The Witcher 3

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Wow!
The Witcher 3 is a masterpiece!

 

d9274093-d74f-412a-b7c3-684b1193b9daIf you’ve seen my IG stories a while back, you’ll know that I finally got a super high-end gaming PC. (12 year old me would be so proud!) What was the first game that I really wanted to try out? Yup – The Witcher 3. After seeing so many good reviews and the sheer number of accolades this game has received, I knew I had to play it someday. At first I was bummed out because I paid full price for this game, and the day after it went on sale with a deep discount. (My refund of the difference was denied). Looking back, I would pay full price for this game 10x over.

The entire time I played The Witcher, I felt like I was in the story of one of my favorite grimdark fantasy series. (think First Law) That is how well this game was made. I was foolish to think otherwise as The Witcher was actually born itself from a novel. (Which I am ashamed to admit I have not read yet…but I will!) The plot and flow of the game is hands down one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had with storytelling. A video game (and high quality at that) is the perfect medium to appreciate The Witcher for what it’s worth.

One of the best additions to living out this incredible story in the game, is the choices and consequences that play out. I’ve played god knows how many video games in my life (too many), and during the hype train for every new RPG release the marketing teams love to flaunt that their games have true choices and consequences. Hah. What irks me to no end is where these “choices” end up never changing anything in the game except for maybe one or two different endings. The Witcher 3 has 36 different endings based off choices made during playthrough. Sure some of them are small, but holy shit I felt like I was part of the story the whole time.

A perfect example of how the stories can play out (spoilers ahead) has to do with the Tw3_bloody_baron_questcharacter “Bloody Baron”. (who I picture perfectly as Mark Addy playing Robert Baratheon from Game of Thrones) This Bloody Baron (Not the one from Harry Potter…) has one of the most dynamic character backstories and arcs that I have ever read. Seriously I got chills after his story played out and when I think back to it. So this is a man who falls madly in love, gets married, and has a daughter. He is also a soldier, so as soon as his daughter was born, he was sent off to war. Now a solider’s life is a tough life, and he quickly turned to drinking with no family to save him. The problem is – he could not stop drinking after he got back to his family. He quickly started to neglect his family and develop violent tendencies towards them all the while he was still on the sauce.

witcher3_en_wallpaper_wallpaper_6_1920x1200_1433245878This Bloody Baron came home one day to find his family gone, with no trace but a note left for him to read. His wife had been cheating on him and left to be with her old childhood sweetheart, daughter in tow. The Baron was outraged, found this old sweetheart, and killed him in a fit of rage. His wife completely destroyed by this, tried to kill him with the same knife he used to kill her true lover, and was quickly disarmed and beat to a pulp. The dysfunctional family was glued back together again. The dark times continued on, but alas, his wife Anna was pregnant again. In yet another drunken stupor, the Baron fought with his wife, and blacked out. He awoke yet again to his wife and daughter gone, but also to the dead fetus of his 2nd child in his own bedroom, who he promptly buried in secrecy.

I know what you are thinking – “Wow what a disgusting man!” and yes, you are probably right. This is a man whose life of war and alcoholism completely changed the person who he used to be – into a monster. After sometime, the Baron meets the player-character of the game, Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher). The Baron asks Geralt to find his missing wife Anna and his daughter Tamara. (Witcher’s have exceptional hunting and tracking abilities not used just to hunt beasts). After some adventures with turning his dead son’s fetus, he found Witcher-3-Croneshis wife Anna bound by pact she made with some witches, who she had kill her unborn son. She hated her husband and could not bear to have another child with him. She tried to escape her pact with the witches, but we all know how that ends up. I attempted to save the children that were bound by the witches with her, but in doing so, caused Anna to killed by the witches.

witcher3_en_wallpaper_wallpaper_11_1920x1200_1434718639This is where the first big decision came into play, when I thought I was doing the right thing by saving children, I actually let another person die. The Baron came to swamp where she died, where he found his daughter Tamara, who was not exactly thrilled to see him. The Baron mourned the loss of his wife, and that his daughter would not go back with him. (Why would she, right?) When all is said in done, everyone goes their separate ways. When I made my way back to The Baron’s fort, I found him hanging in a tree. The Baron had hung himself because his wife had died. His wife had died because of the decisions I made so thus, I played a part in the Barons tragic ending. Wow. This hit me hard after this storyline had wrapped up. In no other game had I felt the writing, the emotional response, and the characters feel so real. This is the power of The Witcher 3.

The Bloody Baron’s tale is just a taste of the writing excellence that The Witcher 3 has to offer. I think The Witcher 3 is one of the best stories I have ever experienced, and for a video game to capture that so well, is just simply mind-blowing.

Seriously, check out how amazing this song is too. (The whole soundtrack is amazing actually.) It is about the main character and his love.

 

The prose of this game’s story writing is top-tier. Truly beautiful. Thank you to the entire team who made this game.

 

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47 comments

  2. I have to admit I haven’t played this game yet. I intend to at some point because I’ve heard nothing but good things. One thing I think is really impressive is that it managed to win over people who weren’t on board with the series before.

