The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Analysis
April 11, 2018
1 Overview
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an action RPG developed and published by CD Projekt
Red in 2015, with 15 small pieces and two main pieces of DLC published over the
course of the next year. It is the third and potentially final game in the Witcher
series, and concludes Geralt’s story which was begun in The Witcher from 2009, and
continued in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings from 2011. This trilogy is
based on a series of novels and short stories by the Polish author Adrzej
Sapkowski.
2 Formal Elements
2.1 Players
The player takes control of Geralt, the white-haired mutant monster hunter from the
previous two games. By now, Geralt has recovered his memory and is days from
tracking down his on-again off-again lover, Yennifer. Geralt is controlled as a
third-person avatar, just like in the previous games, but features more advanced
movement, as he can climb many objects, roll, dodge, ride a horse and swim. At
certain times through the game, the player will also take control of Ciri, Geralt’s
adopted daughter, who has only been referenced indirectly and briefly in
previous games. Like those games, The Witcher 3 is a strictly single-player
experience.
2.2 Objectives
The player’s initial task is to gather clues about where Yennifer is and has gone.
Completing this objective functions as the tutorial of the game, since the player will
have to investigate several areas, complete a monster contract or two, and gather
ingredients in the world, much as in the main game areas of Velen, Skellige, and
Toussaint. Upon finding Yennifer, the player is given their real objective: find his
adopted daughter, Ciri. The player will spend most of the game completing
branching quests that lead to her.
Along the way, of course, Geralt also has many opportunities to change people’s
lives. Like in previous games, these are rarely straight forward. Early on, Geralt has
the opportunity to brew a witcher’s potion in order to heal someone, even though
witcher’s potions are normally deadly to ordinary humans. Should the player take
this chance, an acquaintance of that person will confront Geralt later on, telling
him that although the patient survived, now they are a shell of a human
being.
2.3 Rules
Like most RPGs The Witcher 3 has a complicated rule set.
2.3.1 Stats and Leveling
Geralt starts with 3500 Vitality, and for each level up he gains 100 Vitality. Each
level up also gives Geralt one skill point to spend, and potentially unlocks an ability
slot in his active skill tree. Geralt can also gain skill points by activating a Place of
Power for the first time.
Skills are organized into groups, categories, and tiers. There are four main groups:
Combat, Signs, Alchemy, and General, and inside each group, there are
categories:
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Each group and category is also divided into tiers: 8 points must be spent on
abilities in the first tier of each group before the second tier unlocks, and 20 and
30 cumulative points must be spent to unlock the third and fourth tiers,
respectively.
In order to receive the benefit of an ability, it must be placed in the active skill
tree. Once fully unlocked, there are four places for mutagens, and 12 places for
abilities. The abilities are grouped so that three abilities are linked to one mutagen.
Mutagens come in three colors: red, green, and blue, which match to Combat,
Alchemy, and Sign abilities. Each ability that matches the mutagen’s color will
contribute a bonus to that mutagen’s category: red mutagens increase sword
damage, blue mutagens increase sign damage, and green mutagens increase
vitality.
2.3.2 Combat and Magic
The Witcher 3 continues The Witcher 2’s combination of Dark Souls and
Batman: Arkham Asylum style combat. The Witcher 3 attempts to have the
weightiness and precision of moving, dodging, and hitting in Dark Souls and
the cinematic flair and acrobatic finesse of managing multiple opponents in
Batman: Arkham Asylum. Both light and strong attacks can be interrupted by
a dodge or a roll, which is the main saving grace of the combat system.
Geralt’s attack animations, although graceful and fluid, also take a great
deal of time to connect with the enemy, during which time it is very likely
that that enemy or another one will launch a much quicker attack against
Geralt.
Bombs, signs, items, and potions may all be used during combat, with the
exception of putting a rune on Geralt’s weapons or armor. Items and signs
may be changed in a menu which slows down time dramatically, but not
completely.
Four quick use items, such as food or potions, may be equipped at the
same time and switched between during combat. One steel weapon and one
silver weapon may also be equipped and switched between on the fly. Two
types of bombs and two special items, such as a mask or torch, may also be
equipped.
2.3.3 Crafting
The Witcher 3 features a detailed, comprehensive, and thorough crafting system.
There are approximately 100 individual components which can be bought or
harvested around the world, which can then be combined into several thousand
different items, some of which can be further combined into other items. A similar,
though less extensive system can be found in The Witcher 2. However, any composite
item in The Witcher 3 can be dismantled into its constituent parts, which be be sold
or used to create other items.
2.3.4 Areas
The Witcher 3 is divided into several large open areas: White Orchard,
Velen and Novigrad, Skellige, and Toussaint. With few exceptions, the player
is free to wander anywhere at anytime, although the level of enemies and
monsters in some areas might make it nearly impossible to do so for lower level
players.
