The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a 2015 action role-playing game developed and published by CD Projekt. Based on The Witcher series of fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, it is the sequel to the 2011 game The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Played in an open world with a third-person perspective, players control protagonist Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter known as a witcher, who is looking for his missing adopted daughter on the run from the Wild Hunt: an otherworldly force determined to capture and use her powers. Players battle the game's many dangers with weapons and magic, interact with non-player characters, and complete main-story and side quests to acquire experience points and gold, which are used to increase Geralt's abilities and purchase equipment. Its central story has several endings, determined by the player's choices at certain points in the game.

Development began in 2011 and lasted for three and a half years. Voice recording took over two and a half years. The writing was infused with real-life aspects like moral ambiguity in a deliberate attempt to avoid simplification, impart authenticity, and reflect Sapkowski's novels. Europe was the basis of the game's open world, with Poland, Amsterdam, and Scandinavia as its primary inspirations. REDengine 3 enabled the developer to create a complex story without compromising the game world. The music was composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz and performed by the Brandenburg State Orchestra.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 19 May 2015. The game received critical acclaim, with praise of its gameplay, narrative, world design, combat, and visuals, although it received minor criticism due to technical issues, some of which were later patched. It received numerous Game of the Year awards, and is considered to be one of the greatest games of all time. The game was also a commercial success, shipping nearly ten million copies by March 2016. Two expansion packs, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, were also released. A Game of the Year edition, with the base game, expansion packs and all downloadable content, was released in August 2016.

Gameplay


The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an action role-playing game with a third-person perspective. Players control Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter known as a Witcher. Geralt walks, runs, rolls and dodges, and (for the first time in the series) jumps, climbs and swims. He has a variety of weapons, including bombs, a crossbow and two swords (one steel and one silver). The steel sword is used primarily to kill humans while the silver sword is more effective against creatures and monsters. Players can draw out, switch and sheathe their swords at will. There are two modes of melee attack; light attacks are fast but weak, and heavy attacks are slow and strong. Players can block and counter enemy attacks with their swords. Swords have limited endurance and require regular repair. In addition to physical attacks, Geralt has five magical signs at his disposal: Aard, Axii, Igni, Yrden and Quen. Aard prompts Geralt to unleash a telekinetic blast, Axii confuses enemies, Igni burns them, Yrden slows them down and Quen offers players a temporary, protective shield. The signs use stamina, and cannot be used indefinitely.

Players can use mutagens to increase Geralt's magic power. They lose health when they are attacked by enemies, although wearing armour can help reduce health loss. Health can be restored with meditation or consumables, such as food and potions. Players may also control Ciri, Geralt's adoptive daughter who can teleport short distances, in certain parts of the game. It has responsive, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamic environments. The day-night cycle influences some monsters (and their powers), as a werewolf becomes powerful during the night of a full moon. Players can learn about their enemies and prepare for combat by reading the in-game bestiary. When they kill an enemy, they can loot its corpse for valuables. Geralt's witcher sense enables players to find objects of interest, including items that can be collected or scavenged. Items are stored in the inventory, which can be expanded by purchasing upgrades. Players can sell items to vendors or use them to craft potions and bombs. They can visit blacksmiths to craft new weapons and armour with what they have gathered. The price of an item and the cost of crafting it depend on a region's local economy.

The game focuses on narrative, and has a dialogue wheel which allows players to choose how to respond to non-player characters. Geralt must make decisions which change the state of the world and lead to 36 possible endings, affecting the lives of in-game characters. He can have a romantic relationship with some of the game's female characters by completing certain quests. In addition to the main quests, books offer more information on the game's world. Players can begin side quests after visiting a town's noticeboard. These side missions include Witcher Contracts (elaborate missions requiring players to hunt monsters) and Treasure Hunt quests, which reward players with top-tier weapons or armour. Players earn experience points by completing missions. When a player earns enough experience, Geralt's level increases and the player receives ability points. These points may be used on four skill trees: combat, signs, alchemy and general. Combat upgrades enhance Geralt's attacks and unlock new fighting techniques; signs upgrades enable him to use magic more efficiently, and alchemy upgrades improve crafting abilities. General upgrades have a variety of functions, from raising Geralt's vitality to increasing crossbow damage. The game's open world is divided into several regions. Geralt can explore each region on foot or by transportation, such as a boat. Roach, his horse, may be summoned at will. Players can kill enemies with their sword while riding Roach, but an enemy presence may frighten the horse and unseat Geralt. Points of interest may be found on the map, and players receive experience points after completing mini-missions in these regions. Players can discover Places of Power for additional ability points. Other activities include horse racing, boxing and card playing; the card-playing mechanic was later expanded into a standalone game.

