Developer: CD Projekt RED
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Is this the end of Geralt of Rivia? Well, I doubt if it will be forever. These games and the novels they are based on are far too popular to let sit, idle, for too long. But the people behind CD Projekt RED, the makers of the game, are saying that it will be the last Witcher game for a good long while. If that is true, is this new expansion pack, Blood and Wine, a good note to go out on, or a disappointing flop? Well, grab your iron and silver swords, your best suit of armor, and whatever spells you know, and let’s go hunting monsters one last time (for now) with the Witcher.
Oh and before you can ask why is this sword & sorcery fantasy game being covered on this horror site, you must not have ever played these games, or read the books if you’re wondering that. The world of the Witcher is as dark as dark fantasy can get. Our hero, Geralt, is a professional monster hunter, tasked with slaying vampires, werewolves, ghost, demons, and less savory things. When one of the jobs is to track down the rotting corpse of a stillborn infant who is now attacking pregnant women in the night, you can forget any allusions to the far safer, cleaner, and morally clear worlds of Dungeons and Dragons and J.R.R. Tolkien. This is the kind of stuff that would make George R.R. Martin, the big daddy behind the bloody as hell A Song of Ice and Fire (AKA Game of Thrones) series shudder in the night. This “fantasy” game is, at times, far darker and more horrific than any video game released on the horror banner. So there, got that? Good.
In this expansion Geralt travels to a new land, gets a ton of (over 40) new quests, a home base that you can upgrade and pimp out like any awesome crib (sorry, my mind slipped back to 2000 for a moment), 30 new weapons, 20 new monster types, the level cap is increased to 100, new mutations (yeah, Geralt isn’t exactly human anymore) that alter your signs (spells), and various tweaks and changes that streamline everything and make an already great playing game even better. There is a whole lot of bang for your buck here, and if you are a Witcher fan, this is a must get. Add to that the same, if not better, stunningly beautiful graphics from Witcher 3, and once again you have one of the most graphically impressive games on the market today. Oh, and lest you think everything is dark and dour here, there is plenty of silly fun to be had. I mean, you can get drunk with a monster, and what’s not to love about that?
The Witcher 3 got damn near everyone’s Game of the Year nod when it came out, including mine, and there is a very good reason for it: it is simply beautiful, fun, deep and rich. No other game looked this good, played this well, had such a good story, or completely captivated me like Witcher 3, and this is just more of the same. But hey, who doesn’t want more of perfection, right? If you loved The Witcher 3, you’ll love this, and it’s a great way to say goodbye to Geralt of Rivia. At least for now. Blood and Wine will easily give you more than 25 hours of the good stuff, and for that reason, and all the others listed here, it is very highly recommended.
