Gameplay

35 minutes of authentic Witcher 3 gameplay footage from the developers. Doesn't get more real than this!

They polished and polished and fixed and changed and now the gameplay is as shiny as it gets! It still takes a little bit to get used to Geralt's movements, but much less so than in the previous games. Combat is a step up from the previous game and a huge leap up from the first one, but it takes more skill. Enemies will stun you more often, even while you block. Certain ones will dodge your attacks more often than you expect. Hit-and-run tactics are not as viable as they used to be.

To emphasize a point, this is the first game where I actually found myself using Yrden - and quite often. It makes a trap around Geralt and slows down any enemies that enter. With the new sneaky foes it becomes a must. In fact, I found myself using all the signs much more often than before. The one thing that could've used more polish is looting. Sometimes you can quickly grab everything in sight, but there's that one bag in the middle of all the bags you just can't seem to target properly to loot.

Your first big fight. Get ready, it's quite the change of pace.

Character building has gotten yet another complete revamp. This one might be the best yet, though it seems overwhelming at first. There are a lot of abilities and each one can take several points. Plus, you don't even get to choose all of them. Instead you have an allotment of how many abilities you can equip based on your character level. Though the mutagens don't just improve a single ability now, instead being tailored to an entire branch. Once you get the hang of it and the points start rolling in (especially from the places of power), it becomes quite simple. Invest in what you like. Enough said.

The Alchemy system also got a slight change, though I'm not really sure if I like the change. Now, instead of mixing each potion you use, you mix a potion only once to "unlock it". Then it gets refilled each time you rest as long as you have alcohol. From a gaming perspective this makes sense, because you don't need to worry about saving you reagents and have access to a greater amount of potions. On the other hand, I find it ridiculous to mix a potion only once and use it indefinitely.

I must also take this opportunity to stress how relieved I am that the menus actually work. I believe we're all familiar with what consoles have done to the RPG genre. Just take a look at Skyrim, designed for consoles and compare it to Morrowind, it's PC based ancestor. Do I need to mention Dragon Age: Inquistion? Witcher 3 actually managed to strike a good compromise between PC and console menu navigation.

The biggest change is the fact that the game now has an open world. Almost. It's more like a world map divided into areas and each area is completely open to explore, with multiple villages, cities and so on. These area maps are large and there aren't any set paths, so it is basically an open world. Careful of the fall damage though, it can get very nasty!