I’ve always felt a bit turned off by the constant Witcher 3 glazing you hear online. I picture a fat neckbeard Redditor, with a Ciri bodypillow when I hear the praising of The Witcher as the greatest RPG of all time. It’s an incredibly good game, and I’m pretty sure I’m being hyperbolic.
I just don’t like Reddit.
I’ve 100% The Witcher 3, and I’ve finished The Witcher 2. I love these games, even though I went into them with a fairly cautious mindset. Some of the themes in this game were amazing, but I want to start off by talking about some of the things I disliked.
Right after explaining what the game is…
The Witcher is a book series from a polish author. It has been adapted into video games, comics and TV shows – but rose in popularity with the video games. The Witcher is a dark fantasy series, where you experience the cruel world through the perspective of Geralt – a mutated freak soldier, who’s job (being a “Witcher”) is to kill monsters and beasts. In the third game, Geralt is looking for his adopted daughter Ciri, who’s gone missing.
It’s a good premise, but in terms of gameplay it’s a bit… messy?
The combat in this game is fairly straight forward. You have some simple spells, healing, dodging and two attack buttons. One for light, and one for heavy. The core systems aren’t an issue, and some of the more “spectacular” moments in battle felt genuinely great. But overall the combat felt spammy and got tiresome after a while. Even on the highest difficulty it didn’t really feel “difficult”, more so “formulaic”. Use shield spell, attack, get hit – repeat. There is also a huge emphasize on exploration in this game. It’s a beautiful world, with some of the best non obligatory moments I’ve seen in an RPG, but 80% of the world is just filled with random stuff with no substance at all. I spent so many hours exploring nothing, motivated by markers on the map that only lead me to disappointment and a common item. All in the hopes of reaching one of those “peak gaming moments” that the game drip feeds you. Skellige was the absolute worst. The movement is also fairly janky, and I remember struggling with getting used to it. This is a pretty minor issue in my opinion though, as the substance of the actual game is more important.
ate
So a world with a lot of nothing, a formulaic combat system and some janky movement? Yes. Still it’s an absolute beast of an RPG.
No game is perfect, and although The Witcher 3 can feel generic at times, the things it does well ,it does really well. There may be a lot of dead space in the world to find, but the world is absolutely beautiful and realized in an amazing way. The folklore aspects of the game were great, and always felt like treat to engage with. A lot of the sidequests were some of the best in gaming, with great dialogue and options to choose from. The music is amazing, the characters were interesting, the overall story was always intriguing.
I think the best way for me to put it is like this; The artistic aspects of the game, heavily carries the gameplay systems. It’s not a boring game, but I don’t think it would’ve been praised as much as it is if it weren’t for the masterfully crafted world that it’s based on. Although the gameplay is nothing that I “fondly remember”, the overall experience definitely is. Some moments managed to make me feel super invested, and pulled me in like few games manage.
And we can’t forget Geralt and Ciri. These are some of the most memorable main characters in gaming, and I think it shows by how popular they are in pop culture. The Witcher might not have been “born” from gaming, but it’s a medium where it fits really well.
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys RPG’s, 9/10!