The Witcher 3
Gameplay and World
Witcher 3 presents itself in a more traditional light than Dragon Age: Inquisition in almost every way, instead innovating by taking each aspect of fantasy RPG gaming and turning the dial up to eleven. As a result, it has essentially pitched itself to non-Witcher fans as “third person Skyrim on steroids OMG!” Meanwhile, those who enjoyed The Witcher 2 are patiently anticipating the continuation of protagonist Geralt of Rivia’s tale, what his personal mission will involve following the previous game’s events, and how the appearance of the Wild Hunt (an otherworldly, destructive, and presumably evil army) will end up affecting him.
Traditional or not, there’s no denying that Witcher 3’s offering is a next-gen, open-world marvel. With an environment nearly 20% larger than that of Skyrim, with arguably twice the detail and visual fidelity (the accuracy of that will become more clear upon release, of course), it’s the kind of thing that you can’t help but itch for, even if it is just the gaming equivalent of drooling over smartphone spec-sheets or counting how many horses it would take to match the raw power of your car’s engine. I had the chance to view a demonstration of the game at E3, and despite having never played the series, I came away wowed. No loading times, amazing draw distance, and in-engine cutscenes that make you wonder why pre-rendered ones were ever needed. Call it a pissing contest if you want, but it’s a contest Witcher 3 is clearly winning.
Combat is largely unchanged (just expanded and improved) from the previous games, but the other main highlight of the new Witcher experience is the way it handles questing. During the very same E3 demo, a humble side quest led down a lengthy rabbit-hole involving the summoning of ancient entities, lore concerning the cursed forest in which the quest took place, and a somewhat painstaking decision of whether or not to let a sentient being, monter though it may be, live or die. CD Projekt RED says that every Witcher 3 can be involved if you let it, and if that’s the case, be prepared to set aside a lot of time once you complete the main story. CDPR has already noted that the game will take 100 hours to fully complete, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.
