The Witcher 3 has tripled our play time versus that of the Witcher 2. For those who jumped down to this last page, that means the Witcher 3 on Death March yielded us 120 hours in just one play through. We’ve talked to some people who are 75-80 hours in on easier difficulties but were far less progressed in the story than we were. This means depending on your play style the game should still give you at least a dollar per hour play value (if you paid retail sticker price) on the conservative side of things. There are not a lot of games these days that can boast this for its single player aspect.
Playing through a second time will easily boost the time spent in this game, and that doesn’t take into consideration the additional DLC CDPR continues to release weekly for it.
Graphics: The graphics are what you would expect from a big AAA title, disappointing us only slightly when it came to everything constantly moving in the wind that could, whether there was wind or not.
Gameplay: The gameplay feels quite fluid, offering multiple ‘mini-games’ including horse raising and Gwent. Hell we’ll be surprised if Gwent does not become its own free to play game as how well thought out it is and how addicting it is. Being able to spec however you want was another bonus, including the ability to respect to try different builds.
Combat: Combat feels more refined, adding in dodge or roll versus ‘rolling to dodge’ as was present in the prior versions. Two different combat styles as you take control of Geralt and occasionally Ciri, the female witcher.
Side Quests: A lot of the side quests do not feel like they are tacked on to bloat the play time, instead those optional quests to help build the universe of the Witcher, as well as offer different incentives to do them, such as the treasure hunts to find better School Sets of gear schematics. We were disappointed that a few quests bugged on us, not allowing us to do a Witcher contract quest, and some quests we thought that were abandoned but came back without being able to talk to the NPC to continue them along.
Story: The main story feels epic, flowing quite well offering a semi non-linear aspect at times, while referencing the source material (novels) a fair amount. There are several times where the game may get you emotional, meaning the writers are able to hook you into the story to feel what the characters are feeling.
Replay Value: Finally the game has massive replayability, as you can play the game through with different specs, different armor sets or types, as well as responding to choices differently than before, as the game offers three different endings. As of right now we will say that the Witcher 3 is our favorite game of the year, but we look forward to seeing if another big title such as Fallout 4 can tie or dislodge it.
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