On the eve of the release of Wild Hunt, a photo of Marcin Iwiński, the head of CD Projekt RED, exhausted from years of hard work, flew around the Internet. The caption read: “This is what several years of inhuman labor and grandiose development do to people.”

After a multi-hour marathon in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I understand exactly how he felt. His head is heavy, as if after a sleepless night, and a series of incredible events rushes through his memory. The world, full of dangers and mysteries, draws you in – you rush through a storm of adventures, gallop across endless expanses, conduct intrigues in cities and fight monsters, like Geralt himself. And now that it’s all over, it seems strange to dissect the game into mechanics, analyze its influence on the genre or discuss the scene with the stuffed unicorn. There is only one thing that really matters: friends, this was a truly wild hunt.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Free Steam Account

Once upon a time, an event happened in the world of the Witcher that changed everything — the Conjunction of the Spheres. This universal cataclysm broke through the boundaries of worlds, letting strange creatures, magical beings, and bloodthirsty monsters into human reality. The lives of ordinary people became both more fun and more dangerous: on the one hand, magic and miracles, on the other — monsters that you can’t always fight off even with a sword.

It was then that the witchers appeared — mutant warriors capable of dealing with most supernatural threats. Thanks to their accelerated metabolism, special mutations, and many years of training, they became ideal hunters of evil spirits. True, they demand hard cash for their services — the witcher code is not distinguished by altruism. And they have plenty of work: be it cutting off the head of a chimera, lifting a curse, or having to sit for hours up to their ears in stinking liquid for one precise blow with a silver blade to the forehead of an unknown creature. Witchers are not heroes, but professionals, and this is what makes them such believable characters.

Compare: Commander Shepard from Mass Effect finds time for heart-to-heart talks with his comrades, helping them cope with their inner demons. The Dragonborn in Skyrim traditionally begins the path of the great chosen one by clearing basements of rats. But the witcher takes on any dirty, thankless job not for the sake of great goals, but because the world does not need heroes – it needs survival specialists. In GTA V, Trevor is a vivid embodiment of the collective unconscious of any player in the series, absolute madness in its purest form. Geralt, in turn, is the embodiment of pragmatism, whose actions in the game look natural and logical. After all, whatever he does, it’s all part of his craft.

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The world of “Wild Hunt” is huge, lively and atmospheric

The second part of “The Witcher” offered a fairly compact, but detailed world. In “Wild Hunt” the developers took a step forward – now we have an open world, spread out on both sides of the Pontar River, covering the occupied territories of Temeria and Redania, as well as the harsh Skellige archipelago, lost in the western seas. This world feels complete and believable. Remember “Morrowind” with its alien atmosphere: giant Telvanni mushrooms, bizarre buildings of House Redoran. “The Witcher” has its own flavor – a dark Eastern European fairy tale, full of ancient legends, superstitions and dangers.

Everything here breathes folklore. Witches tell fortunes on blood and milk, wood goblins steal children, herbalists put curses on severed horse heads. But Skellige is a completely different story: Scandinavian mythology reigns there with its customs and creepy creatures. But magic and superstition are only part of the story. While witches whisper in the swamps, powerful kings fight for power, conspirators weave intrigues in the shadows of attics, and northern Vikings decide who will get the crown. Political passions are running high no worse than in Game of Thrones, one of the main sources of inspiration for CD Projekt RED.

The game’s locations are strikingly different from each other – each with its own mood, color palette and secrets. Once you find yourself in Skellige, you can feel like it’s a completely different game. Snow-capped peaks, a cemetery of broken drakkars, an ominous lighthouse with a poltergeist, the lair of an ice giant – the atmosphere is oppressive, and the tension does not subside. And in Velen, dangers await around every corner. On a gloomy island in the swamps, drowners swarm, plague rats swarm around an abandoned tower, and a flock of crows slowly circles over the rotting swamps. In the evenings, a bloody sunset spreads over Novigrad, and in the Witches’ Swamps, the wind barely sways the dried trees on which the sweets laid out by the witches dangle.

But in Oxenfurt, a completely different atmosphere reigns: clean streets, buffoons’ performances on the central square, a measured life. Each NPC follows his own schedule: he walks during the day, closes the shop in the evening, and goes to bed at night. And near Novigrad you can stumble upon real pastoral beauty – apiaries, flower fields, sunflowers, lazy clouds through which the sun breaks through. But the weather changes instantly: just now it was a warm evening, and now a storm wind bends the trees, rain lashes the stones, and the music of Marcin Przybyłowicz and ethnic chants of Percival thunder around.

Freedom Doesn’t Start Right Away

Full freedom of movement doesn’t open right away — you first need to complete the prologue in the White Grove. Here you’ll be introduced to the mechanics, but you can’t call it boring training: monsters roam the villages, a ghostly noontide howls in an abandoned village, and a griffin rages in the forest.

