Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a third person action RPG video game created by the polish company CD Projekt Red. This game is third in the Witcher Series and was created to be the largest game in the series yet in terms of scope, story elements, and gameplay options. The Witcher 3 takes place in a fictional land called the Northern Kingdoms, which is designed to be similar in appearance and climate to that of Northern Europe and Scandanavia[kotaku]. The game is an open-world adventure in which you take control of a master monster hunter by the name of Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher 3 includes sword fighting, the use of magic, horse riding, and even card playing as its main gameplay features.
In this fantasy environment, the player goes on an adventure as Geralt of Rivia to find and save the Emperor's daughter Ciri, who Geralt helped raise and train. A mysterious force called the Wild Hunt is after Ciri, and it is Geralt's job to save her from them.
The Witcher series has come with success but Witcher 3 was the most successful game in the series by a large margin, trample both games that came before it with the Witcher 3 selling 15 times as much than its predecessor. With this contribution, the Witcher series reached a sale of 33 million copies in 2018, with a majority of those sales due to the Witcher 3's success.
Story
The Witcher 3's story starts with Geralt trying to determine the location of Ciri, who has been missing for some time. In order to find Ciri, Geralt attempts to track down his old lover Yennefer, who is also a sorceress and could prove helpful in locating Ciri. After following Yennefer's track, but not being able to find her, and saving the town of White Orchard from a monster attack, the game's first act opens up into 3 different paths, each revolving around an area on the map. The first of these paths takes place in Velen, also known as No Man's Land. It is advised for the player to progress through this story path before moving onto either Novigrad or Skellige (where the other story paths take place) due to the different difficulties in enemies in these areas.
Whilst in Velen, Geralt attempts to extract information about Ciri through an agent and gets tied up with Philip Strenger, better known as the Bloody Baron by the people of Velen. In this questline, Geralt goes through a number of quests for the Bloody Baron surrounding the Baron's crippled life and family members with the promise that the Baron would give information on Ciri. Eventually, Geralt finds the Crones of Crookback Bog, which have ties with the Baron, and the Baron's wife even lives in the swamp with the Crones. At this point, the player is given the option to either kill a monster in a large tree or let it free, allowing it to destroy a nearby town. Regardless of your choice, the Crones provides Geralt with some information on Ciri, saying that she had been to the swamp, and afterward the Baron also gives Geralt information on his dealings with Ciri. From this point, the player is advised to move on to Novigrad.
In Novigrad, Geraly attempts to discern Ciri's exact location by trying to find another of his past lovers, Triss Merigold. This questline entangles you with a powerful man in Novigrad, Reuven, who has many connections and possibly information on Ciri. After completing some quests for Reuven, he reveals that he doesn't have information on Ciri, but knows the location of an old friend of Geralt, named Dandelion. Dandelion apparently has seen Ciri recently, so Geraly goes off to save Dandelion from his current imprisonment, and is given more information on Ciri. Based on Dandelion's information, Geralt then heads to the Skellige Isles to continue his journey.
In Skellige, Geralt finally finds Yennefer and is close to Ciri's trail. In this questline, Geralt finds himself getting caught up in the local politics of the area and after helping Yennefer wit enough quests, she gives him more information about Ciri, and about the Wild Hunt, who is the mysterious group of people hunting her. For the last mission in this area, which also happens to be the last mission in the first act, the game allows the player to play as Ciri, in a situation where she is fighting off members of the Wild Hunt and fleeing from them. By this point, the enemy has been made clear to be the Wild Hunt and Geralt is hot on Ciri's trail.
Act 2 begins with Yennefer informing Geralt on her only lead to Ciri, which is a small deformed creature known as Uma. Yennefer believes that there is a curse on Uma and asks if Geralt would be willing to take Uma to the witcher school and home called Kaer Morhen. Geralt agrees and upon breaking the curse, he finds out that Uma is actually an elf named Avallac'h and was Ciri's traveling companion until recently. He reveals that he has been helping Ciri escape from the Wild Hunt, who is after her for her immense latent power. Avallac'h also explains that the Wild Hunt are hunters from a different realm that plan on using Ciri's power to invade more realms. Avallac'h also reveals that Ciri is in the Isle of Mists. Geralt and the other witchers create a plan that they will bring Ciri back to Kaer Morhen in order to lure the Wild Hunt there for a battle. Before going to get Ciri, the player is advised to go and gather friends from across the lands to aid in the fight. After this, Geralt is off to the Isle of Mists to save Ciri and bring her back to Kaer Morhen. After retrieving Ciri and preparing for battle the Wild Hunt attacks. In the ensuing battle, Geralt and his forces are able to defeat a good portion of the Wild Hunt, but the leaders of the Hunt retreat, after killing Geralt's mentor and father figure, Vesemir, angering Geralt greatly. This act ends with Vesemir's funeral.
Act 3 starts with Geralt and Ciri deciding to take the fight directly to the Wild Hunt. To do this, Geralt and Ciri go to the Bald Mountain, where they find they take two separate paths. Ciri takes the path that leads her to the Crones and she finds out they are evil and kills them. Geralt follows his path and finds the member of the Wild Hunt who killed Vesemir. Geralt defeats him and avenges Vesemir. They then go out to find an artifact called the Sunstone, which is able to summon and bind the leader of the Wild Hunt to a specific location. After preparing for a final fight and finding the Sunstone, they are finally ready to end the threat of the Wild Hunt. Geralt and Ciri each kill generals in the Wild Hunt and eventually Geralt faces down with the leader of the Wild Hunt, Eredin, who he ends up defeating. During this time, Ciri goes off to face off against the White Frost, which is a magical energy that was being used by the Wild Hunt to end all life where ever they appeared and it is the strongest weapon. Ciri ends up destroying the White Frost. With their general and weapon destroyed, the threat of the Wild hunt is officially ended. There are many endings depending on the choices made throughout the game and can result in many fates for different characters, including whether or not Ciri survives the White Frost.
