The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a simple web of many places interwoven into one story line campaign that is exhilarating from start to finish and the story draws you in. Sometimes while riding your horse to the next quest you stop by to take in the gorgeous sunset shining on rippling waters in the backdrop of snowy mountains glistening in snow. Geralt as the main character is just the right amount of cynic.
The various side quests, which are scattered across the vast Witcher world are also engaging. You can get side quests by the notice board in the villages or by simple talking to some random person at a tavern or simply eavesdropping on some conversations. Some of the side quests are innovative and require a different method or tackle to approach. Almost everywhere your choices make a huge different in the outcome of the game. The vast array of weapons at your disposal including making bombs and potions with different ingredients feels very satisfying and powerful. Level upgrades can be added to various attribute skill and there will be some time before you get the hang of how detailed yet simple the tools at your disposal are. The game takes shape beautifully as you get to meet more characters and you start making choices that affect the endgame outcome. Many a times you get diverted from the main quests and track the side quests to gain experience points to level up. Certain quests you wont be able to complete successfully unless you match the level of your enemies in the quest. So if you level up to 20 and do a side quest with only level 10 enemies than the experience points you gain will be much lower. There are alchemists, book keepers, armorers, potion makers, herbalists, trinket sellers, tavern bar keepers and many more who sell you stuff or you can sell them of the excess you have.
Witcher 3 spoils you with choices, quests, upgrades, runes, places, people and more. Many a times I found myself on the hunt for those diagrams to make better upgrades of armor and scavenging the ruins and caves. Many a times fighting with gigantic mountain trolls on the snowy heights or fighting urban vampires in the city sides or witches in bogged down marshes. The variety of enemy is brilliant as is the varying difficulty and the different approaches you need to defeat each one of them. The cities are beautiful and depict what kind of citizenry live in it. The market squares are hustling with people and the taverns are full of drinkers. The brothels are also exquisite. You may find some antique seller in one of those shops you enter and may end up shopping for some rare ingredient you want to complete crafting a potion, oil, bomb or armor. Speaking of cities, the city of Novigrad is so beautifully done and with so much stuff to do that I quite often found myself going there either to sell stuff with a shopkeeper or to complete small quests available around the city. From the high point of the city you could gaze out over rolling hills in the distant and the forests afar where every danger lurks.
The main story line is gripping and you will want to see its end but there is no way you can straight up play just the main quest without doing any side quest. You will be required to level up to face the difficult main quests which requires you to get the experience of side quests. Crafting potions, bombs and upgrading the saddle of your horse to finding the right armor clothing for Geralt, Witcher 3 gets it cent percent right everywhere. Apart from the side quests and the main quests there are question marks all over the map which might pertain to some creatures infesting a place, bandits holding captives or some treasure being guarded by a beast. You can complete these and clear the places of infestation so villagers may move back in again and this gives you decent XP. The boss fights are equally good. From the vast palace halls to lively city streets, quaint villages, deep caves, island towns, ruined fortresses, military camps, mountain paths, deep forests, black marshes, Witcher 3 covers so much detail in terms of character, speech, choices, guild, quests and story line that it would be a sin not to play this game for at least 200 hours or more and still be left wondering what part of the game you didn't cover and what surprises it may hold for you.