But as soon as Geralt sets off for Velen, the real adventure begins. The world opens up in all its width: you can gallop wherever your eyes look, sail on a ship to Skellige, make your way to Novigrad (but only with literacy!) — except that you can’t get to Kaer Morhen right away. And although the map in the game is huge, it is not seamless: there are loading zones between regions, and if you approach an invisible border, Geralt is politely but firmly turned back. However, this does not prevent the game from feeling truly alive, because the world is filled with events, and every corner hides its own story.

What can you do in this world?

• Take part in political intrigues and choose a side in a conflict.
• Explore abandoned ruins filled with dangers and secrets.
• Face monsters based on Slavic and Scandinavian mythology.
• Solve dark legends and help residents in their troubles.
• Just ride through the fields on Roach, enjoying the incredible views.

Each player finds something of their own in this world – and that is what makes it so unique.

How The Witcher 3 Makes Map Exploration Fun

Creating an interesting space is not only a matter of design, but also of game design. It is important not only to draw beautiful landscapes, but also to fill them with meaning, to give the player a reason to explore the world around them. And we are not talking about story quests, but about those very little things that enliven the gameplay.

In Skyrim, for example, the system of random discoveries works perfectly. You wander through mountain passes – suddenly you notice the entrance to a mysterious cave. You look around – and there is a half-ruined fortress inhabited by vampires. A little further – a flooded fort in which cultists are hiding. All these places are completely optional for the passage, but they give the world volume and depth, turning each journey into an adventure.

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the open world is structured differently. Here the player is offered:

• Clear rifts
• Collect resources
• Find significant points on the map

By performing such actions, you can earn influence points, which open access to new regions or hidden corners of already known places.

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the approach is even more free. Mysterious question marks are scattered throughout the map, each of which hides something curious. Maybe it’s a broken caravan, next to which a griffin is hiding. Or a monster’s lair, because of which the villagers are afraid to go into the forest. Perhaps it’s a smuggler’s cache, filled with valuable trophies. And sometimes, clearing such places even leads to changes in the world – people return to the liberated villages, merchants begin to sell rare goods, and the roads become safer. On the corpses of bandits, you can sometimes find maps and notes leading to treasures or hidden artifacts. Geralt can search for:

• Witcher Armor Blueprints
• Rare Potion Brewing Materials
• Artifacts with Special Properties

Another important goal of exploration is places of power, where the hero gets additional skill points. After all, without this, leveling up is quite slow, and there are always not enough skills.

But the main thing is that this world lives its own life. While you are traveling, unexpected events can happen: bandits attack a caravan, a fight starts in a tavern, Vikings wreak havoc in a brothel. These are not quests in the usual sense, they can be ignored, but they add a sense of unpredictability. The designers seem to wink at the player: “Something is clearly wrong on that island. There must be a treasure there… and it is guarded by something very hungry.” And, of course, there are entertainments for the soul: fist fights, horse racing and gwent. The latter is a separate universe altogether. This is not just a card mini-game, but a real hobby with collecting, making a deck and searching for the rarest cards. Some copies can only be won from experienced players, and reselling valuable cards becomes another reason to travel.

In general, exploring such a world is not an obligation, but a pleasure.

The Witcher 3 Combat System: The Art of the Blade and Tactics

In Wild Hunt, battles are not just boring crunching of damage numbers, but a real test of skill. Geralt has to solve problems with a sword – both steel and silver – but he does not do it right away like a master. At first, the witcher uses basic strikes: fast, causing light cuts, and powerful, requiring a swing, but capable of breaking even the thick skin of monsters. A well-timed block allows you to counterattack, and a correctly executed dash – to knock the enemy off his feet and finish him off on the ground.

With experience, the arsenal of techniques is replenished. For example, a circular strike appears, hitting several enemies at once, or a powerful vertical chopping lunge. Adrenaline accumulates in battle, strengthening some attacks: the same powerful chopping strike can be “charged” and cause truly devastating damage.

Flexibility of movements is the key to victory. Depending on the situation, it is better to either roll away from a particularly dangerous blow, or quickly move to the side so as not to lose the opportunity for a counterattack. These movements are important, but require a tactical approach: a roll takes a lot of time, and after it, it is more difficult to immediately deliver an accurate blow. If you catch the rhythm, the battle turns into a deadly dance. Geralt hardly runs out of breath and circles around enemies like an enraged dervish. But if you make a mistake, the game will immediately punish: a strong blow from an enemy sends the witcher into a short-term “knockout”, and even regular attacks can knock him off his feet.

Different opponents — different tactics

Fights with people are built according to special rules. The enemy will not miss a frontal attack — almost all blows are blocked. There are two options: either wait for the moment to counterattack after a perfect parry, or deftly dodge and attack from the flank. This mechanic resembles a complex version of fights from Assassin’s Creed.

With monsters, everything is different: it is almost impossible to block their blows — they just press with brute force. In addition, the difficulty of fights increases in a classic way: enemies begin to inflict more damage, and mistakes become fatal. Some discomfort is created by the controls: the witcher does not feel as responsive as, say, the characters in Dark Souls, where every move was calculated taking into account endurance and distance.

