It feels strange to have finally finished Witcher 3 after 7 years of trying and failing to get into it. After this final attempt, clocking in at ~65h, I will say that despite many bumps in the road, it was worth it.


Before I get into the specifics, expectations are a super important thing when it comes to consuming any media: over the years and even further during my playthrough I've felt a growing resentment and disbelief towards the galactic acclaim this game has gotten.
It's “the best game ever made” - in my humble opinion, it absolutely fucking isn't. I would be lying if I said its reputation didn't influence my opinion.


Diving into the game itself but staying negative, I have a number of gripes with the gameplay of The Witcher 3 - undoubtedly its weakest link. The game's combat is extremely basic, trying and failing to add depth with alchemy, which offers little meaningful gameplay enhancements beyond just making fights end quicker and making the healing system slightly less painful. Signs are a neat magic system but even fully upgraded, they still feel too weak. On top of that, the hit feedback and hitboxes simply don't feel right.
All of this is quite damning but somehow it's still tolerable across so many hours because on some level, it does work and can be mildly enjoyable.

Another part of the gameplay that I found severely lacking - if not more so - was the movement: I could not tell you how many times I got stuck in the environment on foot, on horseback or the goddamn boats, how many times I got frustrated by its slow- and unresponsiveness if any tiny thing is in your way. It saddens me because it really impeded my enjoyment of exploring this game's beautiful world. Though fortunately, it doesn't ruin it, as the art design, physics and ambient soundtrack lift it out of its sticky gameplay depths and into the metaphorical sun. Some of the game's locations (like the Fields of Ard Skellig) are quite stunning.

The main course of an RPG like this is its story of course and overall, I think it really scores in its characters and plots. It's hardly anything mind-blowing or flawlessly paced but for such a long story, it's consistently good. That goes for all of the quests, main and side. Though I do need to stress that certain parts did have me frustrated and bored, through gameplay annoyances combined with unengaging quests - every Elven ruin quest for example. Speaking of Elven ruins, as someone who has only read but loved the first two short story collections, I found the lore and worldbuilding here quite lackluster in comparison. Though I digress, as the game's many side quests still do a great job of fleshing out the people who inhabit the world and Geralt himself, even if some other elements fall short.

The biggest strength of The Witcher 3 alongside its fantastic characters might be its soundtrack, which captures the perfect mood in almost every location and situation - be it the miserable wildlands of Velen, the grimy streets of Novigrad or the beautiful expanses of Skellige.


Let's wrap this gigantic review up: I think it's become clear that my praise for certain aspects of the game stands in sharp contrast to my burning dislikes and that despite me still giving this a respectable score, liking the game and going on to play the expansions, I cannot shake my highly emotional resentment both towards parts of the game itself as well as its reception.