are usually really well done. The NPCs comment as you pass by, sometimes saying hilarious things, other times cursing and insulting Geralt, who being a Witcher is treated with suspicion and contempt.
You can identify a rather small vocal cast, but once again considering the developer's means these things aren't a problem, especially considering the massive world they built.
The first time I finished this game I got the terrible ending due to a single line of dialogue that I chose in a blasé manner. The choices and consequences system is fairly subtle for the most part, with only occasional dialogue options being timed indicating a certain level of importance. The terrible ending I got, and my minor addiction to this game dictated that I immediately start a new campaign when I finished the previous one. Depending on your tastes, and how much you did on your first play through this game has some good replay value. This, my second play through, I'm still discovering as many, if not more, things as last time 'round.
Considering the nature of the developer, and what they created, this is a very very good game. When I first saw Gamespot's 10 out of 10 review I was quite sceptical. While I would still not say this is a 10/10 it's definitely a 9. Some minor bugs, which are getting sorted and have been sorted out, aren't at all game-breaking and often are to be expected when building a game this big.
The developer really impressed me, because when I opened my PS4 boxed version of the game, there were several goodies. The first was a thank you letter from CDProjekt Red, thanking the customer for supporting them. Then there was the Withcer Universe Compendium which contained some good, useful info. There was a CD with the soundtrack to the game, and there was also a map, mostly decorative. They gave just that little extra that other, bigger developers just don't. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, and their constant good attitude in treating their customers well, when it comes to releasing the patches, the free DLC, and the good communication, has made me potential customer for life (if they produce anything else I want to play).
Overall this is a game I would highly recommend. If you're into RPGs and action then play this, you'll have a ball.
Three thumbs up!