Setting
The game is set in the Continent, a fantasy world surrounded by parallel dimensions and extra-dimensional worlds. Humans, elves, dwarves, monsters and other creatures co-exist on the Continent, but non-humans are often persecuted for their differences. The Continent is caught up in a war between the empire of Nilfgaard —led by Emperor Emhyr var Emreis (Charles Dance), who invaded the Northern Kingdoms —and Redania, ruled by King Radovid V. Several locations appear in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, including the Redanian cities of Novigrad and Oxenfurt, the no man's land of Velen, the city of Vizima (former capital of the recently-conquered Temeria), the Skellige islands (home to several Viking-like clans) and the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen.

The main character is the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia (Doug Cockle), a monster hunter trained since childhood in combat, tracking and magic, and made stronger, faster and resistant to toxins by mutagens. He is aided by his lover, the powerful sorceresses Yennefer of Vengerberg (Denise Gough), his former love interest Triss Merigold (Jaimi Barbakoff), the bard Dandelion (John Schwab), the dwarf warrior Zoltan Chivay (Alexander Morton), and Geralt's Witcher mentor Vesemir (William Roberts). Geralt is spurred into action by the reappearance of his and Yennefer's adopted daughter, Ciri (Jo Wyatt). Ciri is a Source, born with innate (and potentially vast) magical abilities; after the apparent death of her parents, she was trained as a witcher while Yennefer taught her magic. She is unaware that the Emperor is her biological father; he sired her under an assumed name while he was subject to a curse. Ciri disappeared years before to escape the Wild Hunt, a group of spectral warriors led by the King of the Wild Hunt: the elf Eredin, from a parallel dimension.

Plot
Geralt rejoins his long-lost lover, Yennefer, in the town of White Orchard. Yennefer tells him that Emperor Emhyr has summoned him to the city of Vizima. Emhyr tasks Geralt with finding Ciri, who has recently been seen in several places. Ciri is a Child of the Elder Blood, the last heir to an ancient elfish bloodline with the power to manipulate space and time. Geralt first hears that Ciri was in Velen at Crow's Perch, the Bloody Baron's fort. The baron refuses to help, but Geralt's acquaintance, the sorceress Keira Metz, tells him that an elfish mage was looking for Ciri. Keira directs Geralt to the Crones of Crookback Bog: malicious, ancient spirits living near Velen. The Crones say that they captured Ciri for the Wild Hunt before she escaped and have enslaved Anna, the baron's missing wife. Geralt returns to the baron, who tells him that Ciri went to Novigrad.

He discovers that the Church of the Eternal Fire, a militant religious organization, is purging mages in Novigrad. Meeting his former lover, Triss Merigold, Geralt learns that Ciri had contacted his friend Dandelion. Geralt navigates Novigrad's criminal underworld to rescue Dandelion, and learns that Ciri teleported to the Skellige archipelago. In Novigrad, Geralt may help Triss to free fugitive mages. He sails to Skellige and rejoins Yennefer, who has been investigating a magical explosion linked to Ciri. They track Ciri to the island of Lofoten, which has been attacked by the Wild Hunt. Geralt and Yennefer realise that Uma, a deformed, cursed creature at Crow's Perch, was present after Ciri's escape. Before leaving Skellige, Geralt can help determine who will rule Skellige after the king's death. Yennefer severs the magical bond between her and Geralt, giving him the option of affirming his love for her or ending their relationship.

They bring Uma to the witcher school of Kaer Morhen, where Yennefer removes his curse and transforms him into Avallac'h. He reveals that he teleported Ciri to the Isle of Mists to save her from the Lofoten attack. Geralt travels to the island and finds Ciri in a deathlike state, until she is awakened by Avallac'h's magic. She says that Eredin's (the King of the Wild Hunt) homeworld is being destroyed by the White Frost, and he wants Ciri's power to conquer the Continent. Ciri and Geralt teleport to Kaer Morhen, pursued by the Wild Hunt. After a brief reunion with Yennefer, Triss and Vesemir (their witcher mentor), the Hunt attacks. Vesemir is killed protecting Ciri; her distress unleashes her Elder power, and Eredin and the Hunt retreat. Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, Ciri, and their allies conduct a funeral for Vesemir. Ciri and Geralt travel to Novigrad and help Triss and Yennefer reform the Lodge of Sorceresses to aid their fight.

