Fans of Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher book series may find CD Projekt RED's latest entry into their videogame adaptations The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt more to their tastes than the game's predecessors. Wild Hunt will deal with a Geralt with his memory restored and much more interested in journeying The Continent rather than getting caught up in political intrigue.
To match the shift in Geralt's hobbies, CD Projekt's changed up gameplay significantly. Unlike the linear, story-driven experiences that were the original two games, Wild Hunt will be an open world affair. The map of the world is expansive: CD Projekt claims it to be 20% larger than Skyrim's. More impressively, the game will feature no loading screens, as it's running on CD Projekt's new CDRED Engine 3.
Though Wild Hunt will be less story-driven, CD Projekt is still devoting work to generating over 100 hours of scripted quests. Completing major plotlines will have consequences on the game, though they won't be quite as drastic as in The Witcher 2. Areas may be left abandoned or allies may join you, depending on your choices.
Apparently, upon retaining his memory, Geralt is leaving behind his womanizing ways. The main "storyline", if you will, of Wild Hunt will be to pursue a romance. Chasing Geralt's lady love is the only way to "finish" the game, so the sexually explicit trading cards indicating each of Geralt's sexual trysts will not be featured in this game.
Combat in Wild Hunt has been drastically improved. As would be expected of a witcher, should Geralt know more about a monster, he'll better be able to identify the monster's weak points. To keep combat animations fresh, CD Projekt has given Geralt over 96 different of them—compared toThe Witcher 2's 20—making it difficult for players to see the same animation twice in succession. Unfortunately, the one worrying part about the combination of combat and open world gameplay with Wild Hunt is that enemies don’t scale with the player, meaning that certain areas will be left unexplored until late game stages.
CD Projekt's made no announcements as to platforms Wild Hunt will release on. Both The Witcher and The Witcher 2 touched down on PC, so it's hard to imagine that the developer won't go for a three-peat. The developer also mentioned that it would be hitting "all top-of-the-line" consoles, which could indicate next-generation consoles.
