It’s no secret that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is something of a passion project for the good folks over at CD Projekt Red. We remember members of its team telling us that they would often stop by to assist with the slew of new content that dropped for the game when Henry Cavill brought Geralt to life for Netflix, even though they were busy making Cyberpunk 2077 at the time.
It’s not every day you get to see a game that’s so beloved to both its developers and its players, and the news of a remaster of the game, with a very long list of changes, was among the more pleasant surprises any of us can recall recently. We’re not here to talk about all of what’s new with the game, no matter how exciting that may be. But a close look at the list has us believing that there is enough meat on the bones of this remaster to justify another massive playthrough of the game.
It’s September, we hear you say. Yeah, that’s probably not a great time to be diving into a playthrough of a title that could take you many, many hours to finish. But stay with us, and you might just see this differently once we’re done.
A Little Time On The Pendulum
We’re going to come out and say that the last current-gen glow that the game received was already enough to make it look and feel fresh, but not entirely new. That was a good thing, as it demonstrated how the game continued to hold up to scrutiny in its modernized packaging, and that’s owed to its incredible world building, the writing that brought emotional depth to Geralt’s stoic demeanor, a cast of characters who were as great as Geralt himself, the quests and atmosphere that continue to be unique jewels in a sea of fakes even today.
Like Geralt, Wild Hunt is a game that has aged very well, and there’s very little about it that felt dated when we booted it up a while ago just to get a feel of what it’s like today. However, like the adorable version of Ciri we first meet when Geralt looks back to his time training her with Vesemir, this game could have used more time training on the pendulum to ensure that it found its footing every time.
That sadly hasn’t been the case until now, with clunky movement and stiff animations making getting around the world feel a tad too awkward. Roach isn’t too helpful either, and can sometimes have trouble navigating crowded spaces or in battles. Getting into a fight meant having to deal with clunky controls that could sometimes have you swinging at the air in a situation where your blade needed to meet its intended target.
Getting to a distant enemy meant an awkward balance between outright sprinting and a slower jog, requiring a lot of care not to overshoot your target. The alternative was a bunch of stamina-wasting dodges that didn’t look as cool as we believed a Witcher should look when slicing through hordes of Necrons, or an entire gang of bandits stupid enough to try their skills against a clearly superior warrior.
Were these game-breaking? Not really. But were they an annoyance in a title that had us travelling on the Path to every corner of The Continent in our search for adventure and Ciri? Very much so. The current-gen update didn’t do much to help with that, although we must give credit to the new camera angles that made things feel different, if not totally improved. We’d say that Wild Hunt’s flaws were ignorable for their time, but with several other games following its release, we couldn’t be as patient with it as we once were a few years ago.
Our expectations have changed, and we’re sure that a lot of you feel the same way. But we think the remaster knows what we’ve been thinking all along, and could be bringing in a few changes to really bring Geralt’s greatest adventure home to roost.
A New Path To Greatness
For starters, there’s the mention of “enhanced combat” and “improved movement and traversal”, both of which are changes that show that everything we’ve been saying so far are areas of improvement that the developers had in their sights already. Roach’s handling is also slated for an improvement, and we hope that getting on our horse becomes a more natural reaction to a need to cover a long distance instead of the instinct to look for the nearest signpost.
We’re intrigued by the listing of improvements to enemy and monster behavior, as that’s something we haven’t had any reasons to complain about, especially on harder difficulties, but the fact that it’s been an area of focus for the remaster is interesting. It shows that the devs have gone deep into the combat system to bring changes to how it is approached. There are new finishers coming, along with changes from Songs of the Past that should carry over into the main game.
The chain is the center point of those changes, of course, and we’re especially interested in its ability to let Geralt target specific weak points on enemies when he has the adrenaline to do so. The devs were pretty cagey when asked if that’s something that’s making its way into the base game, but we can’t see it not being a factor in some form. Equally interesting is the new approach to progression that’s coming.
That was an area we felt had its merits, but felt too limited in what we could achieve with a build thanks to the limited amount of skills and buffs we could have in play, and the incremental nature of many upgrades that made min/maxing feel too pointless to sink any effort into. That was a shame considering the enormous build potential and the depth that this one’s RPG mechanics could bring to those of us who got obsessed enough with it.
That it’s getting a rethink is good news, and if it’s on the same level as the combat and movement mechanics are, it’s likely that there’s going to be enough to keep us invested in the progression loop, which is already woven into the gameplay systems so seamlessly it’s quite hard to notice the threads that hold it together unless you’re really looking for them.
With all these changes, we think a pragmatic view of the subject might argue that changing too much of the original game leaves too little of what made it special and memorable in the first place, and we’re inclined to agree.
Caution Versus Creative Ambition
The fight to make Wild Hunt look and feel entirely new is definitely laudable, but it could clash with the need to preserve enough of the game in a battle that could be as interesting to watch as Geralt taking on a Leshen, but will ultimately be one that no one walks away from unscathed. The Witcher 3 isn’t a modern Soulslike, and doesn’t need to be one.
Its combat was great, and only stands to improve once improvements are made to the clunkiness that held it back from becoming legendary back then. Geralt’s quite capable with either of his blades, and always has been even when the game didn’t let him pull off moves we knew he was capable of as reliably as we would have liked. His potions, oils, and signs were all potent parts of his combat skills, and the new chain is likely to become an integral part of our fighting styles.
We think CDPR is modernizing only the friction that came with the original experience, and in doing so is making a very strong case for another playthrough of a title that we already didn’t need any excuses to revisit. But time is precious these days, and a graphical overhaul alone might have only justified a quick jaunt back into an old save to get a peek at Novigrad, Skellige, and everywhere else Geralt visits during his time in The Continent.
But by making the parts you interact with for nearly a hundred hours feel more fluid and responsive to your wishes in an experience that’s as good as drawing you in, The Witcher 3 definitely merits a jaunt across The Continent all over again. We hope that boats are going to be a part of the improvements to movement too, while we’re on the subject.
Geralt’s search for Ciri continues to remain a timeless piece of modern gaming’s history, and an artful take on how an open-world should unfold the more a player engages with it. If this upcoming remaster manages to bring the game’s movement and combat to the same level, it could eliminate the notion that it is a fresh take on a game that was released all the way back in 2015.
Geralt’s swan song might just be gearing up for a fresh new lease on life if things go as we expect, and we couldn’t be more thrilled as we wait to join Ciri wherever the road takes her in the franchise’s next outing.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