They learn about the Sunstone, a relic which can lure Eredin out and bind him to a location. On the Skelligan island of Undvik, Avallac'h uses the Sunstone to draw out the Hunt and their fleet. Geralt, Ciri, their allies and the Nilfgaardian fleet battle the Hunt, and Geralt defeats Eredin in combat. As the White Frost descends on Skellige, Ciri insists that she must confront it with her Elder Blood before it consumes all life on every world. She enters a portal and defeats the White Frost, ending the threat. The game ending varies, depending on previous choices. If Ciri is alive, Geralt can retire with Yennefer or Triss or remain a lone witcher. If Geralt helps Nilfgaard win the war and brings Ciri to meet the emperor, she will become empress; if Ciri does not meet the emperor, Geralt fakes her death and she becomes a witcher. If Ciri dies fighting the White Frost, Geralt hunts down her stolen medallion as a keepsake; surrounded by monsters when he finds it, his fate is unknown.

Development


Although the game was planned to begin production in 2008, CD Projekt Red's preoccupation with Rise of the White Wolf pushed it back to 2011. The company developed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a self-funded budget of US$81 million over three-and-a-half years. The project began with 150 employees, eventually growing to over 250 in-house staff. Fifteen hundred people were involved in the game's production globally. While the game is based on Sapkowski's novels, his involvement with the game was limited to the creation of its in-game map. It was localised in 15 languages, with a total of 500 voice actors. The game was scripted concurrently in Polish and English to alleviate difficulty in localisation. According to Side (the company which handled voice casting and recording), the 450,000-word script had 950 speaking roles. The voices were recorded from late 2012 to early 2015. CD Projekt Red wanted The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to be free of any digital rights management (DRM) due to the developer's unsuccessful control of piracy with its predecessor, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, whose DRM also made it run slowly.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was created with the REDengine 3, CD Projekt Red's proprietary game engine designed for nonlinear role-playing video games set in open world environments, aided by the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles and prepared for use in October 2014. The first play-through indicated to the developers that the open world, despite its content and generation around the quests, seemed empty. As a solution, they added points of interest. The game had 5,000 bugs that December, which (with a launch date of February 2015) necessitated its postponement. Like the previous two Witcher games, players are given a complex story with multiple choices and consequences. Unlike other game engines, REDengine 3 permits a complex storyline without sacrificing virtual world design. The user interface was made more intuitive with grid-based solutions. The camera system was improved to use long shots for battles with multiple enemies and close-ups for more-intimate confrontations. More animations were used for combat sequences than in The Witcher 2, with each lasting less than one second for quick succession. Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and senior game designer Damien Monnier cited Dark Souls and Demon's Souls as influences on Wild Hunt combat system, and level designer Miles Tost and senior environment artist Jonas Mattsson cited The Legend of Zelda series and Red Dead Redemption as influencing the game's level designs and environments.

Months before its release date, the game's economy, crafting, and inventory systems were incomplete and apparently unable to meet the deadline. Senior gameplay designer Matthew Steinke thought of a remedy and drew up a system context diagram. To allocate prices, Steinke wrote a formula based on rate of damage, defence, or healing. Polynomial least squares were used to determine its efficacy, and it was found to eliminate bugs from the system and reduce loading times. Each character was given a unique personality to contrast the fetch-quest system typically used in video games. It was decided early that the writing would be witty, with metaphors and implied meanings. Dialogue was limited to 15 lines, with occasional exceptions, to retain content originality. Player options were written as morally ambiguous, reflecting real life and Andrzej Sapkowski's original Witcher series. Alcoholism, abuse and sexuality, depicted as normal parts of the medieval world, were incorporated into the story for authenticity. Areas of the open world were based on Poland, Amsterdam, and Scandinavia. Objects on the game's levels were modelled by hand.