2.4 Procedures
2.4.1 Leveling and Upgrading
The designers followed their choice from The Witcher 2, and greatly reduced the
amount of experience Geralt receives for killing humans and monsters. Instead, most
of his XP is derived by completing quests. Indeed, since Geralt is over 100 years old,
and has spent much of his life traveling and slaying monsters, he is basically as
proficient in it as he can be. This also makes it difficult for the player to engage in
typical RPG behavior, such as farming for XP by repeatedly killing monsters
in an area. It is usually faster to find an appropriately leveled quest and
complete that, and the designers have put the requisite effort into making the
dialogue, environments, and choices involved in completing such quests quite
interesting.
Crafting, both involving potions, oils, and bombs, and making weapons, armor,
and runes, also plays an important role in the game. Weapons and armor can greatly
affect Geralt’s ability to give and withstand damage of different types, and potions,
bombs, and oils can completely change the difficulty of a fight when used
appropriately.
2.4.2 Exploring
The maps of White Orchard, Velen/Novigrad, Skellige Isles, and Toussaint offer
diverse environments including rolling hills and flat fields of farmland, rivers and
lakes to explore the depths of, caves and ravines near mountainous terrain, and dark
mysterious forests hiding bandits and monsters. These maps feature loads of hidden
stories built into environmental clues. While exploring the coast of Velen, Geralt will
stumble across pirate camps, and within the camps he can discover notes from the
pirates explaining why they choose those places, and letters or notes from the
farmers and fishers who the pirates killed which explain what they were doing
there before their untimely deaths. This is just one of the many areas which
CD Projekt Red has made cohesive through the use of these story-telling
devices.
Geralt can also find dozens of location-based quests, uncover countless monster
nests, bandit camps, locations of power, and elven ruins.
2.4.3 Boss-Slaying
As Geralt investigates monster attacks during witcher quests, and at certain points
throughout main story quests, Geralt will have to engage in what amount to boss
battles. The investigation sets the stage for the boss battle by providing clues as to
what monster Geralt might have on his hands, and what its strengths and weaknesses
might be.
The battle itself will play out depending on how well you pay attention to these
clues and use them to defeat the monster.
2.5 Resources
2.5.1 Abstract
- Health: Health starts at 3500, and the player gains 100 points for each level up. When Health drops to zero, Geralt dies and the player must reload a save file. The only exception is when Geralt is killed by city guards: in this case, he is knocked out and loses some money. Geralt can regain his health by using potions, eating food or drinking beverages, and on easier difficulty settings, he can regain it after meditation.
- Stamina: Geralt can cast signs, run, and dodge using stamina. Outside of combat, it regenerates quite quickly, but when facing enemies, it takes several seconds to regenerate fully. Signs can only be cast when the stamina bar is full, and use up the entire bar once cast.
- Toxicity: Witcher potions give Geralt game changing bonuses and abilities, but they come with a downside: the more potions active and the more powerful the potion, the higher the toxicity. Higher toxicity levels reduce Geralt’s health and could lead to death, but toxicity levels gradually drop over time.
- Adrenaline: Geralt gains adrenaline points during combat by damaging enemies. Adrenaline increases the damage Geralt does, and can even unlock special attacks if the appropriate skills are known.
- XP: Geralt gains XP primarily through completing quests, but he can also gain limited XP through killing enemies. From levels 1-10, it takes 1000 XP to level up, from 11-20 1500 XP, and from 21 and above it takes 2000 XP. Each level up grants one skill point.
- Skill point: Skill points can be invested in the abilities
- Abilities: The abilities have been described briefly above. Each ability requires one skill point to unlock, but the ability’s tier must also be unlocked by having the required number of skill points invested in that category.
- Level: As Geralt completes quests and slays monster and bandits, he gains XP, which works as described above.
2.5.2 Physical
- Money: There are several different currencies in The Witcher 3, however, only one can be used for buying and selling items. The others must be converted at a bank.
- Food and Drink: There are many different consumable items, each of which have slightly different effects.
- Materials: There are hundreds of different crafting and alchemical components, which can be combined at crafters to make weapons and armor, or which can be received by dismantling unneeded weapons and armor.
- Weapons and Armor: There are three main classes of armor: light, medium, and heavy, and they each offer different amounts of protection. Weapons come in several different groups as well: there are crossbows, steel swords, silver swords, axes, clubs, and maces.
- Books, Recipes, and Diagrams: Recipes for oils and potions can be found throughout the world or purchased at vendors, as can diagrams for new weapons and armor. There are countless books, letters, and notes, some of which are crucial for completing main quests or side quests.
2.6 Conflicts
2.6.1 Stat Point Investment
The player is granted one skill point per level up, so deciding which ability to unlock
or increase can have a dramatic effect on gameplay.
