The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next-Gen Impressions

Where do we place The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in the halls of history for gaming? Ask players today about the CD Projekt Red RPG and they’ll likely say they either loved it back in the 2010s or didn’t feel it clicked with them. In contrast to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher 3 dared to play with worldbuilding and fantasy first, and arguably gameplay suffered for it. Still, there’s a lot to appreciate here in the game’s new next-gen upgrade.

In Keiran’s PS4 review for the game, he writes that the game “was one of the RPGs to get me into the genre and did so with enticing characters, comforting gameplay, and a world that despite its darkness has some shining lights of fun, hope, and wonder.” He takes plenty of time to talk about the game’s flaws as well. It’s worth reading the entire thing because it’s indicative of how the game’s initial impact struck players. There was good and there was not so good, and it was still worth playing.

There’s something that’s striking me differently about the game on next-gen consoles with next-gen upgrades. Maybe it’s the state of AAA games today. For every great game, there are 3 churned out by studios that fail to meet their constructed expectations. It’s not like games are getting worse, they’re just getting harder and harder to make. Even the beloved CD Projekt Red, earning universal adoration from The Witcher 3‘s release, lost all of their good grace with fans thanks to Cyberpunk 2077.

Thanks to dozens of visual, performance, and technical enhancements, this version of The Witcher 3 is a great game at its best. Still, the gameplay flaws cannot be covered up. There’s just always been something awkward about movement in this game. As gorgeous as the next-gen visuals look, there’s still something clunky about it all. It’s a nice reminder that for every debate we have about frame rates and resolutions, a good game comes down to how it feels, not how it looks.

I’m not structuring these thoughts into a traditional review because I don’t know what else there is to say about the value of Witcher 3. I can’t stress enough how impactful it was on gaming in a way unique enough to warrant another 9 or 10 scores. Still, these impressions of the game were worth writing in my eyes for one crucial reason. The Witcher 3 sits just below Skyrim and Fallout in terms of action RPGs when we talk about the great 2000s and 2010s releases. It deserves more recognition.

Call it amnesia thanks to Cyberpunk 2077 or burnout from the action RPG genre, but The Witcher 3 is immense in scope and masterful in its execution as a full video game experience. No, I’m not wild about the gameplay mechanics but anyone who has played this game for longer than 10 hours will tell you that its bumps and bruises just simply become part of the experience. It’s not like any game truly launches flawlessly. It’s the entirety of the game, however, that surpasses Skyrim in storytelling and delivery.

Not to mention, the next-gen version includes all of that fantastic DLC that marked a new high point for post-launch content. The expansions are arguably essential to the experience of the entire game’s tale of Geralt and the state he is in when the game begins. The DLC, along with the next-gen upgrades, are available for anyone who purchased the game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. On a connected account, you can play on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or PC, and revisit this underrated classic. The last-gen versions and Switch version are also getting some of the upgrades as well.