Storylines such as Yennefer imprisoning Geralt on an island and Geralt's covert recruitment to the Wild Hunt were discarded to make the game smaller and avoid splitting it into two parts. The card game Gwent was preceded by other mini-game proposals, including a drinking game, knife throwing, and ice skating. A re-enactment of the Battle of Grunwald was recorded for the sounds of battle, marching, blacksmithing, and the firing of arrows. Recording the knights' voices for post-processing, the speakers wore helmets for an authentic sound. Marcin Przybyłowicz was the game's music director and composer, with additional music contributed by Polish folk band Percival because their instruments were older. According to Przybyłowicz, working with Percival was a challenge; he expected an academic approach before learning that most of the group were not formally trained, and much of the music was improvised. Multi-instrumentalist Robert Jaworski of the folk band Żywiołak recorded lute, Renaissance fiddle, bowed gusle, and hurdy-gurdy sections. The score was performed in Frankfurt (Oder) by the Brandenburg State Orchestra, conducted by Bernd Ruf.

Release


The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was announced on 4 February 2013 in Game Informer, with a 2014 release for PC and "all high-end platforms available"; the latter were clarified as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game's release date was later delayed from the third quarter of 2014 to February 2015. After missing its planned release date of 24 February, CD Projekt Red confirmed in April that the game was released to manufacturing. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released worldwide on 19 May 2015. It was distributed to retailers by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in North America and Bandai Namco Entertainment in Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the standard edition, players can also purchase the Collector's Edition, which includes the base game and items such as an artbook, a statue of Geralt fighting against a griffin, and a Witcher medallion. Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and President Bronisław Komorowski visited the CD Projekt Red to celebrate the launch.

CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski listed three pillars that he considered integral to marketing: game quality, a "gamer-centric value proposition", and communication with fans. To achieve the second, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was marketed as "Skyrim in a Game of Thrones sauce". The third explained in detail the visual downgrade from earlier promotional footage to the finished product, which Iwinski thought effective. The logo was re-designed to make it less obvious that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was a sequel; the number three suggested a claw mark or mask to an audience unfamiliar with the series, while fans would recognise it as the mark of the Wild Hunt.

Downloadable content
The developer studied Witcher forums and websites such as Reddit to predict what players generally desired from downloadable content (DLC), shaping it to meet their criteria. A collection of 16 free DLC was released, as announced before release by the developers. They included cosmetic and additional gameplay content and the New Game Plus mode. CD Projekt Red announced two expansion packs: Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Hearts of Stone was released on 13 October 2015, and Blood and Wine on 31 May 2016. Hearts of Stone follows Geralt as he contacts a mysterious entity known as the Man of Glass and an immortal man, Olgierd von Everec. The expansion was critically acclaimed, rated a 9/10 by IGN and GameSpot. The second expansion pack, Blood and Wine, follows Geralt as he travels to Toussaint (a Nilfgaardian duchy untouched by war) to track down a mysterious beast which is terrorizing the region. It was also critically acclaimed, winning the Best RPG category at The Game Awards 2016. A Game of the Year edition, with the base game, both expansions and all DLC, was released on 30 August 2016.

Reception
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received universal acclaim, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics agreed that it was an ambitious action role-playing game which was grand in scale,  but marred by technical difficulties  and a lack of innovation. GameSpot and Eurogamer gave the game their highest rating. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been considered one of the best role-playing games of all time. The game world received widespread praise from critics. Kimberly Wallace of Game Informer called it "immersive", and was impressed by its attention to detail. Destructoid's Chris Carter praised its size, which he found enormous and would take players hours to explore. Jonathon Leack, writing for Game Revolution, praised the game's effective use of its large world. Leack wrote that every region had quests and activities for players to try, although he thought that much was filler which extended its length. Tom Senior of GamesRadar praised the open world's variety, describing it as an "exciting realization of the Ronin fantasy". GameTrailers' Daniel Bloodworth praised the game for encouraging exploration; many quests would only become available to players after they met non-playable characters in different parts of the world. Vince Ingenito of IGN and Shaun Prescott of PC Gamer were impressed by the game's scenery and its day-night cycle, with Ingenito saying that it highlighted the game world's authenticity.

