The origin of The Witcher series lies within a short story competition run by the Polish fantasy magazine Fantastyka. In 1986, Andrzej Sapkowski was 38 years old and a peddling fur salesman. His son, Krzysztof, was a massive fan of fantasy novels, which is why Andrzej wrote short stories from time to time for him. His son, being knee-deep in everything fantasy, urged Andrzej to submit a short story for a competition run by Fantastyka. It took about a year before he got the notice that his story had placed third in the competition. Considering the overwhelming popularity of his piece, he went on to publish more short stories, culminating in the publication of five novels between 1994 and 1999, collectively known as "The Witcher Saga."

Much of the story relies on Slavic mythology, political intrigue, and moral ambiguity, a remarkable blend that keeps the spirit of the story alive throughout. With no surprise, the books were adapted into comics by Dark Horse Comics in 2013 in direct collaboration with CD Projekt Red, a Polish video game company. The first "The Witcher" video game was released by the studio in 2007, followed by the sequel, "The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings," in 2011, and the one we are about to discuss in 2015. Sapkowski had no involvement in the making of the games and provided the company with a full license, which allowed them to develop entirely new stories using his characters. To understand the immense popularity, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" has sold over 50 million copies as of 2023 and continues to generate sales. So, no wonder I am clearly obsessed with it, having played for way over 200 hours by now.

CD Projekt Red was founded in 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. According to Iwiński, the motivations for founding the company were quite personally driven, which might be part of their continued success. While the studio is most famous for The Witcher games, they are also well-known for a 2020 release called Cyberpunk 2077 (goes without saying, I have played that one as well).

The Witcher 3 is a so-called RPG (role-playing game) in which the player roams around the vast lands of "The Continent" as Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher.

Witchers belong to a specific trade and are part of distinct schools. Geralt, also known as Gwynbleidd (Elder Speech for "The White Wolf"), was given away by his mother as a young boy to the School of the Wolf (one of six known Witcher schools) based at Kaer Morhen (in the mountains way up North, in an area known as Kaedwen). At the stronghold, Vesemir, an older Witcher, turns into his father figure and mentor. He guides Geralt through intense training, all while surviving multiple mutations, providing him with superhuman abilities and leaving him with abnormally pale skin and hair (hence his Elven nickname). The goal of it all is to birth a group of monster-hunting professionals that make The Continent safer and earn their keep by providing that service to nobles and peasants alike.

The Continent can be understood as composed of four distinct regions: the Northern Kingdoms, where most of the story takes place; the Nilfgaard Empire, which has forcefully expanded its territory from the South to the North; the eastern parts; and overseas countries with which the other regions conduct active trade. The world we gradually get to know as players has a feel to it that can be compared to the European Middle Ages, ranging from Scandinavia to Tuscany. Since I am a sucker for context, I believe it is essential to understand that The Continent is part of a much broader fantastic world-building, where parallel dimensions surround it, some magical, some occupied by monsters, humans, elves, dwarves, and unidentifiable creatures. We enter this complex world setting right when The Continent is caught up in an excruciating war initiated by the conquering schemes of the Nilfgaardian Emperor Emhyr van Emreis and the Redanian ruler King Radovid V.

Geralt is a calm and quiet character who tries to stay out of human squabbles and politics as much as possible. While he communicates actively and the player will have to do for him, he prefers to stick to the facts and generally keeps to himself. His story takes a surprising new turn after helping the former princess of Cintra. As a reward for his help, he thoughtlessly invokes "the Law of Surprise." This is how his destiny becomes linked to the soon-to-be-born princess of Cintra, Cirilla (more commonly known as Ciri). While he keeps his distance at first, she soon becomes an integral part of his life and destiny to the point that he takes her to Kaer Morhan for training, and she becomes the first female Witcher. Ciri is born with immeasurable powers, one of which is the ability to travel between the different parallel worlds at will. While Geralt and Vesemir prepare Ciri for her life as a Witcher, Yennefer, a powerful sorceress in close and intimate relations with Geralt, supports her in training with her magical abilities.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt takes place after Ciri has grown up and is actively fleeing from the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is inspired by folklore originating across Europe, but in its specific context, it describes a group of spectral elven warriors led by their King Eredin. They seek to claim Ciri for her immeasurable powers originating from her Elder Blood. The ancient elven bloodline she was born into allows her to manipulate time and space at will, a power unseen and unheard of in her time.

