Page 46 - PC Gamer - UK (February 2020)

THE WITCHER 3: practice, CD Projekt Red learned how to make Geralt a
perfect vehicle for players. He’s a person, not a blank slate,
which enriched the impact of every difficult moral
WILD HUNT decision you were forced to make. The average Witcher 3
sidequest is more creative and better presented than the
main story of most other RPGs – and its main story is
another step beyond that.
RELEASED May 19, 2015 | DEVELOPER CD Prokekt RED | PUBLISHER In-house
It’s a game that combines an impressive breadth of
Wes: In 2007, if you’d told anyone on a videogame forum that space with an incredible density of content within it.
a sequel to a messy RPG, made by an inexperienced Polish Every inch of the world feels crafted, authored,
studio, would be the biggest and best RPG of the next decade, purposeful. There are no meaningless errands to run or
they’d probably laugh you off the board. Really? That game? shallow, randomly generated quests to pad out your
The Witcher? Sure, it’s got some good ideas, but it’s barely journey. The Witcher 3 is all killer, no filler, across a
bolted together, and who’s ever heard of these Polish fantasy mind-boggling 200 hours of main game and DLC.
novels? That’s never going to be big. Its massive success entered CD Projekt into the elite
How wrong our hypothetical forum-goer would be. ranks of the most respected game developers in the world.
The Witcher 3 hit the industry like a meteor. It followed a When was the last time a game was as highly-anticipated
pair of much smaller RPGs with a vast open world, and filled as Cyberpunk 2077? Maybe never. When it’s finally real,
that world with writing (so much writing) that elevated it’ll have remarkably high expectations to live up to:
standard sidequests into memorable hunts, heartbreaking expectations that it’ll be as good as The Witcher 3, the
stories, and wonderful adventures. With two games of benchmark for RPGs this decade. And maybe the next.

4 FEB 1 2, 2014 M ARCH 25, 2014 AUG 16, 2014
GAMERGATE
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46 FEBRUARY 2020