Review for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 19/05/2015
Wolves sleep in the woods, Bats fly in the sky. But a soul waking with a dark look, will give the torment to Ghoul, Hag or Wraith. The birds are silent in the woods, the cows fall asleep at sunset, But a soul watches with a dark look: here is the Witcher, strong and proud that scares the whole world. That takes you and stabs you and guts you at night.
If you have heard this melody at least once, you will know very well what we are about to talk about and what trouble we have gotten into. It was the year 2015 when the third episode of one of the most beloved and venerable sagas of all time debuted: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Since the announcement, the developers of the CD Projekt RED house promised that the project would be one of the most ambitious in the videogame landscape, aiming for both quality and quantity without neglecting the peculiarities that have always characterized the saga in question: the promise was kept. fully, when an even larger work was presented than we expected.
For CD Projekt Red and for all those who have followed in the footsteps of the Witcher since the dawn of the saga, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is synonymous with devotion, love, passion, spirituality, sacrifice and above all a lot of work: the witcher series has allowed developers to get to where they sit now, among the most respected, influential and important software houses in the world. After bringing the adventures of Geralt of Rivia to the Sony, Microsoft and Windows platforms, the well-known Polish software house has decided to surprise players from all over the world again with an unexpected but somewhat appreciated announcement.
The Witcher 3 is announced during E3 2019 for the little one from Nintendo: Nintendo Switch. We are in an audience divided into two sectors, the suspicious and the enthusiastic; someone shouts at the miracle, someone shouts the shelf, but it doesn't matter players around the world will be able to experience the adventures of Geralt of Rivia where, how and when they want thanks to the portability of the hybrid from Nintendo. The Polish company is immediately sincere admitting that the title will come with important compromises - despite the team's commitment - but in any case the witcher will be complete with all its DLC in a single 32GB cartridge (and this is really a miracle, Editor's note).
Today we at Epic Videogames Guide will try to explain to you why this quality product must be purchased, loved and experienced in all its forms even on the small screen of Nintendo Switch. Will it be able to “steal” from users their daily life hours? Will it be able to excite us, excite us and kidnap us as already done on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC? Let's find out together in this small and honest review!
See You Again, Rouge!
The guys from Saber Interactive and CD Projekt Red have worked hard to bring this wonderful work to the little Switch, but yielding to some really obvious compromises: yes, bringing such a vast and multifaceted open world was quite difficult according to what was declared, yet here it is; fitter than we thought.
Since the announcement trailer, several doubts have arisen regarding this conversion, as it was deemed impossible to bring to Nintendo's hardware while maintaining acceptable standards. Maybe they were right or maybe not, but we know the witcher is here and we take him wherever we want. From the beginning, one of the most accentuating doubts was certainly that of the cut of the game resolution which is frankly quite evident: 720p in dock mode is acceptable all in all, but 540p in portable mode everyone can hear.
It will be that anti-aliasing is apparently inevitable, it will be that the screen size does not help at all, but the result is still amazing if we keep in mind the Nintendo Switch hardware. The game world will give us, despite the compressions, a feeling of satisfaction, tranquility and adrenaline like what happened on the aforementioned consoles: for those who have already lived Geralt's adventures on other consoles, we can confirm that the game atmospheres remain unchanged exactly as already seen a few years ago.
Trust us, the quality of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is not even discussed on the Nintendo Switch!
CD Projekt Red had to compromise, some already highlighted while others we noticed during our gaming session: the textures have been significantly changed and resized, as well as the details present in the game world. We could see how some plantations have been “recolored” to halve the file size, some details have been dull and not very vivid and the density of the vegetation is not very defined. To all this we add an obvious pop-up which at times is annoying: half of the things listed were already present during the various trailers shown and during our test at Gamescom 2019, but we are confident in a correction patch by the Polish software house.
We were positively surprised by the quality of the cutscenes present in the title on the small Switch which, even today, remain among the best ever: despite the obvious cuts, it surprises us how they managed to leave the quality of the game's cutscenes almost intact, especially avoiding strong pop-up effects on the characters. After our experience in the company of the good Geralt, we can confirm the excellent work done by the development team on the frame-rate which, believe us, has always appeared stable and not very compromising: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Switch runs at a fixed 30 fpsexcept in the most frenetic fights or during some rides in the company of our beloved Rouge!
The melodies, the background music, the noises of the trees moving, the leaves and the waves of the vast seas of the Skellige will give us the same sensations experienced on the home consoles years ago, remaining so, even today, at an amazing level: it is truly amazing how the development team managed to slightly tweak the audio file of the title that we remember, remains one of the most important pillars of the entire multimedia work. Despite some small flaws mainly due to the hardware that offers the console of the big N, we confirm that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Switch is surprising in all its aspects, both visual and technical.
"On the bridge you took a promise from me"
Yes, CD Projekt Red has kept a very important promise for all those who have already played the title on other consoles: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Switch will not see a cut of content, ever! A promise that they have kept and even exceeded in terms of content: the Complete Edition will offer us not only the entire main campaign of the game, but it will give us the opportunity to try the amazing expansions dedicated to the game, namely Hearts of Stone and Bood and Wine. We guarantee that only the latter are worth the entrance ticket to the enchanting world of the Witchers (after Triss and Yennefer, of course).
Imagine, for those who already know him, the enormous effort made by the team in enclosing the entire journey of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in just 32 GB: we are talking about a high enough number for the little Nintendo, but not exaggerated for the real weight of the game on other platforms (54 GB originally). Furthermore, no additional downloads will be required once the cartridge is inserted into the console, avoiding the players further waiting and usual hassle.
We find it surprising how a huge game like this has been inserted into such a small cartridge, justifying all the various cuts and resizing mentioned above: a noteworthy optimization work, as few software houses have been able to do up to Now.
Impersonating and managing the squeeze in portable mode has never been so beautiful, especially thanks to the convenience of Nintendo Switch: the game controls are more or less similar to the counterparts, with ZR we use the signs of Geralt, with ZL we will use the senses as a Witcher , with the classic directional arrows we wield swords or use food to regenerate health, while with the sticks we move the camera and character freely. Unfortunately, we point out that The “Switcher” does not fully exploit the functionality of the Joy-Con or the console gyroscope, a feature that would have been appreciated on this version of the game.
Another positive note we dedicate to the uploads present in the game, which compared to the PS4 and Xbox One versions are wonderfully efficient: thanks to the cut of the textures and the resizing of the GB, the uploads of the game world will be much, much more responsive ; giving us a hint of relief and less hassle.
After having tried it far and wide, noticed and reported most of the features of this version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we can recommend the title to anyone who has never had the opportunity to try this masterpiece on PlayStation 4, Xbox One or PC, guaranteeing you a solid, long-lasting and exciting adventure. The title still retains all its splendor today, exactly as expected from a title of this caliber. If you have no problem enjoying such a vast experience with some minor graphic and technical compromises, The Witcher 3 is the perfect title to take you wherever you are. We are sure that this port is able to replay even those who have already spent hours and hours alongside this amazing and unparalleled work. Although the recommended price is € 59,90, we guarantee that the adventures of the witcher are worth every penny. By purchasing the retail version, you will also receive a map of the game world, stickers, a compendium and a thank you note from the development team.
► The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an RPG-Action-Adventure game developed by CD Projekt RED and published by Bandai Namco for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 19/05/2015