2.6.2 NPCs
It is not possible to make everyone happy all the time. Through dialogue
choices, Geralt will inevitably make someone unhappy. This may close off
further quests for that person, lead to a fight, or some more complicated
outcome.
2.7 Boundaries
2.7.1 Stat Point Investment
All skills have a set number of points that can be invested in them, and as
mentioned before they are organized in tiers which are locked through different
amounts overall stat point investment in the category. Further, Geralt has a
limited number of mutagen slots and ability slots, so although Geralt could
learn all the abilities, he can only have a maximum of 12 abilities and 4
mutagens (plus one extra mutation and 4 extra abilities if the player has
completed an optional quest in the Blood and Wine DLC) activated at a
time.
2.7.2 NPCs
Most NPCs are not attackable or killable. This makes sense as no matter what kind
of Geralt the player decides to play as, he would not be one to indiscriminately
slaughter innocents.
2.7.3 Swimming and Climbing
Geralt has limited ability to climb on objects in the environment. Normally, these are
marked with white shading on the edge of the climbable object, which could be
interpreted as fungus or as guano.
2.8 Outcomes
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has several main outcomes, depending on the player’s
choices. These include changing the fate of Geralt and Ciri, who will be king of the
Northern Kingdoms, and of course which (or neither) of the main love interests
Geralt will be with at the end.
3 Dynamic Elements
3.1 Time
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a dynamic time system where one real world second
equals an in-game minute. The day-night cycle affects NPC behavior, as most of
them will go into their homes and sleep at night, but during the day they will wander
around or do their jobs.
Further, there are many time sensitive quests, in which Geralt will need to meet
an NPC at a particular time, wait a set number of days, etc. There are also several
passive time sensitive abilities, such increasing Vitality regeneration during the day
(night).
3.2 Weather
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a dynamic weather system. This has some
effect on NPC behavior, and both they and Geralt will comment on the
weather in the game. It also adds a bit of atmosphere and drama to the
game.
Lastly, there are a few passive abilities which are affected by the weather.
3.3 NPC Standing
As the player interacts with NPCs, your dialogue choices and in-game actions will
affect your standing with those NPCs. They may approve or disapprove of your
choices, thus unlocking or blocking off further interaction, or changing the tone of
further interaction.
3.4 Patterns
This section focuses on game patterns as discussed by Ernest Adams and Joris
Dormans in Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design.
3.4.1 Stopping Mechanism
The Witcher 3 contains the stopping mechanism pattern in how it prevents the
player from spamming the witcher signs: the player needs a full stamina bar in
order to cast a sign, and once cast, the stamina bar must regenerate from
zero.
3.4.2 Dynamic Friction
The Witcher 3 contains the dynamic friction pattern in many forms. As mentioned
before, the amount of XP needed to level up increases once Geralt reaches certain
levels. In the Blood and Wine DLC, the enhanced mutations require increasing
numbers of mutagens and skill points to unlock.
Finally, as Geralt advances in the game story, the level of monsters and enemies
increases to counterbalance Geralt’s own increasing power.
3.4.3 Resource Placement
Due to the nature of the skill tree, it is possible to swap out abilities and mutagens
on the fly. This makes Geralt’s skill tree an example of resource placement pattern.
Placing an ability in a particular place on the skill tree allows Geralt to take
advantage of that ability, and also influences his overall attack power, sign intensity,
or vitality.
3.4.4 Play Style Reinforcement
As the player can choose which abilities to employ, and which types of armor and
weapons to equip, the player can choose a play style which matches their own
preference. Equipping a particular trophy, for example, the player can increase the
amount of XP they receive for killing monsters and bandits, making it easier to level
up. Or, by equipping certain weapons, abilities and mutations, the player may make
it easier to kill enemies more quickly using dismemberments. By investing in
alchemical abilites, the player can make ever greater use of potions, oils, and bombs
in combat.
4 Dramatic Elements
Like the previous games in the Witcher series, The Witcher 3 features a moving,
multifaceted and branching story.
4.1 Characters
The characters of The Witcher 3 are all mostly well voice-acted, touchingly
animated, and speak dialogue that is quite well-written, especially compared to other
video game titles. Instead of all good heroes and all bad villains, we get a
complicated cast of distinct grey characters. Geralt can even engage sentient
monsters, such as trolls, in dialogue and decide whether to resolve the matter with
them peacefully or with violence.
