For whatever reason, the current patch of the game has an awful UI, and I would recommend to all people who play this game to play the classic edition, which can be selected by going through steam properties → beta → play classic edition. I did not notice this on Windows, but for whatever reason, the graphics on the original patch look much better on Linux than those on the new one.
Besides this minor annoyance, this game is too much of a jack of all trades and suffers from a lack of direction. The story and worldbuilding are interesting, but not more so than that of a persona game or a classic like Deus Ex. The gameplay is solid, but is not as good as that of a dark souls clone or even a shooter. I don’t even know if it’s better than Oblivion’s or Skyrim’s combat.
This is important because there are typically two ways I play a game: which are listen to a podcast and focus on fighting things, or go 100% autism mode and pay extremely close attention to details. The Witcher 3 doesn’t feel like a game where I want to do either: it is too much of a time and energy investment to go full sperglord and play it like I used to as a teenager, but the combat is not fun enough to justify playing it while listening to a podcast.
I don’t know what it is specifically about the combat that is the issue, but the emergent problem with it is that it doesn’t feel satisfying. Perhaps it is the fact that the game rewards spamming dodge, especially against monsters who’s attacks can’t be blocked. Because of this, every time you get hit, you don’t think “oh, if I reacted to this faster I wouldn’t have gotten hit”, instead you wish you had spammed dodge more. I remember enjoying brewing potions/bombs and crafting armor in the original game, but now that feels like too much of a bore.
To be frank, this is the kind of game that is very enjoyable to play when you have a lot of time on your hands and have not experienced a lot of other media. And I don’t mean this in a bad or condescending way, this was one of my favorite games as a teenager, but I’m not at that stage of my life anymore, and I’ve moved on to other tastes.
The game is also very long - a full run of the game will take 30-60 hours, which is great if you enjoy the game, but most people will be glad to finish the game once.
The Witcher 3 is what I would call an “apologetically elitist” game. The main characters are all attractive, competent, and Americanized aristocrats who contrast strongly with the ugly, fat, and stupid masses of the game. Normally I would think this is very based, but these markers of superiority feel somewhat disguised and convoluted.
The main characters are not elite in a Nietzschean sense, they are more like an American leftist elite that sees their power as cultural and moral, not biological. Note that this game is promoted by dirtbag leftist, conservative, and progressive types, not the dissident right, who are fans of the older classics like the Elder Scrolls games or Deus Ex.
Scoring:
Design (17/20):
Atmosphere: (4/5)
Graphics: (4/5) - good, but require too much GPU to get frames
UI: (1/2) - modern patch looks worse
Bugs: (2/2)
Sound: (2/2)
OST: (2/2) - sounds good on its own, but feels a little shoehorned in.
Character designs: (2/2)
Script (20/25):
Character Investment: (5/5)
Character Realism: (1/2)
Character Complexity: (2/3)
Writing: (7/10) - well written in terms of script, but some of the worldbuilding elements are incoherent
Ending: (4/5)
Gameplay (19/30):
Skill expression: (6/10)
RNG: (4/5) - crits
Satisfaction: (6/10)
Optionality: (2/3)
Novelty: (1/2)
Value (10/15):
Skill: (4/5)
Originality: (4/5)
Thematic elements: (2/5) - Elite Human Capital tier
Enjoyment (8/10):
Did I like it: (8/10) - enjoyed it as a teenager, now not so much
did you play the prey remake from 2017?