The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

You know a game is GOATED when you are on your 6th playthrough and still finding things you never experienced in previous playthroughs.
This game is the highest benchmark for how quests in a game should be designed.
The atmosphere that is created by the visuals, characters and most importantly the soundtrack is unfathomable.
Can't wait for Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk Orion
Also Velen>>>>>>>>>>>

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

How do you even review The Witcher 3 in 2025?

Everyone knows what it is and what it's not.

Regardless, I played the game fully (Main game + ALL DLCs) for the first time now. It was an excellent experience. It took me around 130 hours, all sidecontent included, on the Death March! difficulty.

I was expecting it to feel "old" in some ways, but I was gladly proven wrong quickly. The game looks amazing to this date, maybe due to the "next gen update" from 2022. The game looked and sounded great - maybe not as detailed as some newer games, but the art style carried and the design of the rather grim world of The Witcher still feels unmatched to this day. Novigrad especially I was surprised by - the city is vast, full of people and actually feels like a city rather than a level in a video game.

Gameplay wise I had no real issues. Though the combat wasn't too deep, the variety in which you can build Geralt made up for it's simplicity. I went for a full Sign build (eg. magic) and had a blast weaving in devastating spells, while fending off enemies with parries of the sword and dodges. Death March! added some challenge and in some cases I used oils and bombs to further fight the various enemies and bosses. The best part about the combat was the variety of enemies. The Witcher 3 is full of very different creatures - man or monster - and a lot of different bosses (Witcher contracts mainly) that kept the game fresh throughout. Some recent games I've played had little in the variety department (Dragon Age: The Veilguard) which in those games made combat extremely repetetive.

Looking past the combat, the game felt fresh due to it's amazing narrative. The story is gripping and every bit of the world feels alive and interesting. It's rare that a game's sidequests have as good or better storylines than the main objective, but the Witcher 3 has that in droves. And this is what the Witcher 3 does best. The stories. The Wticher, while very action-heavy, is an RPG. There are multiple endings, choices to be made that aren't cut and dry and therefore offer interesting stories to tell. I can't help but compare that approach to the genre again to my recently played games. The Witcher 3 did it better 10 years ago.

To keep it short and sweet: Banger of a game, 10/10, even in 2025. Would highly recommend - especially since you can buy the whole lot on sale quite often for less than 15 EUR/$.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

As someone coming from The Elder Scrolls franchise, this game is something else. Don't let the stupidly tedious introduction make an impression - or the odd combat controls. You get a hang of it in like 2 hours. At first I hated Geralt because my girlfriend loves him so much. But now I love him as well. Also there's boobs.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

The game got boobs, gambling, violence and racism what a game!

Witcher 3 is perhaps my favourite RPG of all time. I'll admit it was a slow burn for the first few hours, and I wasn't exactly captivated initially. I had heard incredible things about this game and I began to wonder what all the hype was about. I'm glad I persisted because the payoff was immeasurable. After getting through the opening missions, the story picks up quickly and I was then sucked into the incredible world created by CD Projekt Red. And what a world it is. The map is absolutely massive, with various different environments to explore. The landscapes are beautiful and appear full of life, from random travellers to nefarious creatures roaming the wild. The sea, likewise, has much variety for those willing to explore the murky depths. The cities and villages feel alive, NPC's actually seem to have some purpose as they go about their tasks, there are shops and taverns everywhere with many accessible indoor areas. There are weather changes and a day/night cycles as well to add even more realism.
The main story presents us with finding Ciri, and reaching her before the malevolent Wild Hunt. For those that haven't played the first two games, while they loosely continue certain events and character relationships, they aren't really necessary to enjoy the adventure here. I would argue though that while the main story does a good enough job of moving the game along, the shining stars are the side quests. Like most RPG's, side quests are a staple with this genre but in Witcher 3 some of these quests are actually much better overall. These quests are everywhere, even a small village has several be it help tracking down a missing person, hunting down a certain creature terrorising the land, or retrieving certain items for a reward. Geralt after all is a bounty hunter and makes his living through these jobs. Also, while some may disagree, I really enjoyed the Gwent mini-game and this could have easily made its own stand alone game (which it eventually did).
The game provides a lot of options for character builds, with options to focus on alchemy, signs, combat or a mix of these. The character tree is deep enough but also not so deep as to need a university math degree to understand, which suits me more than fine. The combat system seems fluid and responsive, albeit simple. Sometimes the camera would frustrate me, especially with multiple enemies.
Finally two expansions were released after the main game. They were offered for free and they may be even better than the base game. Specifically Blood and Wine holds a special place in my heart as the landscapes, characters and overall story is outstanding. I'm amazed that CD Projekt Red would just give these away, yet it displays a certain type of class that just isn't prevalent in the gaming industry anymore.
Witcher 3 was a game I got sucked into during the heat of the Covid Pandemic, and it created some lasting memories into this brilliant world. I was so entranced with the experience (once I finally got hooked) and offered some much needed escapism during this difficult period (I work as an ER nurse). In fact I actually completed all the Steam achievements, collected all the Gwent cards and completed every side mission. And this was before I became a game completionist. I doubt I'll ever be able to recreate the gaming experiences I had during this era. So give this game a go if you can, but give it a fair shot, because there's a good chance you'll be happy you did.