The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Polish: Wiedźmin 3: Dziki Gon) is an action role-playing video game set in an open worldenvironment, developed by video game developer CD Projekt RED.^[4] Announced in February 2013, it was released forMicrosoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 19 May 2015.^[5] The game is the third in the series, preceded byThe Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, which are based on the series of fantasy novels by author Andrzej Sapkowski.

Played in a third-person perspective, players control protagonist Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher who sets out on a long journey through the large land of Northern Kingdoms. Players battle against the world's many dangers using swords and magic, while interacting with non-player characters and completing side quests and main missions all to progress through the story. Players mostly travel by foot, or on horseback on Geralt's horse Roach.

The game was met with critical acclaim from critics and has sold over 6 million copies

Gameplay[edit]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is more than "30.0 times larger" than previous Witcher games,^[6][7] requiring players to sail by boat to some locations and ride by horseback to others. However, fast travelling around the areas of known locations is also possible.^[8] The Witcher 3 has been described as "20% bigger than Skyrim".^[9] Many actions the player performs affect the world; many of the quests have a number of options on how to complete them, and the outcomes differ. CD Projekt RED anticipates approximately 100 hours for the completion of the game,^[10] 50 of them belonging to side quests, and 50 belonging to the main story line.^[10]

While similar to the previous Witcher games, Wild Hunt improved on several aspects from past games. Combat revolves around an action role-playing game system alongside the use of magic. The fighting system from previous games was significantly revamped. Wild Hunt introduces some new mechanics, such as Witcher-sense, combat on horseback and at sea, swimming underwater, and the use of a crossbow. Additionally, Geralt can jump, climb, and vault over smaller obstacles. The climbing mechanics were described as "not exactly" like Assassin's Creed, but "similar to what we have inUncharted".^[11] Item creation and potion brewing still remain as in previous games, but have been modified from The Witcher 2 to be less unforgiving. Traps from The Witcher 2 have been entirely omitted. The same five Witcher signs returned but slightly modified, with each one having an alternative form that can be used.

The game features responsive, advanced artificial intelligence and dynamic environments. The day and night cycle influences some monsters and their powers, similar to the common mythological motif of a werewolf gaining powers during the night of a full moon.^[12] The game also features a dynamic beard growth system, in which the beard of the playable character Geralt grows as he spends time in the world. Ciri, an exceptional sword fighter with mythical powers from the Witcher novels, is a playable character in the game.^[13] Gwent is an in-gamecollectible card game, which replaces the dice games from the previous two Witcher titles.^[14]

Plot[edit]

  

Setting[edit]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt concludes the story of the witcher Geralt of Rivia, the series' protagonist, whose story to date has been covered in the previous versions.^[8]Continuing from The Witcher 2, the ones who sought to use Geralt are now gone. Geralt seeks to move on with his own life, embarking on a new and personal mission while the world order itself is coming to a change.^[15]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt features a massive open world which the player can roam mostly freely, depending on which part of the story is being played. The game features several locations such as the Free City of Novigrad, the swamps of Velen, huge Skellige Isles, and two Nilfgaardian Empire's territories: the village of White Orchard and the Royal Castle in Vizima. The witcher school Kaer Morhen, known of the books and the first The Witcher game, also appears.

Every location has a big number of villages, each with their own economic and social conditions. Nilfgaardians, for instance, appear to be aristocratic and condescending to the more common nords such as Geralt. The open world is very interactive compared to even the best open world games, featuring abandoned villages, caves and haunted forests. Further detail is added to the game with each location and village having different monsters, some which come out at specified time of the day.

Story[edit]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt follows directly from the events of The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings. The game begins with Geralt's dream about Kaer Morhen, a demolished witcher school. Yennefer, a sorceress and his love interest, notifies Geralt of Ciri, a young female witcher in training and their adopted daughter, practicing without his permission. Geralt finds Ciri and brings her back to Vesemir, her teacher. However, the titular Wild Hunt, a phantom army whose appearance is the beginning of the end of the world, kidnaps Ciri. While Geralt wakes up, he realizes that it was just a bad dream and he is still on a journey to find Yennefer with his mentor Vesemir.

While trying to find Yennefer in the Temerian village of White Orchard, Geralt comes in contact with Nilfgaardian commander named Peter Saar Gwynlew who tasks him into hunting down a Griffin in exchange for Yennefer's location. Yennefer finds Geralt and Vesemir after an incident in the tavern and tells Geralt that Emhyr var Emeris, the Emperor of Nilfgaard, has summoned him to Vizima, the capital of Temeria occupied by Nilfgaard. Along the way to Vizima, Geralt and Yennefer are ambushed by the Wild Hunt but Yennefer successfully teleports them away. In Vizima, Emhyr tasks Geralt to find the emperor's biological daughter, Ciri, who has returned with the Wild Hunt, the phantom army that intends to capture her and extract her Elder Blood powers.

