Recent reviews by Washell

Loved Witcher 1. Loved Witcher 2. Really, really, really tried to love Witcher 3. But felt no freedom of choice. "The great story" is wrapped in countless of episodes of poor filler content. The combat feels like they were going for Dark Souls/Batman Arkham series, but the camera fails to keep focused on the action, and you're fighting the controls, rather than a well designed encounter. In preparation for this playthrough I played through 1 and 2 as a signbased witcher, which subsequently rendered what (little) combat there was utterly meaningless to the overpowered nature of the signs. There's a loot system, where no loot will ever match what you can make as witcher gear and basically just means you're hauling crap to merchants. A mod that instantly turns everything gold is what would've shaved 30 hours of the 133 I played. There's an open world, in which you can do nothing, not even sit in a chair or arrange some crap on a table. What finally broke me is Blood & Wine's habit of letting you fail a quest and than forcing you to click through a dozen cutscenes before you can load, after which you need to click through another dozen cutscenes before you're at the point you can try again.

If you like riding a virtual horse and watching cutscenes, this is the game for you! If you want actual engrossing gameplay and tactically challenging combat encounters. Steer clear.

Gritty sims reboot. Will play again!