The main character and star of the show is Geralt. While he tries to maintain
witcherly neutrality, he clearly cares when others are mistreated, but he is sarcastic
and can be cold. His main love interest in books, Yennifer, plays a key role in the
plot, but is not always truthful and sometimes has a hidden agenda. She can also be
petty and bitchy. Triss, Geralt’s secondary love interest from the books and his
main love interest from The Witcher 2, also appears, although she is at
first noticeably bitter about how Geralt abandoned her at the end of the
previous game to find Yennifer. Dandilion, the self-centered womanizer bard
from the books, Djikstra, the spymaster, Vernon Roche, the commando, and
many other characters all make their appearances. Ciri, Geralt’s adoptive
daughter, is also a playable character and the player gets to see why Geralt loves
her so much: she is kind, loyal, and determined, despite the harsh fate in
store for her. The Red Baron, Vesemer, Cerys an Craite, and many more
characters fill out the huge cast. The Red Baron in particular deserves special
mention: his quests are gut-wrenching enough to make even jaded players
cry.
4.2 Story
The Witcher 3’s events take place approximately two years after The Witcher 2.
Geralt had regained his memory in the previous game, and is now searching for
Yennifer. When he finally finds her, he discovers that their adopted daughter, Ciri,
who they believed had fled to another world, had returned but was being
hunted by the Wild Hunt. They then begin a game long quest to find her and
protect her. Along the way, Geralt will have to help or hinder many of the
characters mentioned above. Unlike the previous games, the quest system
has been greatly overhauled, allowing for multiple objectives and quests
to be pursued at the same time. This allows the player greater freedom in
the exact order in which they complete each task, and even which tasks to
complete.
The first stage of the game takes place in White Orchard, but after several hours
moves on to the Velen/Novigrad area. This map is huge and has hundreds of
locations to visit and dozens of well-crafted quests to discover and unravel. Geralt
will encounter the Red Baron, a drunken self-declared baron who wishes Geralt to
help him locate his missing wife and daughter in exchange for information about Ciri.
Geralt will also meet the Witches of Crookback Bog, three monstrous beings who
terrorize the local villagers.
After discovering as much information about Ciri’s whereabouts from these two
sources, Geralt will be ready to move on to Novigrad. Here, he will encounter Triss,
Dijkstra, Dandilion, Zoltan Chivay and a host of other characters from the books.
After helping Triss, Geralt will learn that Ciri met Dandilion, who is now missing
and who Geralt will have to track down. After completing a series of quests to find
out where Dandilion is and what he has been up to, Geralt will discover
that Ciri is not in Novigrad and can met up with Yennifer in the Skellige
Isles.
In Skellige, Geralt will get caught up in the political machinations of who
will become the next ruler there, in addition to trying to find out what has
happened to Ciri. With what he discovers here, he picks up a cursed creature
from the Red Baron’s castle and takes him to Kaer Morhen to remove the
curse. The creature turns out to be Avallac’h, an elven Sage who has been
helping Ciri keep away from the Wild Hunt and teaching her to use her
powers.
An epic battle at Kaer Morhen ensues, during which Vesemer dies. In the
aftermath, Geralt and his allies set about gathering sorceresses and trying to
convince Eredin’s (the leader of the Wild Hunt) allies not to support him. Back in
Skellige, Geralt and his allies track down an artifact to summon Eredin into a trap.
During the battle, Geralt and Ciri will battle different warriors of the Wild
Hunt.
Based on certain actions and dialogue choices during the course of the game, Ciri
may die, become the Empress of Nilfgaard, or become a witcher.
4.2.1 DLCs
The Witcher 3 released two major DLCs post-release: Hearts of Stone, and Blood and
Wine. Hearts of Stone features a few new enemy types, many new weapons, and
several interesting quests and quest lines. In terms of tension and pathos, it rivals the
best moments of the Red Baron’s quests. Blood and Wine introduces a whole new
area roughly half the size of Velen/Novigrad: Toussaint, a kingdom loosely based on a
fantasy version of medieval France. This area features new enemies, items, and at
least 30-40 hours worth of quests. Again, the best of these rival the best in the main
game.
5 Conclusion
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is generally regarded as one of the greatest games of all
time. The development team have produced a powerful RPG where player choices
can lead to radically different outcomes in the story. It shines not only in the main
quest, where the writing, animation, and voice acting are all superb, but in the
innumerable side quests, which show the love and dedication to detail the team must
have exercised to create them.
5.1 Potent Elements
The graphics, music and animations deserve special praise for helping to bring the
world to life. The detective elements of the quests, like the detective elements in
the Arkham series of Batman games, are some of the best in video game
history. Lastly, the choices the player must make are extremely well-crafted
dilemmas, each one an agonizing moment as the player struggles with an ethical
issue.
5.2 Areas for Improvement
The combat and Roach’s AI are perhaps the biggest disappointments. Roach is
semi-autonomous, but he seems to react to unseen cues in the environment, making
his behavior seem random and frustrating. Although generally satisfying, in trying to
strike a balance between cinematic flair and precision, the designers generally
force the player into set patterns of attack → attack → dodge → attack
→ sign → attack → attack → do something else/wait for your stamina to
recharge.
