E3 2013: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Your Next Year In Gaming May Just Be Spent Here…

Poland’s CD Projekt RED Studios is one of my favorite game developers because you can clearly see through their games that they really love what they’re doing and are determined to make everything they work on as great and immersive as humanly possible. This dedication to craft has made the first two games in The Witcher series stand out as watermarks in game design and art direction, so it’s no surprise that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is upping the ante in many significant ways on its way to being possibly one of the best modern multiplatform RPGs to date. Set for a 2014 release on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the game, while still a work in progress looks absolutely stunning in screenshots and even more incredible in action to the point that you have to wonder what magical powers keep the dev team pouring out such ridiculously perfect work.

All my overblown hyperbole aside, this is a game that’s going to let it’s powerful anti-hero Geralt of Riva go anywhere and have layered adventures in a richly detailed world (35 times larger than the one in the already epic-sized one in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings) full of danger and no doubt quite a few memorable NPC encounters that add even more choices to how the game is played. The new combat system should please old and new players alike and yes, given that the game is assured a Mature rating, Geralt will get to play “pin the tail on the monster” in battle, slicing foes into bits or using his powerful spells to take them down with relish. We’ll probably also him get in some deftly edited romantic time with a few ladies, as the game has also never shied away from the man’s desires (nor those of some of the ladies he encounters in his travels).

Of course, fans of the series buy these games for more than Geralt’s sexytime antics. The story has always been the core of every game in the series and it’s guaranteed that this one will be another memorable chapter in Geralt’s history. Expect the always super voice acting and soundtrack packed with some lovely scored tunes and I’m betting even non-gamers will want to sit and watch this played just to take in the visuals or get wrapped up in a story filled with drama, mystery, well-timed humor when necessary and occasional bursts of violence. But let’s not get too far ahead here – I’ll run updates on this one as the developer puts them out. CDPR has a system seller here, there’s no doubt in my mind about that one bit…

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.