Its narrative also received critical acclaim. Carter praised the game's cast of characters, which he called unique and interesting. He considered the narrative more involving, with players witnessing key events and making consequential choices. Wallace praised the game's dialogue and its side-quests; each was similar to a short story, and player decisions in the quests would influence the state of the world. She liked the game's main quest, which added more character to Geralt, and said that the romance options were a significant improvement over its predecessors. However, she was disappointed with the quality of the game's endings. Kevin Van Ord of GameSpot echoed Wallace, noting that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's story had more characterisation for Geralt than the previous games. He welcomed the change, since it gave players emotional connections to the in-game characters. Senior enjoyed the game's side-quests, calling them "a compilation of dark fantasy short stories" which overshadowed the main quests. Ingenito was disappointed with the game's main story, saying that there was too much padding and too many dull quests. PC Gamer's Shaun Prescott agreed, saying that the narrative would have felt rote if the side content was not engaging. Van Ord, Wallace and Brett Phipps of VideoGamer.com praised the voice acting, with Wallace calling it the series' best. Arthur Gies from Polygon criticized that some of the female characters are overly sexualized and that there are no people of colour in the main game.

The game's combat had a generally-positive reception. Bloodworth found Geralt more mobile and agile with the new climbing and swimming mechanic. Carter said that it was significantly streamlined and its predecessors' strategic elements removed, but appreciated its action. Wallace wrote that with a simplified alchemy system, a decent user interface and diverse difficulty settings the combat was more accessible, although she disliked the disruptive weapon-degradation system and unrefined crossbow shooting mechanic. Leack thought the system lacked complexity and criticised its lack of polish, caused by the unreliable lock-on system, camera issues and excessively-long combat animation. Senior noted that some gameplay mechanics, such as rolling and dodging, were inconsistent and made the system feel unfair. Ingenito praised the combat, describing its fluidity as a significant improvement over its predecessors.

Other gameplay aspects received mixed reviews. Van Ord praised the game's customisation and upgrade system (which offered players a sense of progression), since it hardened as the story unfolded. Ingenito called its upgrade system deep and flexible, since players have considerable freedom when customising Geralt's skills. Leack disliked the upgrade system, calling it "unexciting". Carter was disappointed with the Witcher Senses (which he found repetitive), but Senior considered them superior to objective markers—the norm for role-playing games. Prescott disliked the user interface for its clumsiness and tedium. Senior found the Gwent card game an addictive minigame.

The game was criticised for its technical issues. Carter called its climbing animations stiff, noting that some gameplay bugs would hinder player progress. According to Wallace, the game's load times were too long. Leack noted that the game had a graphic downgrade, and the actual game did not look as good as the 2013 demonstration. Senior, Phipps and Ingenito noted frame rate issues; although Ingenito thought it did not impact the gameplay, Phipps called it a persistent problem which overshadowed many of the game's achievements.

Sales
Before its release, over 1.5 million people pre-ordered the game. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt debuted atop the UK software sales chart in its first week, when it earned 600 percent more than predecessor The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It was the best-selling video game of the year in the UK, breaking the record held by Battlefield Hardline. It debuted atop the Japanese video-game sales charts, selling 67,385 copies in its first week. Four million copies of the game were sold in its first two weeks of release. By June 2015, over 690,000 players had activated the game through GOG Galaxy. The game sold over six million copies in the next six weeks, and the studio made a profit of $63.3 million in the first half of 2015. In March 2016, CD Projekt Red reported that the game had shipped nearly 10 million copies worldwide. By the end of 2017, the series as a whole had sold over 33 million.

Awards and accolades


The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received pre-release awards at E3 in 2013 and 2014. It was voted the best role-playing game at the IGN Best of E3 Awards in 2013 and 2014. It won IGN's E3 People's Choice Award in 2013 and 2014, GameSpot's E3 People's Choice Award in 2014, as and the Most Wanted Award at the 31st and 32nd Golden Joystick Awards. It was the Most Anticipated Game at the Game Awards 2014 in Las Vegas. At release it received over 250 "game of the year" titles, the most awarded at the time. By August 2016, it had received over 800 awards.

Its accolades are from several events, including the Golden Joystick Awards, The Game Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, SXSW Gaming Awards and the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards. The Witcher 3 was recognized as game of the year by IGN, GameSpot, Game Informer and other gaming publications. The game received a Golden Joystick Award for Best Storytelling, Best Visual Design and Best Gaming Moment, and the Game Awards for Best Role-Playing Game and Studio of the Year for CD Projekt Red. It won Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Outstanding Technical Achievement and Outstanding Achievement in Story at the D.I.C.E. Awards, and won the Game of the Year and Best Technology awards at the 16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.