In Velen, Geralt finds the Nilfgaardian spy he was supposed to contact tortured to death by the Hunt. The spy's notes lead Geralt to Philip Stenger, known as the Bloody Baron, who tasks Geralt to find his wife and daughter in exchange for information on Ciri. After learning of the Baron's abuse of his wife and dealing with a botchling of the Baron's miscarried child, the search leads to a fisherman who saw the wife get taken by a Fiend with the daughter escaping to Oxenfurt. Geralt meets an old acquaintance, sorceress Keira Metz, who leads him to the Ladies of the Wood in the Crookback Bog after running into the Hunt in an ancient elven laboratory. After meeting "Gran" who takes care of the orphans in the bog, Geralt meets the Crones of the Crookback Bog and completes a task for them, dealing with the Whispering Hollock, in exchange for Ciri's whereabouts. He also learns that "Gran" is Anna, the Baron's wife, and the Crones are holding her hostage. Optionally in Velen, Geralt can meet up with Letho (if the player haven't killed him in The Witcher 2), clear a cursed tower for Keira, and help the Baron to try and free his wife from the Crones, which leads to different outcomes determined by how Geralt dealt with the Whispering Hollock.

In Novigrad, Geralt meets with Triss Merigold who instructs him to visit an Oneiromancer, Corinne Tilly, who can interpret dreams. This leads Geralt to find Whoreson Junior and rescue Dandelion, who was captured after a failed heist. Geralt finds Junior through the help of Sigismund Djikstra and King Radovid, who used Junior as a spy in Novigrad. Geralt and Zoltan Chivay rescue Dandelion from the Witch Hunters, with the help of a doppler named Dudu and Priscilla, a trobairitz who is Dandelion's love interest. Optionally in Novigrad, Geralt can assist Triss in helping the mages escape from the witch hunters of Novigrad (leading to a romance with her), help Dandelion open his cabaret as well as dealing with a serial killer who attacked and nearly killed Priscilla, and help plot an assassination against Radovid with Djikstra, Vernon Roche, Ves and Thaler.

In Skellige, Geralt meets with Yennefer at the funeral for King Bran. At the wake, Geralt and Yennefer steal The Mask of Uroboros from the druid Ermion. Yennefer has Geralt use the mask in the decimated forest to see visions of the past such as Ciri's arrival with a mysterious mage and her escape from Skellige. This leads to Lofoten, where Yennefer seeks Skjall, a man from the village who helped Ciri escape the Hunt. Finding his body in Freya's Garden after Skjall was cast out of Lofoten for cowardice, Yennefer uses necromancy to get information from him about Ciri. Optionally in Skellige, Geralt can find Crach an Craite's son Hjalmar, who went to kill an Ice Giant on Undvik, and his daughter Cerys, who went to try and lift the curse on the Jarl of Spikeroog. Finding both leads to a murderous coup in a ceremony to choose the next king. Geralt's actions during the massacre leads to whether Hjalmar or Cerys becomes Skellige's ruler (and if the quest isn't done, King Bran's son Svanrige becomes ruler) and part of the conspiracy gets exposed. Geralt can also help Yennefer undo his wish to a djinn (from the short story The Last Wish), deciding whether to stay with Yennefer or not.

Geralt pieces together Ciri's story beginning with her arrival in Skellige, her escape from the Wild Hunt in the forest, Ciri's elven companion being cursed and her arrival at the Crookback Bog. After escaping the Crones who try to "eat" her and sell her to the Hunt, she stumbles on a child lost in the bog. After killing a werewolf, she meets the Bloody Baron and after a race, rescues him from a Basilisk by using magic, which the Hunt can track. Realizing she has put the Baron and his keep in danger, she leaves for Novigrad to repair a phylactery to help cure her companion's curse, leading her to contact Whoreson Junior. After participating on a heist involving Djikstra's vault, Ciri, Dandelion, and Dudu are betrayed by Whoreson Junior and during their escape, Dandelion is captured by the temple guard and Ciri teleports back to Skellige. There, her elven companion rescues her and tells Skjall to look after her until she is well enough to meet him at Drowned Rock. After the Hunt attacks Lofoten, Skjall helps Ciri escape with her companion, who manages to hide her in an inaccessible island. Ciri is then put to sleep by her companion and teleported away, with Skjall seeing Uma, a deformed creature, a while later.

