Stunning graphics, great story-telling. Definitely one of the best modern games.
| Developer: | CD Projekt Red |
| Publisher: | CD Projekt Red |
| Platform: | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
| Release Date: | 19 May 2015 |
The True Masterpiece of gaming
Introduction
The Witcher 3, a game of great polish. For starters, let's talk about the story. Due to how the developers kept to the source material, the story is engrossing indeed. It ropes you in the moment you start the game. "What is a Witcher? What is this wild hunt?" are questions asked by every gamer that started the witcher.The story masterfully unveils itself as you progress through the game. You can tell that this is clever implementation by the script writers. Even the side quests don't feel mundane, they are well written stories with fully fleshed out NPCs, each with their own backstory and problems. You don't feel like you are playing for extra experience, instead, it is a incorporation of the witcher 3 universe in a new perspective. And you as Geralt is just along for the ride. I feel that this is a important point as not many games can make me want to play sidequests. Make me want to learn more about the game and thus, make me want to play more.
Gameplay
The combat is also rather rewarding, playing on the hardest difficulty, I had to engage a monster to register it on my bestiary first, think of it as a encylopedia on monsters of sorts. To find out their weaknesses against the oils that I could apply on my sword or spells that I can cast. Examples are: Aard Sign , a telekinetic blast. Axii Sign, mind control. Igni Sign, fire. Quen Sign, a shield that can absorb at least any one hit for geralt. The Yrden Spell, a trap which slows enemies mainly for wraiths which are essentially ghosts.
Then, after preparing, I can finally face the enemy head on. Whenever an enemy attacks, there are distinct visual and audio cues ( leaping and grunting).
This prepares the player to either dodge, roll or parry. Normally I would dodge, this means that I won't exaggerate my movement ( unlike roll) and I can negate damage from more than one enemy ( also unlike parry/block). However, roll and parry still have their usefulness in specific conditions. Blocking is great when you are fighting a lone enemy and you don't have a good reaction time as you can only block one attack at a time. Parrying is similar but with proper timing to execute with a potential follow up counter attack.
Still, the disadvantages of dodging is that it is hard to time and you may still get hit. So you do need to watch and read attack patterns of enemies. On the hardest difficulty, dodge does not consume stamina which is needed to cast spells unlike roll. Hence one would normally use dodge.
Graphics
Moving on to the graphics. As you can see, it looks damn stunning. The optimization is alright but it still is a demanding game. Be prepared for high CPU and GPU temps with a heavy load. Nvidia hairworks looks great on wolves and geralt himself. You can really see the hair flowing. The foilage looks abit too "2D" though, which is my only criticism. Shadows look great and crisp and they didn't spare the details.Conclusion
All in all a good game, would recommend it to anyone who loves gaming.Get It Here!
