That achievement is compounded by the seeming effect of player actions and choices on moment to moment events in the game. This would be impressive enough in an open-world game with a quarter of the story and characters, and for CD Projekt to keep everything straight and intelligible is a genuine achievement. Where that game often felt like a litany of confusing schemes and plots and a list of various power players that the player might never meet or see, The Witcher 3 is much better at introducing its actors smartly and efficiently - even as the cast ballooned in the middle third of the game, I never felt especially lost or confused about the various intrigues in play, of what I was doing, for who, or why. It's worth saying immediately that the characterization and storytelling of The Witcher 3 is considerably better than The Witcher 2. The story rapidly spirals outward, involving kings and their agents, aligning the political machinations of sorceresses and rulers both with and against Geralt as he seeks to find Ciri and unravel the mystery of her disappearance - and just what the Wild Hunt wants from her. The Witcher 3 opens with Geralt in search of multiple people, namely former love interest Yennifer and his former ward/adopted daughter, Ciri, both of whom appear to be the object of the attentions of the nightmarish Wild Hunt. For a studio without the AAA resources of a Bethesda or EA, transitioning from a more conservative linear structure to an undertaking so massive demonstrates a level of confidence bordering on insanity.īut CD Projekt Red has pulled it off, and in fact, has built a game that succeeds largely based on how well their previous Witcher work and concepts of player choice translate in an open-world setting, even as The Witcher 3 makes steps back elsewhere. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt takes the setting and complicated world-building of its predecessor and blows them out with an ambitious but logical next-step: an open-world game. The Witcher 2 placed this within an action adventure context largely linear in structure, albeit with major plot changes and entirely different second halves based on player decisions made early on. The Witcher and its sequel established a fascinating fantasy world full of politics, intrigue, magic and monsters, and rooted it all in Geralt of Rivia, one of the last of the infamous Witchers - bounty hunters created through a potentially fatal series of trials and alchemical mutations, for hire by anyone with coin to destroy monsters.

Witcher 3 wild hunt characters