The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt is a game that came out in 2015, developed by CD Projekt RED (also responsible for previous witcher games) and it is based on *The Witcher* series of fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. It is sequel to The Witcher 2: Assassin Of Kings and to The Witcher. It is a third person perspective open world game set in a fantasy world, the main character is Geralt Of Rivia a monster hunter known as a Witcher. Players complete main-story and side quests to acquire experience points and gold, which are used to increase Geralt's abilities and purchase equipment. Its central story has several endings, determined by the player's choices at certain points in the game.

## Gameplay

Geralt walks, runs, rolls and dodges, and jumps, climbs and swims. He has a variety of weapons, including bombs, a crossbow and two swords (one steel and one silver).The steel sword is used primarily to kill humans and regular enemies while the silver sword is more effective against monsters and ghouls. You can attack on 2 ways, you can use light attacks which are fast but weak, and heavy attacks that are slow and strong. To serve him in battle, Geralt has five magical signs represented as runes at his disposal, they are: Aard, Axii, Igni, Yrden and Quen. Aard allows Geralt to unleash a telekinetic blast, Axii confuses enemies and can also work in game when not in battle to mind control NPCs to let you do things you would rather have to pay or level up for. Igni burns enemies, Yrden slows down enemy attacks and movement and Quen offers players a temporary, protective shield, which runs out after a while and can also be broken by enemies after some time. The signs use stamina, and cannot be used indefinitely. You lose health when attacked by enemies, although wearing armor can help reduce health loss. Health can be restored with meditation or consumables, such as food and potions. When the player levels up they gain ability points which they can use to unlock new abilities for Geralt and reinforce then with mutagens for each category. You can also play the card game Gwent with various NPCs, it consists of you building your arsenal of cards based on various nations from the game's previous entries and from the actual game, the cards consist of weapons and important character to the saga's story and plays out in a way in which each card has its own power or effect and the player with most power at the end of the round wins, the game is divided in 3 rounds.

## Story

The story starts with Geralt and his friend and mentor Vesemir looking for one of Geralt's lovers Yennefer as she leaves tracks all over Temeria, they find themselves in a town where they find yennefer taken by the Nilfgaardian army. They are taken to emperor Emyr Van Emreis' palace and he asks them to find his daughter Cirilla who is also Geralts adoptive daughter, because she has come back. They both embark on a Journey all over Temeria where they meet new characters and former allies and enemies to go on an adventure to find Ciri and defeat the Wild Hunt which wants to pursue world domination.

# References

CDProjektRED. 2015. *The*
 Witcher 3. *May 29. http://thewitcher.com/en/witcher3.*

Dunsmore, Kevin.
 2015. *Hardcore Gamer.* Juanuary 26.
 https://www.hardcoregamer.com/2015/01/26/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-is-the-most-ambitious-rpg-yet/131171/.

Hamilton, Kirk.
 2015. *Kotaku.* May 19.
 https://kotaku.com/tips-for-playing-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-1705588522.

Lear, Jake. 2015.
 *Polygon.* May 18.
 https://www.polygon.com/2015/5/18/8620223/witcher-3-guide-witcher-2-witcher.