The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 10 Glaring Flaws That Immediately Cripple It

4. Your Horse Rarely 'Works'

Although Red Dead Redemption proved horses can be a worthwhile gameplay component as well as a valuable method of traversal around that respective world, sadly in Witcher 3 your steed, Roach, almost unanimously doesn't do what you want him to. Firstly, one of the things you're told is if -when riding - you hold the sprint button, he'll travel automatically to your destination, following the dotted line outlined on your mini-map. Not so. Simply put, Roach's A.I. can't take corners of anything more than a few degrees, and he'll bolt off down a different route or straight through the middle of a forked path if you're not managing him directly. Secondly, somewhat like Red Dead he'll get snagged on trees and environmental objects - an immersion-breaking bug that sure, can't be helped considering the size of the game world, but happens far too frequently all the same. Already covered is the pain of trying to mount him effectively and coming up against all the overlapping animation priorities therein, but far worse is after you're atop him and attempting some mounted combat - it's nigh-on impossible to line up your sword-swings in any satisfying way without feeling like you're forcing the game into a state it can't handle.