The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt Review | IGN

IGN:
Unlike its predecessor, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt doesn't exactly come screaming off the starting line. Compared to The Witcher 2, where you're immediately plunged headlong into a sexy story of intrigue and betrayal, this main quest can seem mundane, even perfunctory at times. But each time I stepped off the well-beaten path to blaze my own trail, it turned into a wild, open, exhilarating fantasy roleplaying experience, rife with opportunities to make use of its excellent combat. Even after over 100 hours with The Witcher 3, it still tempts me to press on – there’s so much more I want to learn, and hunt.

[realiks]

First time Gamespot gave a higher score than IGN (10/10).

[Jalva]

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit.

[NoctisPendragon]

Gamespot had a lot of intimacy with the devs , so it may be the difference .

[SkippyPaccino]

That's what I'm thinking to. Don't get me wrong, I've already pre ordered the game (54$ on psn in Canada at one point) and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but 10s should only be reserved for games that truly gives us something different. I believe a 9.5 would've sent the exact same message as a 10.

Anyways can't wait and counting the days.

[starchild]

No, they didn't. Gamespot paid their own way over there to do the preview and the guy that reviweed the game wasnt even one of the people that went. Kevin Van Ord is a reliable reviewer.

[wakeNbake]

Looks like the game actually lived up to the hype.
Congrats to CDprojektred.

[Bigpappy]

This is still hype until you have played the game.

[joab777]

They must have been confident to allow reviews a week before launch.
Damn. Who does that?

[barb_wire]

Well, back in the day (mid 80's to early 90's anyway) All reviews were like that, some mags reviewed games 2-3 weeks before they were released.. it's how it was done.

Not now though, unfortunately.

[RegorL]

EA - the most hated company...
did that for Dragons Age Inquisition (2014).

Reviews were out ten days before release date.

Actually I wonder how the Witcher really compares with DA:I
- Gamespot gave higher score than IGN: 9 v 8.8
- Both are huge but which one is bigger? Both > Skyrim
- Graphics are not that far off any more...

[KiwiViper85]

Forza Horizon 2 did. Along with a demo.

That's confidence...

[Arkardo]

Yeah this is madness!

Wow I'm more hyped than ever, I was trying to do the blackout from news and spoilers about this game, couldn't resist the reviews Damn!

[Lev1903]

Great score. I cant wait till i get my hands on this game.

The witcher universe was always Unique. 6 Days!

[xenz]

Great score for a great indie game! Love The Witcher series.

[poor_cus_of_games]

Why do you keep on typing that? It's not an indie game.

[InMyOpinion]

Indie game? I don't even...

[Gamer1982]

its not an indie game as its a published game.

[dragon82]

The game is published by like 5 publishers including Namco Bandai and Warner Bros. This game is NOT and Indie game in the least bit.

[xenz]

http://www.ign.com/games/th... It says publisher: CD Projekt Red.

http://www.vg247.com/2014/0...

"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is effectively releasing in February 2015 without a publisher, and while he hasn’t slammed agencies outright, CD Projket RED CEO Marcin Iwiński has explained why he fears too many studios are sacrificing their vision when working with publishers."

If you think wikipedia is an credible source then think again.

[dragon82]

Who said anything about wikipedia?

Taken directly from The Witcher 3 website:

http://i23.photobucket.com/...

[spicelicka]

Looks like everyone is right partially. CDPR did publish themselves, but only in Poland so it't not exactly an indie anywhere else. Different regions are being published by different companies.

Poland: CDPR
PAL: Bandai Namco
CIS (Commonwealth): 1C Company
North America: WB Games
Japan: Spike Chunsoft
South America: Megarom Interactive

[PaleMoonDeath]

Wait.. IGN reviewed a game ON TIME!?

[Crummybear]

This game is going to be amazing but I am curious to see if it reviews better than Bloodborne. So many great games this year, my head is spinning!

[Kane22]

does it matter if reviews better than bloodborne? nothing will change.

[Crummybear]

No, it doesn't matter but seeing as how Bloodborne was the best reviewed game this year so far, therein lies my curiosity. No need to get your panties Ina bunch, everyone on this site is too sensitive lol

[OUROSMAG]

How is that relevant?

[MasterCornholio]

The way I see it its just another great game that PS4 owners can play.

So who really cares if it scores higher than Bloodborne?

Its not like Bloodborne will stop being a good game if the Witcher 3 scores higher than it.

[smellslikeralph]

Stupid fanboy comment as usual why can't u say another great game for us gamers.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

It deserves to do better the bloodborne cause let's face it, there's no way bloodborne could compete either gameplay, visually, content or story wise against the Witcher.

[Letthewookiewin]

You obviously haven't played Bloodborne. It's one of the most amazing games out right now. With that said I hope the Witcher pulls a a high (or higher) score. I think the devs deserve it. And I can't wait to play it.

[elninels]

I'll agree with you on everything but gameplay. Bloodborne has great mechanics. Visually it never stood a chance.

[guyman]

Keep making yourself feel better.

[green]

First game that i wil get to test out my updated gaming rig.

[Ark_]

Have fun.

[marlinfan10]

Great scores so far. It's clear they put a lot of work/passion into this game, I'm glad it's paying off. Can't wait to try it out for myself

[GUTZnPAPERCUTZ]

YEAH BUDDY!

[CaptainPunch]

I don't get IGN's review scale, what's the difference between a 9.3 or a 9.4 score?

