The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Opinion

The third episode about the conflicts of magical nobility and fantasy tavern immediately rises to an unreachable height for the second “Witcher” – the game starts without an apocalyptic pointless battle with a dragon. The role-playing fashion of past years, when adventures began immediately with a frantic fight, was seriously annoying. And if some Dragon Age still can’t put an end to this stupidity, then “Wild Hunt” has learned some of its lessons.

The combat system “I hate gamers”, however, remained in place.

In the world of the third “Witcher”, everything is consistently harsh: rural life goes on as usual, vampires roam the forests, racism and xenophobia are everywhere, lords continue to kill each other on a scale that makes you wonder how they haven’t all died out by now. Against this backdrop, a group of local wraiths known as the Wild Hunt enters the game.

And then there’s the unknown and familiar to everyone, the witcher Geralt, who is hunted from all sides and has slept with just about everyone. Pursued by a new batch of ghosts from the past, he must meet them face to face, as is the old tradition.

To be honest, for the author of the text who is unfamiliar with Geralt’s book adventures, the plot sensors burned out. The overall pathos and drama of the “Witcher” were lost for unclear reasons against the backdrop of sex on a unicorn’s carcass and quests about looting corpses on the battlefield. Plus, our fighter against evil, as is customary in the game series, doesn’t say the words that are highlighted in the dialogue menu, but some of his own interpretations, which is why the main plot discussions often turn into jokes about the funny situations Geralt got into with the king, at the inn, and in the witch’s hut.

In short, it’s a matter of personal taste. But as history shows, there are quite a few fans.

In general, the main impression of the third “Witcher” is that the game, like a schoolboy from “Akira”, has grown muscles wherever possible. But otherwise, since the second part, nothing has changed in the world. The reliable algorithms of “found a quest – dealt with the witcher’s Wikipedia – brewed a potion – killed who needed to be killed – got what I wanted” are preserved in their original form, the unbearable combat system still turns its nose up at the advanced achievements of MMO battles and the rhythm of Batman: Arkham, the guys still can’t do anything on their own, and the ladies admire the battle-hardened hot gray-haired body.

The locations have become vast, with forests, swamps, and caves, and relatively free exploration of all this happiness. Nowadays, Geralt is rarely guided by the hand to the sights, and invisible walls are almost non-existent. Travel in random directions Skyrim-style and enjoy. The witcher’s expanses are consumed faster than in Tamriel, but The Elder Scrolls is not a competitor at all. There are more quests for one conditional storyline segment, so that there is enough for dozens of bonus hours in total. Some potential adventures are marked on the map in advance, while others are stumbled upon by chance. As a result, there is noticeably more chatter and collecting, not to mention the number of fights.

It would be nice to rename the third “Witcher” to “Marauder”, as there are mountains of various valuable garbage everywhere. Under every other pine tree, there is either a bag of goods, or a chest, or a chest with a bag of goods.

Just somewhere between clearing another hole and collecting hidden treasures, you begin to notice that our content monster is bursting at the seams. The little things of the witcher’s life will make you express some strong compliment out loud from time to time.

Oh, how wonderful it was to contemplate this inventory screen, grown from the age of “We’re on consoles, making everything healthy and inconvenient!” Designers returned to reasonable menus, set up a classic grid with slots, and even allowed it to stretch to infinity! It’s just like in any normal role-playing game, only better! They probably got rid of the stupid rudimentary item weight system too! Yeah. As soon as you, humble player, got carried away in the rush of munchkin happiness, an alert lit up somewhere on the side – Geralt is overloaded, can’t run, crawl for half an hour to surrender to merchants, or throw away half of your gear under a tree.

…Oh gods, it dawned on me why there’s a gold rush behind every bush here.

Graphics – same story. Overall, a pleasant picture works in 95% of cases to create the right atmosphere and pleases the eye, but the remaining 5% nullify all the pompous seriousness surrounding the player. After a critical hit, body parts of bandits can either fall to the ground with a satisfying thud, to the delight of the sadistic player inside, or they can go flying for no apparent reason. Just for company with the neighbors. Useful flowers grow in the forests, hares-deer-wolves run around, and there are also idiots-hunters who can’t hit anything from two meters with their bows. And so on.

Thanks to these small thorns, it is difficult to play “The Wild Hunt” continuously. The game still captivates, and captivates strongly, but… There is something, something that has been missing for the third consecutive series. Currently, “The Witcher” may be in a solid third place on the fantasy role-playing pedestal of honor after “Skyrim” and Dragon Age, but it truly does not measure up to them.

Nevertheless, the project justifies its status as a seasonal hit to the fullest. Like the second “Avengers” movie. There was no sensation, but all the necessary elements of the mosaic are in place.

Perhaps by the fourth part of the series, the designers will finally discard the last outdated techniques and bring the game closer to the real avant-garde.