Can The Witcher steal Skyrim's RPG crown?
Yes, is the short answer. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt looks like it's an RPG you can lose hours and hours in, says Matt Martin.
If there's one thing I love about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - and Oblivion before it - it's the sense of exploration and the ability to get lost in a rich fantasy world. I haven't completed either game yet, but I've put in around 200 hours combined. I may not have been too bothered with the central storyline (fight the dragons, stop hell from invading the land, or whatever), but I've never been bored of meeting weird characters, running errands for murderers and saving strangers from cruel death in a dungeon I had no idea existed hours earlier.
Now, after two splendid linear entries from CD Projekt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is taking the next step for any role-playing series by giving the player a non-linear open-world to explore. From what I've seen so far of the game, I have a lot of faith that The Witcher 3 is going in the right direction. Here's seven reasons why I think it's going to be one of the biggest games of 2015.
Cities feel like communities
Novigrad is the largest city on the map, with CD Projekt claiming there are some 7,000 inhabitants. From a casual tour of its streets I can see it's also clearly split into distinct districts. It looks almost organic in its growth in that there isn't clear planning to each area, and the pubs, warehouses, temples, brothels and houses have sprung up as its inhabitants have grown. It feels like a real community here to, with fishermen going out to sea in the early hours, buskers playing for coins, children running through the streets and haggling merchants looking for trade. They are also said to react to the time of day and weather, although I toured the city during a sunny day, drinking in the lively atmosphere and didn't see any particularly radical changes.
Novigrad is a place for main character Geralt to keep his wits about him, resupply, learn about the world and pick up quests, rather than run around swinging his sword. When I think of games that have created a successful city and surrounding areas full of a lively community - Mass Effect's Citadel, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Grand Theft Auto V's Los Santos - The Witcher 3 easily holds a candle to those.
It's bringing PC beauty to consoles at last
The Witcher 3 was one of the most visually impressive games I saw at E3 a couple of weeks ago, and that was during a week where I spoilt by good-looking games. There's incredible detail in the game, from the ugly monsters and creatures that inhabit the world to the foliage and fauna. I'm not usually one for standing around and cooing over a sunset like a god-damn hippy, but the reflections in pools of water, the detail in the brickwork, the light cast across the map is something very special. Remind yourself of it with this Griffin Hunt sequence below.
It's dark in tone and delivery
One of the strengths of The Witcher world is everyone's a bit unpleasant and odd. This isn't your usual tale of sneering orcs and brave-hearted knights. Characters in The Witcher 3 capture that nasty medieval vibe, where favours are paid for and everyone is essentially looking out for themselves. During my E3 demo I helped out Johnny, a fairly wretched Golem-like godling who had lost his voice. When he did get it back he proceeded to tell me his favourite part of the day is emptying his bowels in the morning. He introduced me to three old women depicted on a tapestry as beauties but who in reality were knacked, festering old crones. And so it goes, one disfigured character after another… these are the people that keep me coming back for more. It's a very dark fairy tale world.
...then I took an arrow in the knee
RPGs have notoriously bad voice acting, but I'm a bit of a sucker for it. All that "methinks a pint of mead would please sir" bollocks doesn't interested me until a game comes along and tries to warp the traditional fantasy dialogue. The voice acting in The Witcher 3 is better than I was expecting - it's not as lifeless as Skyrim and it's just on the right side of Fable's cheeky Cockney chatter. Only time will tell if it begins to repeat and grate, but for now it seems to do a good job of livening up a fairly crude world. From the flirty to the threatening, it delivers all the British cliches - Welsh, brummy, west country - with more ham than a ploughman's lunch.
More customisation than before
The Witcher series is somewhat limited in its customisation options because it's essentially about one main character, Geralt of Rivia. So there's no options to play through the game as your own customised blonde female goblin or whatever gets you off. However, CD Projekt is taking the customisation of your Geralt as far as it can. There are different armour sets, some of which can be bought and others only made at a blacksmiths. There are mutagens to enhance his abilities and change his DNA (although you'll have to be careful so as not to poison him), and plenty of signs (spells) all of which can be levelled up throughout the game.
Combat is flexible and fluid
Although I didn't get hands-on and play The Witcher 3, the combat in the game seems fluid and faster. There's an element of the recent Batman games in there with the player switching quickly between multiple targets and creating a sense of flow between blows. You can also use the environment to even the odds, if not give you the upper hand, such as setting fire to marsh gas in the swamp of No Man's Land, or knocking a hanging beehive to send a swarm of angry insects into the fight and create a little more chaos. Geralt is also equipped with a small crossbow for ranged attacks with customisable bolts, and he packs some mean, brutal finishing moves.
You can get lost in the branching storylines and quests
Role-playing games are at their best where one simple quest turns into something completely different and surprises the player as it twists and turns from one story into another. The quest I witnessed about ten hours into the game involved tracking down an "ashen-haired girl" (aren't we all?), but this soon morphed into multiple narratives and ended by destroying a possessed tree haunting an orphanage, and offering a man's ear for payment to three old witches. Don't expect a straight answer to any of the mysteries of The Witcher 3, because CD Projekt is promising that the game can play out completely differently depending on the choices, actions and conversations you have.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is out February 25th, 2015.