The Witcher 3's Bigger Than Skyrim World and Magic-Like Card Game Gwent

Over the course of the week we've gone in-depth with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. On Monday we brought you an introduction to franchise's history. On Tuesday we looked at the game's monsters, map, and open-world. And yesterday we featured a sampling of the quests and activities you'll find in Wild Hunt.

Today, we have a wide selection of videos that encompass some of the miscellaneous content that we weren't able to fit into our earlier features. Check out the videos below to see what's it like to battle things other than monsters, find out just how big the game's map is, and learn a thing or two about the game-within-a-game: Gwent.

Humans are the REAL Monster

Wild Hunt is primarily a game about slaying monsters, but that doesn't mean the odd human doesn't deserve to feel the sharp edge of Geralt's blade. During our time playing The Witcher 3, we were often caught in sword fights with wandering vagabonds.

The first clip in this video shows off the game in wonderful 60fps, while the other two were recorded at 30. We confirmed this is all PC footage, but the latter clips give a possible indication of what the game will look like on the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

We Unveil The Map of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The world of The Witcher 3 isn't just one, single open map. In this video of the PC version, shown in glorious 1080p/60fps, we zoom out from Geralt's position to reveal the full extent of Wild Hunt's map.

White Orchard in the east is the prologue area where you spend the first few hours. The areas marked Novigrad and Velen/No Man's Land are one giant, open-world even larger than the one in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. And the Skellige Isles constitute another open world of around the same, immense size.

A First Look at The Witcher 3's Card Game Gwent

Parlor games are a common element of many open world games, and The Witcher series is no different. But the popular dice poker game from The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings sadly doesn't return in this installment. Instead, Wild Hunt features a card game familiar to those who have read any of The Witcher books: Gwent.

Gwent is a 1v1 collectible card game that's basically Geralt's version of Magic: The Gathering. Cards can be won, purchased or found throughout the game. But perhaps the most exciting aspect of Gwent is that it has it's own quest line where you travel the world playing people, and eventually you enter a massive Gwent tournament in the city of Novigrad.