The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
An open-world RPG with genuinely exceptional writing and quest design buried under 100 hours of structurally identical filler and one of the more mediocre combat systems in a critically acclaimed RPG.
- //Combat is a roll-dodge-attack loop that provides essentially no tactical variety after the first few hours, across the entire 200-hour runtime.
- //Velen alone has 37 map question marks, most resolving to structurally identical bandit camps and monster nests.
- //Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, the two paid expansions, are widely regarded as better designed than the base game -- Blood and Wine's mutation system is the first point the combat gains real depth.
- //The Complete Edition ($39.99) includes both expansions and is considered substantially better value than the base game alone.
- //The Witcher 3's cultural goodwill toward CD Projekt Red was later leveraged to soften public response to Cyberpunk 2077's broken console launch in 2020.
The Witcher 3 casts you as Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster hunter searching for his adopted daughter Ciri across the war-torn Northern Kingdoms, told through quest design widely considered among the best in the genre -- the Bloody Baron storyline in particular is one of the most affecting, morally complicated quest sequences in any RPG. The open world surrounding those quests is enormous but uneven: Velen alone has 37 map markers, the majority resolving to structurally identical bandit camps and monster nests that exist to extend runtime rather than reward exploration. Combat is a roll-dodge-attack loop with minimal tactical variety across the entire 200-hour experience, though the Blood and Wine expansion's mutation system finally adds real depth, years after the base game shipped.
Not the greatest RPG ever made, whatever the collective critical consensus settled on in 2015. A great game with outstanding writing in specific areas, two genuinely exceptional DLC expansions, and one of the most mediocre combat systems in any critically acclaimed RPG of the last twenty years. Both things are true. Play it for the Bloody Baron and both expansions, with realistic expectations about the combat and the map-clearing.