10 Subtle Ways The Witcher 3's Story Is One Of The Very Best
In a world of might and magic, gritty realism makes Wild Hunt stand out.
Deep breath...
Game of the Year, Best RPG, Developer of the Year, Best DLC, Best Art Direction, Best Soundtrack. Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Excellence in Art, Most Wanted, Best Storytelling. Best Visual Design, Best Performance, Best Art Direction, Best Male Character and Studio of the Year.
Those are just some of the awards The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and developer CD Projekt Red have displayed in what must be a trophy room brighter than the surface of the sun.
The Witcher 3 has been out for 18 months now, and anyone with a penchant for high fantasy RPGs will most likely have delved into the bloody and unforgiving world of Temeria and its neighbours. If you haven’t, then do yourself a favour and give into the hype, you won’t regret it! The graphics are beautiful, the controls refined and the game's difficulty allow for all approaches, from hack-and-slash to a more classic RPG experience.
Yet the truly great open-world games have to offer something more than a high polygon to keep us coming back for more. The characters need to be believable, the world needs to feel real and the pace has to find that oft-missed balance of desperate action and explorer-friendly roaming.
So what’s the thing that ties these all together? A personal story caught up in the midst of a world that doesn’t give a flying fudge about you. That’s how the real world works, and The Witcher 3 pummels it into our face at every opportunity.
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10. The World Is Indifferent To Everyone
The Witcher 3 never once lets you forget that you are in a harsh, unforgiving world that just doesn’t give a steaming poop what you want.
The first game in the series opens with an exciting flashback cinematic before you wake up in Wolf Witcher school stronghold Kaer Morhen, for your 'Video Game 101' tutorial introduction. Sure, the calm doesn’t last long, but for a moment you think you’re safe.
Assassins of Kings begins in the middle of a castle siege. It’s one of the most exciting openings to a video game ever, but you are clearly the hero, kicking ass, and saving the day. Wild Hunt takes the safety net of the first game, your legendary reputation of the second, bundles them into a rotting carcass and feeds it to a humongous griffin. You begin the journey on a muddy road, under attack by an overpowered monster, chasing a woman only book-readers fully understand (Yennefer only appears in the previous games in flashbacks or as a footnote in passing conversations).
The first town you come to, White Orchard, is replete with swinging corpses, abusive soldiers, and racist townsfolk. Velen shows you the body-ridden fields after battle, the destroyed families and towns of the mutilated soldiers, and humanoid ghouls that scavenge rotting flesh, personifying the destructive nature of war to mind, body and soul.
This theme never lets up throughout the entire 300+ hours of The Witcher 3. Charming characters can be killed off at a moment’s notice, loved ones are tortured, and soldiers die whilst kings and spymasters treat their subjects like fodder.
The world is cruel, nasty and selfish. Just like Monday morning.