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  4. So far I have read 1 and a 1/2, the 1/2 becuase it was a borrowed book that needed to be taken back as the person who owned it moved away. I played parts of game 1 and 2 before my pc blew up. I love the lore and the effort the people put into this game. Regarding the books, i feel a person needs to read them with an open mind as in some cases (due to translation I put it toward) the story might seem boring or bland. Great review of the game, I stopped where you warned about spoilers, due to me wanting to play it still

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    1. I never played the first two games. I bought the 2nd one when it came out years ago, but my old computer could never run it. Thinking I’ll have to go and revisit those now too!

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  6. I love this game. I am currently going through it for the 2nd time. And the books as just as good. Definitely check them out 🙂 There is A LOT of easter eggs to be found in all of The Witcher games for people who have read the series 😀

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  9. Have you played the expansions? Apparently, Blood and Wine is amazing. I loved this game, but once I take a break I always have a hard time returning for DLC, so I haven’t tried them myself. Great review!

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    1. I have! I went through all of Hearts of Stone right after the main storyline and I loved it. I am currently making my way through Blood and Wine, but it is massive!

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  10. I read the first Witcher book (Blood of Elves), and it made me curious about the games. From the looks of this I’m going to love Witcher 3 – great review. 🙂

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  11. Witcher 3 is definitely a fantastic game!! I’m glad you took the time to play it! (and in a great rig too! That is key.) I love the decisions you get to make… It’s like Fable done how is SHOULD have been!! 😉💖🍻

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  14. My brother absolutely loves these games, so I’ve got to see a bit of the storyline and gameplay through him. They really are amazing! I may have to live it through the novels instead c:

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  16. I need to take the time to finish this game. I spent some time getting it all modded up and then I didn’t play it more than a couple days. That’s happened with a few games, spend more time setting up the mods than playing. Nice post.

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  17. Such a wonderful game! There is nothing better than an immersive story and this game lives and breathes immersive! Love the fact it isn’t afraid to tackle some difficult issues too

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  19. I fell in love with the game from the moment I started playing! You should definitely replay it, the second time is even better, there were a lot of details and quests i missed the first time

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  21. This was actually the first game I’ve ever played from start to finish and I absolutely loved it. I played like a white hat and learned very quickly that I was kind of making a mistake in terms of the ending and all that. Either way, lots to explore and lots of really, really great storytelling!

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  22. Thanks – great review…and as someone who has played it too I wholeheartedly agree…

    I’d love to see your thoughts on the connections when we move from medium to medium after you read these…and if you’ve already written those down please let me know!

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  25. This one of my favorite games of all time! It’s the closet you can get to walking into a novel. The open world map feels lived in, rather than a playground for the player to fool around in like some of the ubisoft games and even Grand Theft Auto. The world helps tell the story, nothing feels random, it builds off of the events occurring around it. Bandits and Ghouls are all over the no man’s lands Velen were as the area surrounding the city of Novigrad is safer. And each location feels almost like a different game be it the tight urban streets of Novigrad or the sea surrounding Skellige

    Try the expansions, the first one, Hearts of Stone, is the best story the Witcher III tells.

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  27. Congratulations on getting a new PC! And welcome to the wonderful world of The Witcher. I’ve played through the entire trilogy twice and am now on my 3rd playthrough of The Witcher 3. It’s an amazing game! So… Yen or Triss? 😉

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      1. It is, I did Triss my first play-though, only because I’d romanced her in the two previous games (Yen’s not in them) but 2nd and 3rd it’s Yen.

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  28. I agree, The Witcher 3 is a near perfect game. I am keen to see what the TV series makes of it… I am ashamed to say I never finished the game, as PUBG dragged me away, but you have inspired me to log back in and have another nose around!

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  30. Usually I prefer adventure/puzzle games, but I have to admit that Witcher3 is a brilliant piece of work. I’ve played it through twice now (expansions and all), and explored a few of the alternative paths. It’s one of the few games that’s like a good book – it deserves to be revisited every few years.

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  31. I absolutely cannot wait to play this game! I too got my high end gaming pc fairly recently so I can finally dust The Witcher 3 off and get playing!

    Incidentally, Joe Abercrombie is one of my favourite authors so any game that is reminiscent of a grimdark fantasy novel is good with me!! 😀 Have you read any of The Witcher books?

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      1. It’s a fantastic game series, and Bioware are a brilliant game company. You should absolutely give it a go but it’s a very long game, not quite as long as TW3, but close! Get the Game of the Year edition for all the DLC, it’s so worth it! 😀

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  34. Completely agree with you on this, the writing in this game is amazing. The whole Bloody Baron saga is one of the most insane set of quests I’ve ever played through in a game and for it to happen relatively early in the game’s main story shows how immersive this game is. From the Bloody Baron to the religious extremist themes in Novigrad all the way to the Game of Thrones political maneuvering in the Skellige part, this game really does have it all. Can’t wait to see how the show holds up against the game. The game’s gonna be hard to beat it really is near perfect.

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