Somewhere, clogged away amidst the alcohol ravaged brain cells formed during my liberal arts education, a sliver of my mind held on to the concept of Socratic justice. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates argues it is better to suffer injustice than to be its cause. In CD Projekt RED’s RPG-opus The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, notions of Socratic justice run deep. Do you, as Geralt, suffer injustice? Do you accept pithy bounties to handle dangerous creatures for villagers at large? Or do you manage your own affairs, refusing to help others so that your goals may be realized all the quicker? Do you deceive the people who need your help because they are, in many ways, bereft of the kind of help they need?
Is justice the same as fairness? For the denizens of the Northern Kingdoms, rarely does fair treatment come from the powers that be or the creatures that plague the countryside. Killing a beast does not unkill its victims and, what’s more, can you pass a death sentence on a creature because of its nature? Can a person truly change? Is remorse real?
This is all pretty heady stuff. And it speaks to the quality of The Witcher 3 that these ideas ran through my mind as I played. Truly, this game is a work of art in the grandest sense of the word. It is more than just a stunning visual achievement paired with thoughtful writing and balanced, intuitive gameplay. The Witcher 3 will make you, not force you, to think.
It starts with a world that is as alive as almost anything I’ve ever experienced in a video game. From the weather to the NPCs, everything in the background of The Witcher 3 absorbs your attention. After only a few moments in the game the real world slips away. It is no small feat. The subtle facets of this world create effortless escapism. It holds your attention in a unique and powerful way.
I know this because I spent roughly 24 hours playing the game over two days. I knew trying to complete The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt in one weekend was a futile undertaking. I hoped to gain as much a sense as possible in that time of how the game was going to handle the themes the PR campaign has been touting. Ethics. Justice. Truth.
Beyond that, my goal had rudimentary aims, too. Is it fun? Is it buggy? Is it worth the money? etc. The standard components average readers hope to glean from a 1,000-word review. These latter concerns were easy to evaluate in my weekend with the game and need to be addressed early as they are, fundamentally, the important parts of such a review.
Fun? Absolutely. If you’re an RPG fan then there is almost nothing else out close to the immersive fantasy of The Witcher 3. Dragon Age: Inquisition, although a fine game with many merits of its own, falls short of incubating the same organic feel found in The Witcher 3. There is action, adventure, romance and humor.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is fun in the way that any good video game is fun. A sturdy combat system with loads of customization is the centerpiece for the action. It is not especially innovative or groundbreaking, but walks the line between mindless button-masher and rage-inducing challenge. Like in previous Witcher games, the types of poisons you use and spells you cast play into a rock, paper, scissor style set up. A helpful bestiary is only a few button clicks away and often holds the key in getting past a pesky foe or three.
Fans of robust crafting engines will swoon when they see The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s complex web of materials, plans and sub categories. Similar to many MMOs, the junk you find in The Witcher 3 can be dismantled into its composite parts and the reassembled at your leisure. I found durability to be my greatest enemy and spent a bit too much time trying to track down armorers. Carry a repair kit or two for when your silver sword encounters a few more ghoul hordes than you anticipated. Alchemy also plays an intricate role but, fortunately, Geralt can do that himself.
Buggy? In my experience, no. I played the PS4 version, so I can’t speak to any issues that might affect Xbox or PC versions. But my version ran flawlessly and, it’s incredible to have to actually say this in 2015, but kudos to CD Projekt RED for releasing a game that works. It also speaks to the power of next gen systems when you can run an enormous game with virtually no loading screens. The longest load time I experienced was 75 seconds.
Fast travels and deaths create longer load times, cutscenes and the like are far shorter. The key is offline gameplay. You’re not on a server. You’re not forced to play with others. CD Projekt RED is able to harness all of the potential power in the console and, I’m pleased to say, accomplishes quite a lot. Hopefully future titles take this as a queue to stop ham-fisting online content down our throats at the expense of error-free gameplay.
Is The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt worth the money? In short, yes. Obviously, it’s not a game for everyone. I feel as though most gamers know ahead of time whether or not a massive RPG experience like this is what they’re looking for. You cannot causally play this title for 30-40 minutes and feel satisfied. You need to set aside large blocks of time. And you will.
If value can be defined as money spent for time played then The Witcher 3 is the most valuable game of this generation. My aforementioned 24 hours of game time left me with a level 7 character. I had acquired quests and gear that required levels of 30 or more. it’s clear that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a serious commitment. It’s more than a time sink. It’s a time bath tub.
Unfortunately, the sheer scale of the game complicate the larger goals of my review. I want to see how the game handles the concepts of justice as they play out across this massive world. CD Projekt RED told me at E3 two years ago that my decisions would impact the world in ways that I couldn’t predict. I cannot yet tell if these ripples are too subtle, or too few, to notice. I look forward to playing the game in my personal time (on PC) so that I can make alternate choices and compare how the first 30 hours of each session differ.
Until then, here’s all you need to know about The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. $60 buys you a gorgeously detailed, open-world RPG experience requiring no online bullshit and will entertain you for literally dozens of hours with a compelling story and fantastic action.
This review cannot do it justice.
