* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *
I mention a few plot points but try to be vague and speak in general terms.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of my favorite games of all time, so THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT is often recommended. I prefer first-person games and creating my own protagonist, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying God of War. And I don’t want to devote hundreds of hours of my life to a game, but ended up doing that with Fallout 4, anyway.
So, after watching The Witcher on Netflix, I bought WITCHER 3 on sale and finally gave it a try, despite the lack of a character creator and an immense amount of content.
The above video is from my first Try-It Tuesday livestream of WITCHER 3 on Twitch. After that, I streamed about half the main game on Twitch and edited some highlight videos for my YouTube channel.
See my WITCHER 3 playlist here
WITCHER 3 is a very rich, impressive game and I can see why people love it. There’s a massive amount of content and exploration. Much of the game is very well-written, with depth, detail and emotion.
I appreciate that the protagonist isn’t a savior. He’s not The One. He’s not the Dragonborn or the Sole Survivor. Geralt is just one of several exterminators who specialize in supernatural pests. Sort of a medieval fantasy Ghostbuster.
But the gameplay loop of fight, loot, repair, repeat, got me thinking I would make a lot more money, with a lot less effort, if Geralt gave up witchering and became a florist or an herbalist. I could gather flowers and herbs, and sell them, without the expense of constantly repairing Geralt’s weapons and armor.
After all, as a witcher, I wasn’t earning goodwill and I wasn’t getting rich. Everyone I tried to help seemed to be doomed, anyway. So what was the point? I didn’t feel very invested in Geralt or what was going on around him.
Skyrim has its dark corners and twisted tales, too, but it also had opportunities to make meaningful choices, have fun, enjoy the scenery and do some good in the world. Try to do the right thing in WITCHER 3, and it’s always fucked up. You are always damned if you do and damned if you don’t. The roads are lined with hanged bodies. Every field contains a fiend.
There were parts of the game I enjoyed, but plague, war, rape, misogyny, suicide, domestic violence, miscarriage, injustice, oppression, kidnapping, slavery, cannibalism and torture aren’t my ideas of fun. The excessive violence against women in WITCHER 3 made me uncomfortable. Women killed by lovers, husbands, angry mobs.
The suicide of a major character was the last straw for me, making it too emotionally overwhelming to enjoy. I’m almost 50 years old, I’ve seen a lot of shit, and I was diagnosed with PTSD in my 30s. I play video games to forget about that bullshit for a little while or to enjoy the fantasy of kicking its ass.
After all the hype I’d heard about WITCHER 3 being “perfect,” I was also surprised to encounter a number of glitches, such as quests that wouldn’t progress or didn’t make sense, confusing dialog, characters sinking into the ground, messed up merchants, and rewards not received.
Many choices seemed to provide only the illusion of choice. For example, I disliked one of the characters in the game and tried to avoid her, but the game seemed designed to make Geralt fall for her charms, regardless.
Clunky controls felt like they were designed for PC and later mapped to a console controller, but not very well. God of War was not an easy game, but I never felt like the game itself got in my way. In WITCHER 3, I fought with the game controls not just the enemies.
Despite these criticisms, however, I would’ve continued playing if it wasn’t such an emotional slog. WITCHER 3 seemed to wallow in misery and I couldn’t take any more. Maybe there will come a day when I’ve had just too many unicorns and rainbows and I need to do something tedious, miserable and depressing, but it’s not this day.
May 10, 2020, was my last livestream of this game, and I won’t be going back. “Tragic End” (above) is the final highlight video from that stream.
THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT is rated “M” for mature audiences, ages 17+, due to blood and gore, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content and use of alcohol. It’s available for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
~ J.L. Hilton
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