A truly fantastic storyline, that is unfortunately held back ever so slightly by the lacking gameplay.
Regarding the story: It is quite small scale and simple: Down on his luck, a man strikes a deal with a demon to turn his life back around, with terrible consequences. But it is the characters that really deserve a spotlight here.
O'Dimm is a fantastic threat, imposing and odd immediately from his (re-)introduction. A Faustian Devil was a great choice for a smaller scale villain, and his nickname has a great payoff at the end with the riddle.
Olgeird and Vlodimir von Everec are both scumbags who somehow win you over by the end of their stories, making it easy to see how they got that cultlike following off theirs. Particularly Olgeird shines as the emotional pillar on which the DLC rests: As you learn more and more about the specifics of his situations, the tragedy of his existance becomes ever more clear. The Witcher 3 gets praised a lot for it's grey morality, and I think Olgierd is an exeptional example of that. Even after I restored his heart, does that truly forgive everything he put his family and victims through? I don't think it does, yet saving his soul still feels like the right choice; only with his soul rescued (both literally and metaphorically, i see what you did there CD Projekt Red) can he start to atone for what he has done.
Shani, making her return from The Witcher 1, is a great sidekick for the adventure. Her upbeat and fun personality brings out a warmer side of Geralt, much like Triss does in the base game. There is a clear love for each other, but also an understanding that their livestyles are completely incompatible, which pervades their romance. That it eventually leads nowhere is almost certain from the start, yet still it is saddening when it happens.
Then there's the little clever touches, like reusing the spider model for the fiends during the 'Scenes from a Marriage' quest which I normally would consider lazy, but works here as a representation of Iris' fears, because she mentions to Ogeird that they cannot go into the house until they've gotten rid of all the spiders (because she is afraid of them). The same can unfortunately not be said about the reusage of gargoyle and elemental models for the fiends in O'Dimm's nightmare sequence, which I cannot see any particular reason for reusing other than seeming demonlike and laziness on CD Projekt Red's part.
Regarding gameplay: There's really only a few mediocre bosses (loved the frog though!) and the rest is just running around. This DLC felt more like a ten hour movie rather than a videogame at some points, which made the dialogue rather exhaustive at times. The final riddle's conclusion was cool, but I spent a long time trying to find the mirror and water despite already knowing the answer ('reflection') from the start, which lead to a bit of dissonance between my experience and Geralt's. To then die near the end because I did not realise I had to turn on witcher senses to find a breakable wall caused some unnessecary frustration right at the end, dampening the impact of the conclusion. But this experience was personal and might be completely different for others. However, the fact that Olgeird's final conversation with Geralt still made me feel fulfilled despite that, goes to show the writing talent behind this game.
I have little to complain about here, a fantastic DLC all around. I just wish there was more interesting gameplay to break up the dialogue sections, but this storyline and its characters will most likely stay with me for a long time, aiding me in writing my own stuff as a great example of how to write complex and/or engaging characters within a simple narrative.
Oh! And the expansion gave me some great Gwent cards for my Scoia'tael deck too, so that's really the biggest win here.
Regarding the story: It is quite small scale and simple: Down on his luck, a man strikes a deal with a demon to turn his life back around, with terrible consequences. But it is the characters that really deserve a spotlight here.
O'Dimm is a fantastic threat, imposing and odd immediately from his (re-)introduction. A Faustian Devil was a great choice for a smaller scale villain, and his nickname has a great payoff at the end with the riddle.
Olgeird and Vlodimir von Everec are both scumbags who somehow win you over by the end of their stories, making it easy to see how they got that cultlike following off theirs. Particularly Olgeird shines as the emotional pillar on which the DLC rests: As you learn more and more about the specifics of his situations, the tragedy of his existance becomes ever more clear. The Witcher 3 gets praised a lot for it's grey morality, and I think Olgierd is an exeptional example of that. Even after I restored his heart, does that truly forgive everything he put his family and victims through? I don't think it does, yet saving his soul still feels like the right choice; only with his soul rescued (both literally and metaphorically, i see what you did there CD Projekt Red) can he start to atone for what he has done.
Shani, making her return from The Witcher 1, is a great sidekick for the adventure. Her upbeat and fun personality brings out a warmer side of Geralt, much like Triss does in the base game. There is a clear love for each other, but also an understanding that their livestyles are completely incompatible, which pervades their romance. That it eventually leads nowhere is almost certain from the start, yet still it is saddening when it happens.
Then there's the little clever touches, like reusing the spider model for the fiends during the 'Scenes from a Marriage' quest which I normally would consider lazy, but works here as a representation of Iris' fears, because she mentions to Ogeird that they cannot go into the house until they've gotten rid of all the spiders (because she is afraid of them). The same can unfortunately not be said about the reusage of gargoyle and elemental models for the fiends in O'Dimm's nightmare sequence, which I cannot see any particular reason for reusing other than seeming demonlike and laziness on CD Projekt Red's part.
Regarding gameplay: There's really only a few mediocre bosses (loved the frog though!) and the rest is just running around. This DLC felt more like a ten hour movie rather than a videogame at some points, which made the dialogue rather exhaustive at times. The final riddle's conclusion was cool, but I spent a long time trying to find the mirror and water despite already knowing the answer ('reflection') from the start, which lead to a bit of dissonance between my experience and Geralt's. To then die near the end because I did not realise I had to turn on witcher senses to find a breakable wall caused some unnessecary frustration right at the end, dampening the impact of the conclusion. But this experience was personal and might be completely different for others. However, the fact that Olgeird's final conversation with Geralt still made me feel fulfilled despite that, goes to show the writing talent behind this game.
I have little to complain about here, a fantastic DLC all around. I just wish there was more interesting gameplay to break up the dialogue sections, but this storyline and its characters will most likely stay with me for a long time, aiding me in writing my own stuff as a great example of how to write complex and/or engaging characters within a simple narrative.
Oh! And the expansion gave me some great Gwent cards for my Scoia'tael deck too, so that's really the biggest win here.