I don’t want to harp on the specifics because I’m trying to stay as light on spoilers as possible, but the task didn’t resolve itself the way I’d expected.Īnother mission ended with the realization that I’d sided with a world-class racist. I don’t, and the outcome is surprisingly brutal. After confronting an arsonist with evidence of his crime, he offers to pay me off if I let it go. Take one of those criminals, who appears in an early mission. One of the reasons those side missions have been interesting is that many of them require Geralt to make an on-the-fly decision about what comes next. I’ve been methodically doing every side mission I come across, and while I’ve helped bust criminals, right a few past wrongs, and solved a few mysteries, I haven’t had to collect a dozen cockatrice feathers to accomplish any of it. Sure, the vast majority of NPCs I run into merely spit in my direction (there’s a phlegm epidemic, apparently), but the people who are willing to give Geralt the time of day have made it worth my while. The Witcher 3 has a critical path (duh!), but 15 or so hours in, the ancillary adventures have been as rewarding as pushing the main story ahead. Fetch quests are easier to implement in a game than spending time designing fully formed adventures, but that doesn’t make them interesting. I’m just tired of being a volunteer deliveryman. I get it they’re almost always rooted to one place, so if they want to pad out their yo-yo collection, they need a little help. I’ve gone on a lot of adventures over the past few decades, and oh brother am I ever tired of collecting pelts, herbs, ore, letters, ears, mittens, yo-yos, kites, or whatever it is that NPCs so desperately need. Here are some things I’m hoping that we see more in a post-Witcher 3 world, as well as a few missteps that should be left by the wayside.

CD Projekt Red certainly wasn’t the first studio to discover these elements, but they’ve done a great job of implementing them.

I’m still several dozen hours away from finishing the game, but I’ve already grown attached to what it does well. It provides a wonderfully detailed world to explore, and it’s the first Witcher game to truly win me over. Over the past week, I’ve spent the bulk of my gaming time on The Witcher 3.

Witcher 3 inventory space