Summing up the clues, Geralt leaves in search of Uma, the monstrous baby looking creature who may be the key to finding Ciri. After collecting him from the Bloody Baron's (or his men) who won the creature from a skellige merchant, Geralt takes him to Kaer Morhen after seeing Emyhr in Vizima. There Yennefer and the Witchers help lift the curse on Uma by administering the potions of the infamous Trial of Grasses. Uma transforms into Avallac'h, an Aen Elle elf, from the race Eredin, king of the Hunt, and the Hunt itself are from. Avallac'h reveals that he hid Ciri in the Isle of Mists. Geralt plans to bring her to Kaer Morhen so they can stand against the Wild Hunt when they come after her. After recruiting allies for this fight, Geralt then heads for the Isle of Mists. He finds Ciri in a death like state, looked after by some dwarves. While grieving her "death", Avallac'h's guide awakens her in Geralt's arms. Ciri explains that Eredin is afraid of his world falling into the White Frost, and that he wishes to exploit Ciri's powers to evacuate his people and conquer other realms. Ciri teleports Geralt to Kaer Morhen while the Hunt chases after the duo. The Hunt arrives at Kaer Morhen and in the following attack, Vesemir is killed by Imlerith, a wild hunt general, in trying to protect Ciri from the Hunt. Distraught, she releases all her uncontrollable powers, causing Eredin and the Hunt to retreat, followed by Avallac'h casting a spell rendering Ciri docile. Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, Ciri, and other allies then hold a funeral for Vesemir.

Ciri is seething for revenge for the death of Vesemir, and asks Geralt to go to Bald Mountain to kill the one responsible, Imlerith. Geralt challenges Imlerith while Ciri faces against the Crones. While Imlerith is defeated, a single crone escapes with Vesemir's wolf medallion. Geralt and Ciri arrive at Novigrad to help Triss and Yennefer reform the Lodge of Sorceresses to help fight the Wild Hunt. There Geralt rescues Phillpa Eilhart from Djikstra and Margarita from the prison on Oxenfurt. Geralt also travels between worlds with Avallac'h to find Viceroy Ge'els in the world of the Aen Elle and turn him against Eredin, with Corinne Tilly's help. They also learn about the Sunstone, found on Skellige, that can lure Eredin out and trap him into a location. Optionally, Geralt can help follow through with the assassination plot against King Radovid, with Philippa striking the lethal blow; afterwards he must side with Vernon Roche or Djikstra on future plans, resulting in the death of the other. In Skellige, Geralt has Fringilla Vigo freed, and along with Philippa, finds the Sunstone. Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri also visit Avallac'h's lab, learning revelations about the Elder Blood which upsets Ciri, and optionally, Geralt can go with Ciri to rightfully bury Skjall. On Undvik, Avallac'h uses the Sunstone, which draws the Hunt and their fleet out, so Geralt and his allies, along with the Nilfgaard fleet can defeat them. The Hunt then freezes Geralt and the Nilfgaardians, which leads Ciri to free them by battling Caranthir, Eredin's right-hand man and Avallac'h's student. After Ciri breaks the spell, she is wounded and teleports away, upon which Geralt approaches Caranthir and defeats him. On the way to the Hunt's flagship, Ciri is rescued by Crach an Craite's navy but Eredin manages to attack the navy and murder the Crach. Geralt faces off against Eredin in a brutal fight and emerges victorious. In his dying breath, Eredin "reveals" that Avallac'h has Ciri and that he lied to them both. Yennefer then saves Geralt from the hounds of the Hunt and set off to find Avallac'h in the nearby tower. Meanwhile, the Conjunction of the Spheres occurs and numerous monsters and rain of ice is set upon the area leading to the beginning of the White Frost. Inside Geralt confronts Avallac'h who drops his sword and tells him that he was helping Ciri, which Geralt doesn't believe. Ciri then asks Geralt to believe her, that only the Elder Blood can stop the White Frost before it consumes all life on every world, predicted by Ithlinne's Prophecy. After a heated discussion or support Ciri goes through the portal and confronts the White Frost, ending the threat by destroying its source.

The epilogue of the game varies according to the choices the player made in the game. Concerning Ciri specifically, there are three possible outcomes: if Geralt presented her to Emperor Emhyr, the assassination of Radovid is carried out, and subsequently sided with Roche, then Ciri will reluctantly accept the throne of Nilfgaard, reasoning that she could do more good for the world as an empress than as a vagrant monster-hunter; if Geralt did not present her, then Geralt and Ciri fake her death, and Ciri becomes a wandering monster-hunter like Geralt; if Ciri died stopping the White Frost, then Geralt hunts down the last Crone to recover Vesemir's medallion, his only memento of Ciri.