The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Playtime: 68.5 hours

There are some games that changed gaming forever. Examples would be Pong, Super Mario Bros, Ocarina of Time, & Final Fantasy VII.

I'd make the argument that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of those games.

This has been a long journey for me. I played the first Witcher in 2017, and honestly quite despised it, you could definitely tell a lot of areas were unpolished. It wasn't until I played Witcher 2 in 2023 did I truly fall in love with the series. And Witcher 3? Defied all expectations.

Something I do really like about CD Projekt Red is that they innovate on each of the games they make. No Witcher game feels the same. And of the Witcher games, Witcher 3 is my favorite to play. This is because of a lot of factors but something I do want to point out is my experience would mostly likely be different than yours because I played with a lot of quality-of-life mods.

These mods include No Fall Damage, no 30-second cutscene on Start-up/Loading New Save, Map Quest Objectives, Unlimited Weight, Unlimited Weapon Durability, & Fast Travel from anywhere.

The average time to 100% the game is about 150 hours. I got all the base line achievements in 70, and explored about 70% of the map. If I had to guesstimate, these mods saved me at least 50 hours of game time that could have been spent travelling. At the very least, Fast travel from anywhere and Map Quest Objectives should be installed. This prevented a lot of unnecessary backtracking and allowed me to see what objectives I had for every mission on the map. Over time, this builds up and saves a crazy amount of time. So do know that your experience might not mirror my own.

With that said, there is so much to love about the game. While I very much recommend you at the very least play Witcher 2 before this one, it can very much be enjoyed on its own. There is just a lot of added context that the second game especially provides.

Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a man made to kill monsters. Witchers are professional monster hunters, though most would be hired as mercenaries. Whether it be to help fight in Armies, gangs or any odd group of bandits Geralt very much has no issue killing humans who intend on killing him. He is a very interesting character, and its especially interesting how he interacts with the love interest of the second game now that he no longer has Amnesia.

The way the story is done is quite intriguing. Unlike a lot of games where I can split them up in beginning, middle, and end, there are so many different plots happening in Witcher 3 its crazy. It’s all entertaining and while the story never surprised me while playing it, I think its amazing how easily it is to get attached to the characters in it.

There are two characters especially that I didn’t think much of at first. Two of Geralt’s fellow Witchers from the School of the Wolf. But after having a few drinks and getting drunk with them, you feel as if you knew them forever. I was stunned playing it, because I never got attached to a character so quickly in a game before.

The combat is fantastic, though I do think the game is much harder at the start and gets easier later on. While you can use your sword, magic or bombs, I do really enjoy parrying, and metagaming with some of the abilities you can get. If I had a complaint, it would be that the crossbow is more or less useless unless you are battling underwater.

Alchemy is something that is heavily needed and used in the first game. Less so in Witcher 2 (though it does depend on difficulty), and similar to Witcher 3. A big problem is, it's not as easy to create potions, and you can easily 'meditate' outside of combat to go back to full hp on the easier difficulties. Playing on Death March difficulty means you are in for a very punishing game.

There are over 200 different quests to do in this game, and while none of them feel like a bother to do, they can feel like a drag. Some really do not need to be as long as they are. And doing one after the other can be draining, especially once you get to Novigrad. I had 90% of the side quests available done outside of Novigrad, but they just kept coming after I got to Novigrad, more again when I got to Skellige. It feels like I am making so much yet so little progress all at once.

At the moment, I cannot speak for the DLCs. Hearts of Stone adds 20 hours worth on content to the game, while Blood & Wine add another 40 hours onto that. Blood & Wine has held the record for 8 years for being the best DLC in gaming, only being beaten out by Elden Rings Shadow of the Erdtree this year.

I believe this game has one of the best gameplay loops out there. I am constantly exploring like I am playing Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of The Wild. I have spent hours playing this game at a time, and I barely notice the time passing because I am having so much fun!

This game is a must play. If you don't enjoy it at the start, please try it with adding a few mods. This is one of my rare 10/10 games. It's a must play. And considering this game has sold 50,000,000 copies, that isn't an unpopular opinion.