As games come and go year after year, it’s hard to find ones that leave lasting impressions. Even ones dubbed “Game of the year” can sometimes be lost in time. Be it to graphic performance, replayability factors, or even just lack of interest, we tend to forget a majority of games that have come into our lives throughout the years.
This year already feels different though. Titles like Metal Gear Solid 5, Bloodborne and Fallout 4 have ushered in another golden age of video games. There is one among this years crop of greats that stands well above those previously mentioned though, and for great reasons. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. A game that has dominated this years GOTY awards by a wide margin, is an instant classic, and not one that we will forget. Ever. TW3 is even on lists of best games of all time. Up there with other greats like The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Thief: The Dark Project (sensing some reoccurring themes here) and many others.
REPLAY FACTOR
It’s no secret that The Witcher 3 (I think at this point I’m just going to write this as TW3) is a massive game. Between the seemingly endless swamps, and forests, to its almost life sized city, TW3 has plenty of nooks and crannies to look through that can keep you entertained. What the really huge part of it is though, is the almost daunting amount of side quests, hidden treasures, hidden lore pieces, monster hunting, and of course, Gwent. What all this means is that you won’t run out of things to do anytime soon. You can find stories spread across the interwebz of people spending over hundreds of hours in this wonderful fantasy world (beautifully crafted by CD Project Red) and not even past the second act of the main story yet. Then there is the whole Gwent side game as well, which I will discus more further on.
STORY
Along with all those lovely features mentioned above, TW3 has an amazing and captivating story. You play as The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, on his quest to save his “daughter” Ciri, as she is being chase by The Wild Hunt, a retinue of spectral elves, because she is *yawns* OH! Does that guy play Gwent?! Sorry, some A.D.D during this game, as the main story is good, it can get a little long winded and boring. Luckily, when i mention “story” here as being part of why this game deserves all the praise it’s getting, I am not talking about the main story line. The stories throughout the world of TW3 as told by every beggar, farmer, cut-throat villain and city guard manage to immerse the player in ways that have rarely been seen by a video game. CD Project Red went to painstaking details and brought to life each quest, each side mission, each and every NPC in the game. Nothing was half-assed when it came to making this incredibly detailed world come to life. Even more amazing is how many of these side quests actually sink into the some of the main quests in the game. All of this means that you get not just A story, but hundreds of smaller stories and tales that can connect (directly or indirectly) to the main plot of the game seamlessly. Its one the main reasons why TW3 won 166 GOTY awards.
DIFFICULTY
What takes a good game to greatness is sometimes how difficult it is to play. You only have to look over to the Demon’s/Dark Souls games to see that fans love a challenge, and love being pushed to the brinks of madness! There is something so refreshing about a game that doesn’t hold your hand while you play. Now, TW3 isn’t quite to the punishing, almost brutal levels of difficult that the Souls games are, but It has its share of hard times. This keeps the player a little more invested while playing, as they want the honour of saying ” I played this, and I beat it!”
GWENT
With all these great things to say about The Witcher, you can’t forget about the in game mini side game loved by everyone, Gwent. Gwent is a collectible card game the simulates two armies on the field of battle. Each player takes a turn playing their card, amassing strength based on the number on the top of each card. The players keep taking turns playing until one player runs out of cards for the turn or they both choose to pass, and move on to the next round with the winner of the round being the player with the higher total strength. The game ends after 2 round are won by the same player. This is more difficult than it sounds, especially for a Magic: The Gathering player, as you can’t just draw more cards during each round. Your hand at the beginning of the first round is the same hand you’ll have all game. Due to this, one of the more common strategies is to purposely lose a round, most likely the first. The game is addictive, fun, and fresh. Because of this, it has become almost as big of a cultural phenomenon as TW3 itself has been. You can find plenty of fan made art, home made decks and other things based on it.
All of that, and I didn’t even mention how god damn gorgeous this game looks (because I’m not shallow). Games like TW3 certainly don’t come around often. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, creativity and sacrifice to create it something of this magnitude. In the end, the product that gets shipped off to fans is something to be proud of by developers, engineers and creative teams all over. Not everyone will get to bask in the glory of getting a Game Of The Year award, and very few still earn as many as The Witcher garnered. For all the hard work CD Project Red put into it, they amassed a legion of fans and a bevvy of GOTY to show for it. Simply put, this was a game to remember, and has earned its spot with the greatest games of all time.