The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt is one of the very few games that thoroughly fulfilled all of my sky high expectations and that's probably an understatement since they were more like outer space high. Intro of the game is breathtaking, showcasing the life-like graphics with an amazing mountain view, clouds & trees taken out of a painting yet made 3D for your viewing pleasure, which still hold up to this day as one of the best looking. After being done with the long intro albeit strong & well penned to introduce you into Witcher as a new player or to welcome you back as a veteran, you're thrown into a huge new world that you couldn't experience before in previous titles. All of the characters you'll interact with will have outstanding voice acting befitting medieval times Geralt himself being the highlight obviously, lots of dialogue options that are well conveyed to augment the RPG sense. You'll realize long term the time sink that's one of the highest quality ever put on gaming market, at least personally I loved to take my time with exploring every nook and cranny while my enthusiasm was maintained never once having an ounce of monotony; my first blind playthrough clocked at 320 hours for >99% completion, yes that's right, three hundred - there are over 400 quests & discoveries in total meaning you will always have something to work on. The quality of side quests is arguably on par and sometimes surpassing main quest line, from funny & hilarious sequences to morale impairing situations which goes as far as deciding the life of corrupt nobles and innocent peasants alike. That doesn't mean or cause the main story to be more disappointing, it's still at very the top of RPGs I've played; it's extremely enhanced by the main characters in my opinion. Remember, choices do matter a lot so be vigilant with your decisions.

Your ear dreams will be fully delighted to experience the whole of Witcher 3's masterpiece OST, background cues & the battle music boosting the adrenaline levels making you hyped up even against most basic enemies. Swords clashing, maces striking tough armor, magic being cast sound like you would expect from highest budget movies. Never would I have thought folklore music can have such an impact, the polish band behind those songs is simply put epic. Combat is deep enough and solid, routed with the player needing to time dodging enemy attacks, managing magic signs to defend yourself or raise your attack power; however do not expect the most complex mechanics ever created, but compared to previous 2 titles in the series they're optimized and polished to enjoy a smooth combat experience with high amount of skill trees. Armor and weapon design is diverse each looking unique whilst maintaining very high texture quality, you feel bad whenever you have to discard your inventory for stronger gear. Apparently it's not enough being such a rich game in every aspect of it, the replay value is also on top of the charts - for me it's my easiest replayable game, I wanted to get into my next journey through NG+ just the second after I've concluded everything, no other title has managed that to me. Now let's talk about the DLCs which most consider Blood and Wine being a game of its own due to its sheer length, I agree and too mention Hearts of Stone's very immersive, alluring and fable-like tale: it made me feel more emotions than I'd admit as a pretty apathetic individual. Both DLCs separately contain two characters which are one of my favorite all time, and probably most players too that have gone through these marvelous pieces of work. World design is masterfully crafted to all represent their corresponding culture, theme and uniqueness. I haven't visited a place and felt any deja vu in all my exploration, this marks true dedication and hard work from the devs. The sceneries vary so much you'll never experience the same afternoon landscape twice, volumetric clouds & puzzling sun rays are awe inspiring each time you glance, I'll link my favorite screenshot at the end of this review. There's so much more to say about this masterpiece, it's best left for the player to experience it blindly.

[ ✓ ]
- breathtaking graphics & artwork
- story/lore rich with one of most well written characters
- masterpiece OST & sound design
- face animations truly make it life-like
- you'll not find something more immersive
- true RPG experience of its own league
- ...how about a round of gwent?

[ ✘ ]
- nothing worth mentioning

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