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The greatest of all time.
By Ameer Ammar
The Witcher 3 is a game that I have played to death over the years, with 7 playthroughs and a platinum trophy back in 2016. It’s safe to say I am beyond experienced in the franchise, but my last playthrough was back in 2019, which is a very long time, that’s almost 7 years of having nearly re-visited Witcher 3 properly. Now, with news of a new expansion potentially coming, there was no better time for a replay.
Gameplay-wise, I've always stood by that Witcher 3 has good combat and after this replay I not only still think that, I think TW3 has GREAT combat. I played this playthrough on the third difficulty (Blood & Broken Bones) and it was a blast. Witcher 3's combat on higher difficulties has a real sense of strategy, you often do need to prepare before big battles with monsters by preparing oils, decoctions, reading up the bestiary, choosing the right spell and bomb for the situation, etc. My one pet peeve with the combat is that trying to fight enemies anywhere that has different elevations can be a massive pain as you cannot jump during combat. This becomes a real issue in Skellige when you have to fight sirens on a cliff and cannot navigate at all. Aside from this one pet peeve, Witcher 3's combat feels perfect, it’s animated super well, offers a real challenge and is generally just a blast for the entire 100-hour+ runtime.
Movement is one area that hasn't aged well, Geralt's default jogging speed (without sprinting) is way too fast. It’s animated in a strange way and does not feel grounded in the world at all, his jump is also a bit too high as well. I really hope for TW4, Ciri is slowed down and given more weight compared to Geralt.
In terms of RPG mechanics, Witcher 3 does a smart thing where you never feel underleveled for main quests; levels are simply used to guide you through an ideal path to experience the story rather than as arbitrary gates that force you to level up. This is absolutely the best way to implement levels, and I always adored the way Witcher 3 handled gear by utilizing Witcher sets. Around the halfway point of a playthrough, you have a choice to go after treasure hunts to craft sets of unique gear that can be upgraded through different tiers. I adore this system as each set has different bonuses and gameplay styles that they favor, plus aesthetics. I really wish more RPGs had endgame gear like this that incentivize investing into exploration, crafting, and doing more quests to afford them.
The Witcher 3's main story is fantastic; each region always felt drastically different in tone, gameplay, and general structure, that being on Skellige feels almost like a different game from being in the middle of Novigrad or Velen. It's something that I've always appreciated, with Novigrad being my personal favorite as the main storyline of that region is genuinely incredible. Each quest feels drastically different from the last, and Novigrad itself was the most alive medieval town in a video game until Kuttenberg from KCD2 overtook that spot. I've always felt that Velen wasn't paced well; while the Keira and Bloody Baron stories have impeccable writing, they both go on for way too long, especially that first dungeon you take on with Keira that I always dread going through on replays. Skellige is fantastic, a huge departure from the rest of the game as a more Viking-style setting with a Game of Thrones-style plot of intrigue around who will become the next king.
All the side characters are memorable. The cast of The Witcher 3 is rich with lore and history. It helps a ton that many of them have a ton of backstory in the books and previous games. They all feel like real people with different motivations and real enemies. Ciri, Yennefer, Triss, and the other witchers alongside Geralt serve as the main cast of characters, and I love every single one of them. Even if this is your first Witcher game, it’s hard not to feel completely attached to all of them by the end.
Then we get into the two expansions, and what I say that hasn't been already said by everyone? Hearts of Stone is an incredible, 15-hour story where each quest is wholly unique and a story that’s much darker than anything else CDPR has made, delving into themes of depression, hate, and pure evil. It introduces Shani, who is my favorite romanceable character behind Yennefer, and it’s hard to find any faults in that expansion, genuinely flawless.
As for the second expansion, Blood and Wine, this one is just ridiculous with how much content it offers. It’s practically The Witcher 4 with the fact that it takes about ~20 hours to finish the main story and easily 50+ hours to 100% everything. It feels like a whole new game with Toussaint as my favorite region in the entire game, a gorgeous new open world filled with interesting characters and new places to explore. Blood & Wine is widely considered the best DLC ever for good reason and is the canonical end point for Geralt's story as of now. A beautiful ending that always gets me emotional.
I played the remastered version of TW3 this time, on my PC with a 9070XT with all settings maxed out at 4K with full ray tracing, and it was gorgeous. Ray Tracing does a ton to improve how this game looks, especially in interiors, which are given a lot more depth and shadows as a result of the excellent RTGI implementation. I highly recommend running RT if you have a PC strong enough to handle it like I do. It’s a transformative experience.
FINAL VERDICT
Overall, nearly 11 years since launch, The Witcher 3 stands as a pillar of RPGs. It has inspired every RPG that came after it, and for good reason. Not only has it aged like fine wine, it is still superior to games coming out today and remains my favorite game of all time, right alongside Red Dead Redemption 2. A masterpiece.