Ciri is in constant movement, escaping the Wild Hunt, but every time she leaps through space, her aggressive elven pursuers can read her location. Yennefer is currently working for Emhyr, who turns out to be Ciri's biological father. Both of them bring Geralt into the picture as his tracker abilities are known to be superb. He gets tasked by the Nilfgaardian Emperor to return Ciri to her rightful home to become Queen of Nilfgaard, and if Emhyr has his wish, the entire Continent.

The main story and quests are therefore dedicated to the search for Ciri, leading Geralt across the war-drowned province of Velen, the free city-state of Novigrad, and the Skellige Isles. As he tracks Ciri's whereabouts, the player gradually becomes familiar with the relatively complex user interface and its continuously expanding elements.

Along the leading story, players can tackle several "Secondary Quests," "Contracts," and "Treasure Hunts." All of these lead to accumulating more experience points, which can be distributed across several skills, and growing financial resources, which can ultimately be spent on upgrades for gear and weaponry.

While Geralt follows Ciri's footprints, the player comes across many characters of the original story and engages with them in more personal and sometimes even intimate quests. Some of my favorite quests aside from the main story have been the following:

This quest is part of a longer storyline, alongside the sorceress Keira Metz. It requires Geralt to travel to Fyke Island, which has been haunted for years, and lift the curse that sits at the source of it. This is also where we receive a magical lamp that allows us to view the remnants of the past at specific magical locations (even later in the game). I remember this quest so well because the moral choice felt more like a dilemma to me and proved challenging. Beyond that, the story of the curse in "A Towerful of Mice" is both tragic and creative. This quest requires a level 6 character for successful completion and must be completed before starting "The Isle of Mists."

This one is one of the more fun ones, as it will ask Geralt to be an actor for a stage play. He is many things, but not an expressive character, which makes this one quite fun to watch and navigate with him. In "The Play's the Thing," Geralt works with Priscilla in Novigrad to bring together a theatrical play to draw out Dudu, a doppler who has been in hiding. Many choices are involved in the quest; it is fun, unique, and even brings out a more political theme, highlighting discrimination and the need to hide oneself by adapting to the foe's disguise. Level 11 is suggested for this secondary quest, and spoiler alert, many experience points can be gained with it, depending on your level of perfectionism.

This secondary quest brings us full circle in Geralt and Yennefer's complex romantic relationship. As many might recall, Geralt wished to be with Yennefer when she used the powers of a djinn to become fertile again. While he claims to have done it for her protection, we never get to understand the whole truth about his intentions. In "The Last Wish," Yennefer seeks out a powerful djinn off the coast of Skellige to undo Geralt's old wish and ultimately discover if they are truly in love or just bound by magic. The suggested level for the quest is 15, and it is essential to know that this quest will fail if not completed before the quest "Ugly Baby."

That said, it was extremely tough to narrow it down to those three quests, as there were many enjoyable ones among them. Take a look at the resource section. I found a real treat when it comes to learning more about the quests and keeping track of them.

Lastly, one point of personal critique and one of ultimate praise:

I do not enjoy Gwent, the card game that was invented by CD Projekt Red for the game. In fact, I dislike it and have not enjoyed one of the challenges. Maybe because I am a gamer, but not a gambler. After spending many hundreds of hours, I have not warmed up to the sub-game and wish it had just been left out of the narrative. I enjoy the races, though.

The ultimate praise goes to Geralt's character development. I love everything about being him in this incredible world, even though he is a male character. I used to struggle with playing male characters before, as it was a bit hard for me to identify with them. His strong composure, in contrast to his constant help to others, is portrayed at its best. If one listens to the NPCs (non-playable characters) in the game, one learn fast that humans in the game are no different than the ones in our world: full of judgment by only knowing half of the story. A lot of hate is directed toward Geralt in the game, yet his character tends to remain objective and focused on the task at hand. I can appreciate that, as well as the choices provided by the game developers. Thank you for making Geralt shine even brighter than in the novels or the Netflix series!