[Lighter9]

.1 lol

[CaptainPunch]

LOL +1

[Jason_Plays_PC]

Mind blown lol

[Eldyraen]

0.1

Sorry, had to do it. Realistically who knows or cares about how screwy one system's review scores are against another's. I'm just glad reviews started strong but I had game paid off since last year anyways so scores mean nothing to me.

Someone beat me to it--boo for typing too much on my phone.

[OB1Biker]

I dont even get why people care so much about review scores (specially this kind of game sensible gamers would get whatever the biased score it gets) so this scale is beyond me and sometimes laughable when some are disappointed when a game gets 8.9 instead of 9

[CaptainPunch]

That's not the point I was making, what qualifies a game to score something lower or higher when you're going by something like a 0.1 scale.

[spicelicka]

I think they judge by the feels. If the intensity of the feels feels like a 9.3 then they give it 9.3.

[slappy508]

phew all these positive reviews make me want to play my preloaded game too much. Im going to need a smoke and a pancake

[PowerPlayaaa]

First bloodborne and now this. Great times to be an RPG fan :-D

[Ark_]

... and pillars of eternity.

But totally agree. Great time for RPG fans.

[hello12]

The one caveat on all that though, is the technical performance on the PS4 version I played for review. 30 frames per second was sometimes too much to ask, transitions~!

There is frame rate issues with the PS4 version a number of sites have said so in their review now. No word on the x box one version yet it can be worse or better?

Good reviews overall the game is looking like a real winner for everyone.

[tuglu_pati]

If the PS4 is struggling to maintain a steady FPS, XBO will have the same problem maybe worse.

[NeoGamer232]

That is not necessarily true... Not necessarily false either though.

X1 is 900p, so it may be holding the framerate steady...

The expectation by most gamers on PS4 seems to be 1080p. So, developers may be trading off framerate to get 1080p.

[RocketScienceLvlStuf]

Well the developers are actually handing out the PS4 version for review. That means it's the best one.

Expect the xbone version to be worse.

[u got owned]

well to be fair if they wanted to handout the best version they would have given them the PC version, don/t you think?

[finite]

thats a crock of shit we have the XBO version to review

[finite]

Look RocketScienceLvlStuf ,decided to message me instead,

And who are you exactly?

All the major gaming sites that actually matter (ign,gamespot,gametrailers etc) have been given the PS4 version.

I know this type of person, he reads reviews and decides since the majority had a PS4 version to review, then that was the only format being sent out, not like it was based on something else, like lets see, format requested.

[finite]

making me laugh now, really need to do your homework before you ask dumb questions.

Again who are you exactly?

Developers don't hand out review copies to nobodies. Which means you bought a copy if you aren't a major gaming site.

And judging by your biased comments I doubt any major gaming site would hire you.

[finite]

Another message,

So it seems to me you are pretending to be some kind of big shot reviewer.

So invision gaming community is you? Lol. Never heard of your site. No publisher would ever provide you with a review copy of the game.

You don't even have a review of Witcher 3 on there.

done a little homework I see, but still need to do alot more, just because you or a number of peeps have not heard of the site does not mean we dont get anything... our review is not up because its not ready, and we are under no pressure either to get anything up.

thats me done, time to do some work, sorry for stupid spam all.

[the_dark_one]

seriously!!!!!!? are you like a Knight on a crusade spreading the word that ps4 version as frame rate issues, or that ps4 suck overall? cause every post you make it seems that you always find a time to take a stab to ps4.
but if you going that way:
http://en.cdprojektred.com/...

“This is the last stretch and we’re pushing hard — over the last two weeks, we’ve increased performance on all platforms and started working full speed on the expansions, Hearts of Stone & Blood and Wine.” concludes Iwiński.

see, just lets freaking wait for the game to release, patch to be downloaded and installed and gamers to judge the game for themselves.

[TwiggyTheFox]

Not bad at all really, looks like it'll find a nice place amongst my games.

[user7402931]

i will put this in my backlog for sure and buy it used in the future, looks cool.

[Ninver]

Although I don't believe any game is worthy of 10/10 due to bugs etc I must say this and Bloodborne so far all well deserving. I can't wait to play my first Witcher game.

[barb_wire]

I just can't wait to play it, next Tuesday seems so far away.. this game should keep me busy ALL summer..

[isa_scout]

I'm really excited to. I'll be jumping back and forth from The Witcher,Batman, and ESO. I'm glad we're getting some quality titles in the summer when it's usually a wasteland.

[Kingdomcome247]

Same here, minus ESO. :)

[oSHINSAo]

haven´t played any, can i start with this??

[Gamer1982]

Yes you can

[Imalwaysright]

You can but you shouldn't. The Witcher games are like Mass Effect games. You can make choices in these games and make the story your own. Just to give you an idea, in the Witcher 2 depending on the choices you make early on in the 1st part of the game, the second part is COMPLETELY different and those choices will carry on to the third game. It's up to you but if you have the opportunity you should definetely play the 2 previous games.

[NerdStalker]

Excellent, good reviews always a positive.

[silvacrest]

exactly, since 2014 was so meh

[silvacrest]

nice, hopefully i will get a good deal for this soon

[immoracle]

A pre-release review?! What is this 2012?!?

[urwifeminder]

What I played of the other games was refreshing as It was not your typical run of the mill character ,one of the more interesting modern games due to different mythologies that they drag out over and over again. Even the low budget show is worth a watch The Hexer or also known as Wiedzman.

[Neonridr]

I wonder what makes a game a 9.3 instead of a 9.2 or a 9.4

such a strange number to end up on.

[alstruck]

I think it is maybe because the reviewer is born in '80, and today is the 13th, so boom.. 93!

[Neonridr]

lol.. good call.