We can talk all day about the symbolism and themes and techniques and styles used in the game, and there are many, and they are masterfully used; but everyone already does that. The story is great, and everyone agrees. But not everyone agrees that this is a good "game". The main mechanic of the game is choosing. Like many other games, choices you make affect what the game reflects to you of yourself and, and this adds to the replayability, the content you see. Whenever you see a choice based game, most people's, mine included, first instinct is to "get the best route" or "get the route that does this" or "see this content" and that adds a certain type of anxiety to the playthrough. "Oh did I miss the answer that gives the solo mission at Arasaka tower?" "Oh I hope I did everything right to get Yennefer." and so on. What makes this game a great game beside its story, or for some, despite its story heavy atmosphere, is that it doesn't have that anxiety. It doesn't rush OR hold back its character development; which actually you, the player, make choices for and play as, giving you a more intimate understanding of the characters. So when you decide for a character what that character should do it doesn't feel elusive or random, it's actually unironically "what my character would do". This, coupled with the theme and vibes of the game, makes it so that even when you learn that you missed a cool scene, you just go "Oh that's cool too. Might go another time to get that choice." and even if you don't, it doesn't feel like a fundamental loss, like "if only you could reload a past save and get that instead".
A beautiful game of friendship and grief, and ghosts in the static.

We can talk all day about the symbolism and themes and techniques and styles used in the game, and there are many, and they are masterfully used; but everyone already does that. The story is great, and everyone agrees. But not everyone agrees that this is a good "game". The main mechanic of the game is choosing. Like many other games, choices you make affect what the game reflects to you of yourself and, and this adds to the replayability, the content you see. Whenever you see a choice based game, most people's, mine included, first instinct is to "get the best route" or "get the route that does this" or "see this content" and that adds a certain type of anxiety to the playthrough. "Oh did I miss the answer that gives the solo mission at Arasaka tower?" "Oh I hope I did everything right to get Yennefer." and so on. What makes this game a great game beside its story, or for some, despite its story heavy atmosphere, is that it doesn't have that anxiety. It doesn't rush OR hold back its character development; which actually you, the player, make choices for and play as, giving you a more intimate understanding of the characters. So when you decide for a character what that character should do it doesn't feel elusive or random, it's actually unironically "what my character would do". This, coupled with the theme and vibes of the game, makes it so that even when you learn that you missed a cool scene, you just go "Oh that's cool too. Might go another time to get that choice." and even if you don't, it doesn't feel like a fundamental loss, like "if only you could reload a past save and get that instead". A beautiful game of friendship and grief, and ghosts in the static.