“The Witcher III: Wild Hunt”   Rating: 5 stars

The Witcher III, is a narrative driven role playing game that takes place in a fantasy medieval setting. 

Geralt of Rivia, who is essentially a monster hunter for hire, is  on the search for his adopted daughter named Ciri. Through this journey came a lot of conflict, as Ciri possess natural powers that is critically acclaimed by many, she is therefore chased by everyone for said powers, so she is on the run. This makes the players’ search more difficult. 

The characters of this game are well developed to the point where the gamer becomes really attached to them and feel like you’re right there with them on this journey that the game takes the player on. 

Geralt is a witcher, which is a human taken in for mutations that chemically enhance them in order to become more capable of fighting off monsters in the world. 

The world of the Witcher III is a world filled with brutality, and bad people, and Geralt has seen nothing but this side of this world. He has more morals than the average human being and always has the best intentions, but this often falls on deaf ears as he is constantly outcasted by society. So he feels his ‘’good’’ decisions don’t get him anywhere or help anyone in the end. 

This is why Geralt has a small circle of friends and he chooses his friends wisely. 

The story always has fans wanting to play more, it gets you emotionally invested with its interesting plot, deeply developed characters, and compelling gameplay. 

The game plays very smoothly and in a way where it never gets stale. The controls are simple, yet the player has to be very judicious with attacking during combat. One button could prompt a fast attack, and another could be for strong attacks, and strategy is vital in order to come up with the right combination of attacks to defeat the enemies. 

After the story ends, there is still so much to do, like explore the open world the game has to offer, filled with side-quests that aren’t story related but have plots within themselves, and many points of interests that are worth exploring. These can be very rewarding, as you can find treasure like armor and sword upgrades. 

There is also a great deal of replay value for the story, you can initiate a second playthrough, and play out all the decisions you haven’t made the first time around, resulting in branching scenarios and different endings. 

Of course, nothing is perfect, even this game despite the 5 star rating, this games horse mechanics are very clunky, and the decisions you have to make in order to get certain endings can be considered arbitrary, but despite all this, I am inclined to give this game 5 stars due to the overall enjoyment I’ve gotten from it. It is truly my favorite game I’ve ever played, and I’d definitely recommend it.