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The Last Wish

A uniquely astounding and perhaps transcendent attribute of CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is how it was able to reunify a much older, cynical video game player (me) into something akin to that wide-eyed child who picked up an SNES RPG for the first time all those years ago. And if that scenario proved true for myself, it follows that that same feeling of discovery burned in the guts of countless others who decided to take the plunge. And there are many reasons for that, but chief among them is how the game essentially rejected modern (by 2015 standards) tropes and did its own thing, blazed its own path.
And that path led the way to one of the finer RPGs of a generation. And indeed, of all time.

Time of Contempt

As its title suggests, The Witcher 3 is the third game in the video game chronology. The basis for which was adapted from the book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. Geralt, the titular witcher, makes his living as a monster hunter (or witcher) and is gifted with an encyclopedic knowledge of swordsmanship, enhanced with “unnatural” magical abilities.
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The first major deviation from commonly held RPG conventions is that Geralt does not enter the game as another empty avatar waiting for the player to fill in the blanks with their curiosity or meandering. That’s much too distracting for what the game desires to achieve. Rather, the creators invite the player to incorporate their choices through the parameters of an already-existing, fleshed-out Geralt of Rivia. The results have the player contemplating meaningful, considered nuances as opposed to empty, inconsequential choices.
While not exclusive to just The Witcher 3, especially in light of the book series and the game's progenitors, it was still extremely novel to deliver choices that resulted in true consequence. Especially in post-Skyrim 2015.
Thankfully, choice in The Witcher 3 is not always divided into a set of binary decisions (although they are sometimes). Often, and most compellingly, the onus is on the player to explore the game’s world. There exist hours upon hours of meaningful content that can be easily, or accidentally, missed if the player decides to move too quickly. Which means—and I cannot emphasize this enough—
Moving too fast will be detrimental to the overall experience.
This is another way The Witcher 3 slices through convention. It’s designed to move slowly, via deliberate pacing, that carefully layers narrative structure to arrive at satisfying conclusions. Nearly all exposition results in a monumental payoff. And not just for the main plot thread, but for ancillary ones too. Everything is leading to something.
An RPG that provided meaningful side content practically didn’t exist when The Witcher 3 was released. It was the video game equivalent of a unicorn. Usually peripheral sections bulged with inconsequential tasks to check off. Like video game junk food. But this arena existed as a boon, or untapped resource, which The Witcher 3 revolutionized. Some of the finest content within the plot exists in what might previously have been received as mundane or unnecessary.
And it is in this, perhaps above everything else, that the game’s reputation rests.
It’s as if CD Projekt Red almost singularly came to the obvious conclusion that there is no point in adding exploration or side quests to any game if you’re conversely spoon feeding all the worthwhile content to the player.
Finally, I say. And bravo.

Baptism of Fire

The combat of the game is frequently criticized as being clunky, disorienting, and non-expansive. While I don’t wholly agree with that, it’s worth mentioning in a review as a disclaimer. For starters, the player must ensure that Geralt is always moving. You’ll be your most effective by dipping into an attack, then dodging, or rolling sideways or back. Standing still and slashing away, at least on intermediate difficulties and above, usually results in death, and very quickly at that.
To the game’s credit, this helter-skelter style is rooted in the lore. Witchers equip light armor and are taught to lean into combat with finesse and timing, as opposed to brute force and untethered restraint. Is this a bit of a reach? Maybe. But it’s still in the game.
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Unfortunately, the additional issues of the combat system are interlinked with what also makes it fresh and viable. You can’t have one without the other. Geralt has the option of using a sign (casting magic) to momentarily stun or bathe an enemy in fire, then quickly dipping in and out of combat with a group on his flank using sword thrusts and swings, while simultaneously considering a ranged combatant by employing a magic shield or firing a shot from his trusty crossbow. Or something like that. There’s a lot of variance in how these situations can play out, but this also means it can take a lot of time to effectively master.
Avenues exist for the player to carefully decide which type of Geralt they want to be. And while this pertains more to story beats, it’s also featured for combat builds. These builds are not particularly robust, but there nevertheless exists leveling trees upon which the player will allocate skill points to create their own version of the Witcher. And it’s ultimately a net positive to have the feature rather than to exclude it.

Season of Storms

CD Projekt Red delivers one of the finest video game stories of its decade. Above any of The Witcher 3’s perceived attributes, the narrative is its main draw. It’s frankly difficult to write about it without seeming hyperbolic. Which is probably the greatest compliment I could ever give it. It’s so good it feels like a lie. Or too good to be true. Or whatever idiom you prefer. All of which is enhanced significantly by a great number of fantastic vocal performances scattered throughout the playtime.
The storytelling’s excellence colors nearly all of the interactions Geralt has in the world. Almost everything leads to something significant and wonderful. In fact, many of the best story threads are hidden underneath a mundane veneer. The game is paced in a way that it allows these moments to breathe and speak for themselves. They’re not always humorous, heartbreaking, perplexing, existential, nihilistic, depressing, or symbolic. But they can be. And frequently are some combination of all of them.
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The Witcher 3 is not the first roleplaying game to capture a convincing fantasy world. But it is the first one that I believed I could make better. The result is a bewildering version of a video game nirvana that few games will ever touch.

Conclusion

Occasionally, I am asked to provide an example of what I desire most from creative media (be it video games or otherwise), and I can think of few better articulations than that of The Witcher 3: from its superbly crafted characters, with their earned empathy, trickling down into their nuanced pathos; to its narrative structure that boldly utilizes deliberate pacing to allow beats to breathe and feel earned; to how it delivers spectacle in the form of bombastic climaxes and varied action set pieces; and perhaps most importantly, to how it owns the maturity to expect the emotional intelligence from the player to fully grasp its conceptualizations.
I remember hearing someone a few years ago labeling The Witcher 3 as something akin to the great fantasy detective novel. But that compliment is somewhat limiting. Why not call it what it is…?
The great fantasy video game.

Overall: 10/10 (Masterwork)