The Witcher 4: 10 Things It Needs To Surpass The Witcher 3

8. Make Side-Quests Effect The Game World

The Witcher 3 does a great job of giving its side-quests an air of importance and credibility. There were no basements to be cleared of rats or tacked-on missions where you had to fetch bread for the village spinster before the bakery closed. Thanks to the brilliant writing, you're given a strong sense that oddjobs Geralt carries out for the people of the Continent have a huge impact on their lives. Whether you€™re helping a person reclaim their family home from wraiths or sacrificing someone€™s life to lift a curse, you become emotionally invested in every one of their lives. But this sense of importance is much more a result of great storytelling than its effect on your gameplay. While you get a sense of genuine satisfaction for completing side-quests, they have little effect on Geralt once you€™ve completed them - apart from endowing him with a heavier coin purse. I€™d like to see The Witcher 4 have side-quests branch out into becoming more than just convenient ways to earn an extra buck. For example, if you complete an assassination contract, it could turn out that your victim had friends in high places, leaving Geralt in danger of facing ambushes and revenge attacks from the victim's allies until the feud gets resolved. Failing or succeeding side-quests should have wider-reaching consequences too. Depending on the outcomes, you could get shunned or revered in certain villages, and your standing with the local folk could change depending on your subsequent actions; what better way to get back into the good books of the man whose brother died by your side than by clearing a local monster nest threatening his family? The Witcher 3 did some great things with side-quests, and The Witcher 4 can build on them further by making them a dynamic, shifting entity in the world, your actions impacting people in ways that come back to affect your gameplay experience long after the quest itself ends.