The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review

CD Projekt Red's 2015 role-playing game is the one that reset expectations for open-world writing. Geralt of Rivia is a contract killer for monsters, and the structure follows from that: most of the map is a noticeboard economy of jobs, and a job that starts as vermin extermination routinely turns out to be about a village covering something up. Even minor quests are voiced, staged and willing to end badly. The Bloody Baron questline is the standard example, offering no clean resolution at any point. Combat is the weakest element, a sign-and-sword system that never gets deeper than adequate, and the game compensates with Gwent, a card minigame popular enough to be spun off. Velen, Skellige and Novigrad are hand-authored rather than generated, and Novigrad in particular is one of the densest cities of its generation. Its two expansions are essential: Hearts of Stone is the best-written thing in the game and Blood and Wine is a full second campaign. It won a great many awards in 2015 and is still the benchmark.