Player Preview - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Title: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Developer: CD Project Red
Release Date: 19th of May, 2015

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1FdFaPP
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1HIOJJA
GoG Page: http://bit.ly/1JUhLIu

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at Role Playing Game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Developed by CD Project Red. Wild Hunt is the final game in the Witcher series, or at least the last game based around the main character, Geralt of Rivea. 

Wild Hunt carries on from where The Witcher 2 left off. The Northern and Southern kingdoms of the world are still heavily at war with each other and as you travel around the country you can see the effect it has had on the people and the environment with bloodied battlefields and ransacked villages with peasants struggling to survive. While the war is all around Geralt it’s not actually his primary concern, as the games name suggests it’s the Wild Hunt that holds his interest as they hunt for his protégé and in some respects adopted daughter, Ciri, a fellow witcher that has some rather interesting magical abilities that you can play around with when given the short opportunities to play as her.

The size of the world is pretty damn big and while the quest lines will take you through a certain path in the world you can also walk off into the wilderness to find random points of interest like monster nests, caves and hidden treasure represented by all those question marks on the map. Accompanying you on your journey is your loyal horse, Roach, that will make traversing the countryside a lot easier along with quick travel points dotted at key towns and locations. Roche can also hold some of your loot in his saddle bags, carry trophies from important monsters and you can also go racing with him in the horse racing mini-game to earn some extra crowns on the side. Engaging in combat is also possible while mounted and can be devastatingly effective with one hit kills to enemies that would have taken 5 or more hits to down, getting your timing down however is the difficult part while also avoiding Roach bucking you off out of fear. 

As Geralt you have access to 3 combat methods with your steel and silver sword being your primary method with heavy and basic attacks along with a block and a riposte that you can use straight of the bat. The combat is extremely fast and relies heavily on your dodge timings. It’s a huge step up from the Witcher 2 and actually reminded me of Dark Souls combat and I wouldn’t be surprised if CD Project Red had it mind when creating the combat system for this game. The only thing that could have been improved on is the sword play as you only have the two alternatives in heavy and quick attacks. Probably the biggest combat move that is missing is the ability to lunge forward with the sword so as to keep your distance from the enemy but otherwise the combat is extremely enjoyable and amazingly satisfying once you get the hang of it.

 Your Witcher signs are an important part of not only the combat but the game as a whole and you will need to take full advantage of them. There are 5 of them available to you with arguably the most important being Quen, a shield that can negate all damage from 1 attack before it breaks. When fighting something like the Griffen, a sort of boss monster that appears very early on in the game, and you don’t use the shield you can be killed within 2 shots and unless you’ve mastered dodging that is very likely to happen. Yrden is a trap sign that is used to slow down and weaken any enemies who enter it making them easier to deal with. The rest of the signs are mostly situational but they also have secondary uses in the world unlike the Quen and Yrden signs. Aard can be used to push back and damage enemies while it can also be used to break open doors or clear debris. Igni can be used to ignite enemies directly infront of you or it can be used to light torches in dark areas and light explosive barrels. Axii can be used to stun an opponent or it can be used to take control of NPC’s to get them to do what you want or tell you what you want. Changing between these signs while in combat is done really well with the game slowing significantly while you choose from a circular menu that doesn’t just contain your signs but also your bombs, crossbows and various other equipped items.

 Lastly there is Alchemy that includes potions, oils for your swords and throw able bombs all with various different effects. Potions in the Wild Hunt have been changed quite significantly from the previous game in terms of their duration and the ability to drink while in combat instead of having to take time out to meditate. While this makes potions a lot easier to use as you can add them to your hotbar and drink them instantly it does come at the cost of the potions duration. A 30 second duration may seem like a decent amount of time but it can go by quite quickly especially in some of the bigger fights were you can only get a few hits in every now and then. For comparison, potions in the Witcher 2 lasted 5 to 10 minutes.

These 3 different combat methods have their own skill trees that you can invest in that can add and alter the effects of certain elements. For instance upgrading your sword skills can allow you to deal more damage or deflect arrows. Upgrading your Qeun sign, or your shield, you can add a damaging knockback effect to it when it breaks and with alchemy you can increase your potions effectiveness and potency. With the skill slot system that is implemented you can’t really throw skill points around into multiple different skills though because you can only socket so many skills at one time with the slots maxing out at 12 and over 48 skills available to use. There is one other skill tree that focuses on passive skills like increased vitality that don’t need to be socketed as well as mutagens of which you can have a maximum of 4 active at one time and when linked to similar coloured skills it will give a scaling stat bonus. Skill points are primarily gained from levelling up however if you go exploring a little finding and using places of power you will also obtain skill points to use.

Missions and quests come in a multitude of varieties from combat missions to investigative missions and surprisingly enough there aren’t really any missions that feel like a waste of time. There are no “Go collect 10 bear arses” types of missions that are so prevalent in RPG’s these days. Each mission has a great storyline behind it whether it be part of the main story or just a very small side plot with both allowing for multiple different outcomes formed from your decisions. While it’s totally understandable that some people may be unable to play a lot of the side missions, I would highly suggest that if you have the option to play through them, to definitely play them. To get involved with some of the side mission you will have to visit your local quest board and collect missions from there to follow up on.

The crafting in Wild Hunt remains fairly similar to the previous games requiring you to find recipes in the world before actually being able to craft items. Weapons and Armour will require you to visit the appropriate smiths and with some of the more unique gear you will have to seek out expert smiths to get it made. Your weapons and armour will degrade after some use taking slight damage output and armour decreases requiring you to get them repaired every so often or use repair kits to repair them yourself. For potions and bombs you only have to craft them once, you will only have a certain amount that you can use before you have to meditate to get them all back again at the cost of some alcohol that is fairly easy to find, buy or even craft. Sword oils on the other hand only have to be crafted once and have unlimited uses without the need for any meditation or alcohol to replenish.

The graphics have been a hot topic with the Wild Hunt with rumoured downgrades for console however honestly, even if it was downgraded it still looks stunning and even on its lowest settings it looks a thousand times better than most other games. If you do want to push it to the next level though there are currently mods being worked on with SweetFX already working with the game.

Other features of the game include a surprisingly in-depth card game called Gwent and it takes the place of Dice Poker from Witcher 2. Collecting cards from opponents and stores you can compile quite an impressive collection and you’ll need to if you plan on beating some of the more difficult players of the game. The tutorial for it is a little bit of an information overload but once you play a game or two it becomes a lot easier. There is also the return of fist fighting and by betting big you can make a tidy little profit out of it.

Altogether The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of if not the best game I have ever played that I couldn’t wait to play every day. Playing the game on its hardest difficulty is definitely recommended for the most satisfying experience similar to that in Dark Souls in terms of combat intensity. The amount of content all in the one game and the quality of it all is incredibly impressive and really makes the world come alive. If you’re looking for a game to lose yourself in Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is that game. Looks amazing, plays incredibly and the numerous storys told throughout are fantastic.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the game officially released on the 19^th of May. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you guys next time.