The Witcher 3 - A great game for its time

Every time I made a post on Twitter(now X) about 'What are some of the best game you have ever played?', one game always popped out - The Witcher 3, a game that I had not played and it launched 10 years ago!

After finishing Doom: The Dark Ages(link to my review) I had some time to kill while I wait for Death Stranding 2.
And guess what I decided to play to fill the gap? Yes, you guessed it right, The Witcher 3!

I have heard many people say great things about the game, so I decided to give it a chance, and here is my review of The Witcher 3!

First few hours...

The Witcher 3 starts off with a great pace where the the tutorial of the game is very well integrated to the game but the game throws every bit of game tutorial one after the other immediately, leaving you to grasp many-many game mechanics all at once or should I say first 2 hours of the game.

Soon after you are introduced with RPG elements of the game and the choices you make have a real impact in the game. The game even asks you question and answers about the events in previous Witcher games so that it could prepare the game for you. You get the best taste of RPG elements through Baron's mission where you’re given the option of lifting the curse from the botchling that is the Baron’s miscarried child, or killing it. If you lift the curse, the botchling is transformed into a Lubberkin, and you know the rest!

The game really doesn't open up until you reach the Novigrad but by then you are very well versed with the game mechanics that are on offer and you are all set to sail on your journey.

As I Grew Into the Game...

By the time you get to Novigrad and play a few more hours, you are introduced to almost all the main characters i.e. Yen, Tris and Ciri, your choices that you make in the game influence them the most.

One thing that stood out to me so far was that the voice acting and dialogues of each of the characters were very well written and delivered! Pick any character, even the lowkey one time appearance characters, they all had great lines and it really grasped into the game.

Remember Godling? That quest and dialogues of those kids and grandma mesmerized me, as well as gave me some good chuckles!

Combat was ok

In order to get through the combat I had to remind myself every now and then that it is a 10 year old game. Witcher 3 has very limited enemy types, once you figure out their moves and what they are week against, the combat is a stroll.

The main reason I didn't vibe with the combat was that it felt heavy or maybe clunky is the better word, and you could dodge into oblivion if you wanted! This is when I had to remind myself that it's an older game. No enemy posed any real threat and I am glad it didn't because I wasn't really enjoying, swing-swing-dodge-dodge for most basic enemy types.

I played this game in normal difficulty, expecting it to be challenging but it wasn't, or maybe I felt it that way because I play a lot of fast paced action packed doge-parry games and I'm used to that mechanic of combat.

Anyway, the combat was the lowest point for me in the game and once I accepted that it's an older game, I was able to carry on.

Ciri, Tris and Yen

Through my posts on X, I have found out one thing, you can't talk about Witcher 3 without talking about Ciri, Tris and Yen. While Ciri was the daughter figure to Geralt, Tis and Yen were the love interest, and boy people are divided with who you chose to romance!

Yen made Geralt feel like a dog, a dog that would follow here anywhere with one command. Every NPC in the game kept pointing that out.

Tris made Geralt feel wanted. She would bring up the past in every opportunity she got and did not treat him like Yen would.

Ciri, well I was fed up with Ciri by the end because storyline turned into Ciri complaining about things that she doesn't get to do, too many complaints.

Who did Geralt Romance?

Well because the game let's you reload from previous save, I tried a few choices that would make things spicy between Geralt and his love interests. I romanced with with Yen, I romanced with Tris too, but Geralt gave his heart only to Tris!

Ending, or so I thought

At the end of Act 2, I had done so much running around, had dodged so many blades, had used so many Signs that I was ready for the game to end. It looked like the game was about to end and the grand finale was right around the corner with Wild Hunt coming in to capture Ciri, but as you all know it wasn't the end but some great sequences and a sad-sad moment.

I was sad for 2 reasons, one - a dear character of the game had died , two - the game didn't end. What annoyed me the most was a few quest that you get in Act 2, made me feel like an errand boy where you have to go talk to every character in the game and in order to receive their help you have to help them further. Lot's of traveling, lot's of talking, it didn't improve my experience.

Act 3 and Ending(for real this time)

While I was on act 3, I was getting bored of the game because then again 'there was more go and talk to people' quests. And I started to look back and that was the theme of the entire game, go talk to people and some of them so lengthy that I remember that one day I was talking straight for 90 minutes of a gaming session, I almost threw my PS portal away.

The final few hours of the game gets very interesting, with some epic boss battles and some puzzles to clear, it made me feel better about the game. I had my spirits back for last 2 hours of the game!

What delighted me further was the ending I got. I was able to save Ciri, I saw her become Witcheress and Geralt ended with Tris in a cabin to spend rest of his life with some occasional jobs.

Final Thoughts

My expectations for this game were high, this was my 2nd attempt to play through the game, and I'm glad I played it because even after 10 years of it's release, no other studio has truly matched the decision making aspect of the game as CD Project Red did with The Witcher 3, and that was the only highlight for me in the game.

I continued to ponder on why people love it so much where to me it wasn't a mind blowing game and I got the answer. Maybe it's because that I am playing this game through for the first time in 2025. There have been many more games that take elements from Witcher 3 since it's release and I have played some of it and since I have seen those elements in other games, seeing them in Witcher didn't blow my mind.

But imagine playing this game within 1st few years of its release? It would have totally blown my mind because 8-10 years ago I would have not seen anything like it!

This brings me to a very insightful conclusion - It's crucial to play a game within first few years of its release because only then we can truly appreciate what the game delivered to the gaming world. Take Expedition 33(my review link) for example, soon we will be seeing many more games like it and someone who plays Expedition 33 in 10 years time will not be able to appreciate the game as you and I did!