THE WITCHER 3 - 10/10 - MUST-BUY
Gameplay-wise, I've always stood by that Witcher 3 has good combat and after this replay I not only still think that, I think TW3 has GREAT combat. I played this playthrough on the third difficulty (Blood & Broken Bones) and it was a blast. Witcher 3's combat on higher difficulties has a real sense of strategy, you often do need to prepare before big battles with monsters by preparing oils, decoctions, reading up the bestiary, choosing the right spell and bomb for the situation, etc. My one pet peeve with the combat is that trying to fight enemies anywhere that has different elevations can be a massive pain as you cannot jump during combat. This becomes a real issue in Skellige when you have to fight sirens on a cliff and cannot navigate at all. Aside from this one pet peeve, Witcher 3's combat feels perfect, it’s animated super well, offers a real challenge and is generally just a blast for the entire 100-hour+ runtime.
Movement is one area that hasn't aged well, Geralt's default jogging speed (without sprinting) is way too fast. It’s animated in a strange way and does not feel grounded in the world at all, his jump is also a bit too high as well. I really hope for TW4, Ciri is slowed down and given more weight compared to Geralt.
In terms of RPG mechanics, Witcher 3 does a smart thing where you never feel underleveled for main quests; levels are simply used to guide you through an ideal path to experience the story rather than as arbitrary gates that force you to level up. This is absolutely the best way to implement levels, and I always adored the way Witcher 3 handled gear by utilizing Witcher sets. Around the halfway point of a playthrough, you have a choice to go after treasure hunts to craft sets of unique gear that can be upgraded through different tiers. I adore this system as each set has different bonuses and gameplay styles that they favor, plus aesthetics. I really wish more RPGs had endgame gear like this that incentivize investing into exploration, crafting, and doing more quests to afford them.
The Witcher 3's main story is fantastic; each region always felt drastically different in tone, gameplay, and general structure, that being on Skellige feels almost like a different game from being in the middle of Novigrad or Velen. It's something that I've always appreciated, with Novigrad being my personal favorite as the main storyline of that region is genuinely incredible. Each quest feels drastically different from the last, and Novigrad itself was the most alive medieval town in a video game until Kuttenberg from KCD2 overtook that spot. I've always felt that Velen wasn't paced well; while the Keira and Bloody Baron stories have impeccable writing, they both go on for way too long, especially that first dungeon you take on with Keira that I always dread going through on replays. Skellige is fantastic, a huge departure from the rest of the game as a more Viking-style setting with a Game of Thrones-style plot of intrigue around who will become the next king.
All the side characters are memorable. The cast of The Witcher 3 is rich with lore and history. It helps a ton that many of them have a ton of backstory in the books and previous games. They all feel like real people with different motivations and real enemies. Ciri, Yennefer, Triss, and the other witchers alongside Geralt serve as the main cast of characters, and I love every single one of them. Even if this is your first Witcher game, it’s hard not to feel completely attached to all of them by the end.
Then we get into the two expansions, and what I say that hasn't been already said by everyone? Hearts of Stone is an incredible, 15-hour story where each quest is wholly unique and a story that’s much darker than anything else CDPR has made, delving into themes of depression, hate, and pure evil. It introduces Shani, who is my favorite romanceable character behind Yennefer, and it’s hard to find any faults in that expansion, genuinely flawless.
As for the second expansion, Blood and Wine, this one is just ridiculous with how much content it offers. It’s practically The Witcher 4 with the fact that it takes about ~20 hours to finish the main story and easily 50+ hours to 100% everything. It feels like a whole new game with Toussaint as my favorite region in the entire game, a gorgeous new open world filled with interesting characters and new places to explore. Blood & Wine is widely considered the best DLC ever for good reason and is the canonical end point for Geralt's story as of now. A beautiful ending that always gets me emotional.
I played the remastered version of TW3 this time, on my PC with a 9070XT with all settings maxed out at 4K with full ray tracing, and it was gorgeous. Ray Tracing does a ton to improve how this game looks, especially in interiors, which are given a lot more depth and shadows as a result of the excellent RTGI implementation. I highly recommend running RT if you have a PC strong enough to handle it like I do. It’s a transformative experience.
FINAL VERDICT
Overall, nearly 11 years since launch, The Witcher 3 stands as a pillar of RPGs. It has inspired every RPG that came after it, and for good reason. Not only has it aged like fine wine, it is still superior to games coming out today and remains my favorite game of all time, right alongside Red Dead Redemption 2. A masterpiece.
THE WITCHER 3 - 10/10 - MUST-BUY
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