But even the nimble Geralt can become a victim of a couple of drowners, especially if he loses control of the situation. The most problematic enemies are large monsters and bosses. Their attacks are usually predictable, and their arsenal is limited to two or three blows. This can be used to your advantage and you can fight even with opponents that are seven or eight levels higher than the witcher. The only downside is that such fights turn into a long and exhausting process.

Magic, crossbows and alchemy

In combat, Geralt uses not only a sword, but also auxiliary tricks. The familiar witcher signs have returned, which can set enemies on fire, freeze, throw back or impose protection on yourself. Especially useful is Quen – a magic shield, which at an advanced level not only blocks damage, but also restores health after each missed blow.

In addition to signs, the witcher’s arsenal includes bombs, as well as a new tool for the series – a crossbow. On paper, it looks impressive, but in reality, its scope of application is narrow: mainly for shooting down griffins and other flying evil spirits. However, with the right upgrade, time slows down when aiming from a crossbow, which increases the chance of a critical shot. And if you invest in crafting, you can create especially deadly bolts.

Leveling and builds

The development system in Wild Hunt has received minor changes. Each new level brings the witcher a skill point and some health. Skills are divided into four main areas: fencing, magic, alchemy and general skills. Each talent has several stages of improvement, and the more points are invested in one branch, the wider the possibilities open up.

But there is a nuance: Geralt cannot learn everything at once – he has a limited number of slots for active skills. If you invest in too many areas at once, some skills will simply hang like dead weight. Skill slots are divided into four groups, in each of which you can place a mutagen. Ideally, you need to combine talents of one branch: for example, three fencing skills that enhance each other, and the corresponding mutagen, which will increase the effect many times over.

As a result, two most effective builds are emerging:

• Fast and deadly. Geralt wears light armor, invests points in fencing, and uses mutagens that increase damage. This allows him to attack faster, crit more often, and maneuver on the battlefield.
• Hardy and tenacious. The Witcher focuses on alchemy and defensive talents, wears heavy armor, and gets a bonus to health. This Geralt can withstand even the most powerful blows, but relies weakly on signs.

Ultimately, the system allows you to tailor your character to your own playstyle – to become either a nimble fighter, an indestructible fortress, or find a balance between these extremes.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the best game of the last 10 years

The Witcher 3 is able to immerse you in that very special mood that is familiar to fans of The Elder Scrolls and Gothic. Years pass, and you again decide to go on a week-long gaming marathon – even if there are no complex social mechanics inside that can distract you from the adventures.

Such projects do not appear often – too many factors must come together to produce a game of such scale and depth. For the third time, CD Projekt RED did the impossible: before us is not just a game, but a dream. And this dream has quite expected consequences – sleepless nights, a smile at the sight of local fauna and watching a wolf spinning around its own tail (analogous to a bear catching fish in Skyrim). Often, a project goes beyond the planned scale. According to the developers, with the third Witcher the team reached a new level, and their success defies simple explanations. “People create magic,” he said then.

But if you look into it, there is no magic here – only hard work and years spent on creating a real masterpiece.

Pros:

• The Witcher is the perfect protagonist for a role-playing game
• A huge, detailed world that reacts to the player’s actions
• Lots of locations and objects to explore
• Almost every quest has an interesting, often deep story
• Great art design and well-developed weather effects
• A soundtrack that is memorable from the first notes

Cons:

• Not all monsters present an interesting challenge in battle
• It was not possible to completely get rid of bugs
• The Russian voice acting sometimes sounds unconvincing
• Overloaded interface and not always intuitive controls

CD Projekt RED has made the most powerful gaming statement on the topic of Eastern European folklore. Moreover, The Witcher 3 is a rare example of a truly successful transfer of a literary character into the world of video games.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt System Requirements

How to play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for free on Steam via VpeSports

When the last snow melts and the roads are filled with travelers again, only one man can change the course of history. Are you ready to set out on a journey through a world where witchers, monsters and intrigues are woven into one unbreakable thread of fate? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will open up endless lands full of dangers, ancient secrets and fateful decisions. Each battle is a test, each task is a choice that will determine not only your fate, but also the future of the entire continent.

And the best part is that you can embark on this adventure completely free of charge. Just a couple of steps: register on our website, log in to your account, and your copy of the game is already waiting for you in the free steam account section. We’ve taken care of everything so that you don’t waste time on unnecessary hassle, but can immediately dive into the world of witcher contracts, intricate conspiracies, and great battles. Don’t forget to leave your feedback. It’s important for us to know what you think. All comments are moderated, so if yours doesn’t appear right away, just edit it to comply with the rules. Once it’s approved, you’ll receive login information by email.

Stay tuned for updates on our Telegram channel! New accounts, news about patches, updates and important changes regularly appear there. Questions and discussions are available in the general chat, where you can always get help. If you encounter difficulties, check out the “How to play for free – a complete guide” section, which contains useful tips and instructions.