The "Hearts of Stone" expansion pack was released in 2015 and adds more than 10 hours of story content. As it plays primarily in Novigrad and Velen, it integrates seamlessly into the world players are already familiar with. What makes this expansion pack so playworthy is the truly unique assembly of quests and the rich addition of new characters. Every quest is unique, fun, sheds new light on the characters, and sometimes makes even use of new graphic aesthetics.

Geralt is hired by a former noble, now chief of roughnecks and bandits named Olgierd von Everec. It turns out he has cut a deal with someone of power that he shouldn't have, who we get to know as the "Man of Glass." As a result, Olgierd has become immortal yet immeasurably unhappy. While solving Olgierd's problem(s), Geralt finds himself under duress and unknowingly cuts a deal with the same powerful being, leading to an excitingly entangled storyline.

Being currently on level 51 in the game, I have played a fair share of the "Blood and Wine" expansion pack. In fact, this expansion was the one I started with, as it introduces an entirely new world that made me feel incredibly curious. Truth be told, I was not disappointed. The sun-soaked vineyard-rich duchy of Toussaint is a feast for every player just to roam around and freely explore. Your eyes will never get bored. I promise!

In the main quest, the Duchess Anna Henrietta of Toussaint personally hires Geralt to solve some gruesome murders wholly unbefitting of the beautiful duchy. The deeper we get into the pursuit, the more entangled circumstances become. Every step of the way confronts Geralt with moral choices, their potential consequences, but foremost the philosophical question of what makes a monster monstrous.

Initially, the expansion pack was released in 2016 and feels like another world; in fact, it is an entirely new map. Higher-resolution textures, a more advanced lighting system, and enhanced environmental details set new standards for the entire DLC industry. The richness of the story, characters, and the fact that this pack arrives with 30+ hours of additional content demonstrate that CD Projekt Red outdid themselves.

Curiously enough, even though the game offers a very complete user interface (tool tip style explainers for all items, mini tutorials for every portion of the UI that gets added, etc.), sometimes it serves us gamers better to look for external resources to stay on track and understand the most recommended flow of a game. Agreed, every gamer has their own unique style, and even though I leave most of what I do to chance, there have been countless times when I felt the need to look for external resources. Here are some of my favorite ones I discovered over time.

• Interactive Maps
  There are a few interactive maps available, but this one has been invaluable, allowing players to search for specific locations. As the map grows and the places you have visited, it sometimes becomes challenging to remember the locations. This will help and do the trick.

• Witcher 3 Quest List
  This Google Sheet is an accumulation of all quests in The Witcher 3, including even more resources. If you take gameplay and flow very seriously and want to maximize your chances, I would consider this an invaluable resource.

• Reddit Community Forum
  Yep, I am not one to write much in community forums, but I do enjoy reading them or looking up the quests I struggle with. In my opinion, there is no better one out there than the Reddit one.

• The Most Complete Tips & Tricks Guide
  Indeed, someone took the time and conjured all their passion for The Witcher 3 into this incredible Tips & Tricks guide. I wish I had come across it much earlier, but here we are, and you get the chance I didn't.

I keep enjoying the story of The Witcher 3 game, and I want to take you with me on some of my favorite aspects of the game. This appraising summary is just the beginning; I have set my sights on more. Specifically, I aim to share a mix of usefulness for both current and future players, while also providing a closer look at the lore and technical aspects of the design. There are good reasons why the game retains its relevance even after 10 years since its original release. The following articles will be about these topics, which feel like they are right up my alley, considering my passion and professional background:

• Witcher 3 Character Builds - For Players Who Love The Lore

• Fashioning Geralt of Rivia - Decoding The Witcher School Outfits & Gear

• Crafting The Continent - The Creative World-Building Of The Witcher 3

Honestly, there is much more I could write about when it comes to Geralt's immersive story, but there are many more games out there that I have played that deserve an equally passionate and detailed look. I look forward to seeing you as a reader of the articles I publish; it might be one of the above or perhaps another, but I promise to keep it interesting.

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