Review for Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 23/10/2018 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 04/12/2018 The version for Xbox One came out on 04/12/2018
Born as a simple pastime to entertain the most famous witcher of the playful landscape during his stop in the inns of Velen, Gwent it soon became a brand in its own right, giving life to a real online card game where it is possible to challenge our friends and any other player around the globe. More than three years after the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and two years after the first release of the Gwent beta, CD Projekt RED returns to talk about himself and the world of Geralt with Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.
It is a RPG strictly single player even if a little unusual, because instead of making our way through the enemies with sword and signs, here we will have to do it to the sound of Gwent battles.
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales it immediately catapults us into a world dominated by chaos, where there is a ferocious and aggressive Nilfgard who will try to conquer every nation that surrounds it. In this new branded adventure CD Projekt RED we will take on the role of Meve, war veteran and queen of the two northern kingdoms Lyria and Rivia, names already known to fans of the witcher saga.
Returning after a long journey, the queen Meve he discovers that some of his villages have been looted by a shady gang. In an attempt to stop her, we will learn what the various game mechanics are and how to move into the realm of the fearless warrior. Once the criminal gang is stopped, Meve unfortunately discovers that the troubles are not over and that his kingdoms are facing a new danger, namely the offensive advance of the unstoppable Nilfgardian empire. To the sound of Gwent cards we will have to try to repel the advance of Emperor Emhyr's army.
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales it doesn't quite have the same mechanics that we enjoyed on Gwent. In fact, they have been deeply revised in order to better adapt to each type of clash, often offering different challenges in order to enrich the game gameplay and not make it monotonous. The numerous enemies that we will meet along our way will be real traditional battles of Gwent with a maximum number of three rounds, while the bosses and events on the map are puzzle games, where we have a single round and to complete it we must follow certain rules.
Battles unfold the same way as CD Projekt RED has accustomed us to seeing in Gwent, that is, whoever accumulates the most points wins. Up Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales however, we only have two lanes available: the melee attack lane and the remote one. Opponents are required to play one card each turn. The deck must consist of 20 or 40 cards and they are divided into bronze, silver and gold depending on the rarity. Here, too, each deck has a leader card that can be used at any time in the battle.
The duels present a high degree of difficulty and some battles are very difficult to complete. In fact, we will often find ourselves repeating a fight over and over again, especially those that require certain conditions to lead us to victory.
Before each battle it is good to visit the camp. Divided into four sections we find:
Command tent, where we can customize our deck, create new cards using the materials collected during the adventure and of course upgrade them. We have a total of 250 cards at our disposal, including several heroes, which we will unlock during the course of the adventure. Each card has its own ability and with the right combination of warriors on the field they can merge making our fighters really fearsome.
Canteen tent, where it is possible to interact with some characters who will accompany us along the adventure. They will tell us what their deeds have been, they will tell us what is happening around the two kingdoms and they will also offer us secondary missions.
Royal tent, a real hub where you can consult all the missions we have active.
Workshop, where we can strengthen every sector of our camp.
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales offers us a real open world divided into five macro areas. Once the initial tutorial is finished, we can immediately explore the various settings. We can move Meve within the areas with the simple click of the left mouse. Each setting is full of details and characters to interact with and which will offer us side missions. Each scenario is completely different from each other, from a quiet campaign to full war situations. The enemies are also many and differ according to the scenario in which we find ourselves. All areas are strictly hand drawn and they are a real splendor. By exploring the various maps we have the opportunity to recover different materials, useful for crafting new cards and upgrading our camp. The game view is that 2d isometric, typical of long-standing RPGs.
A pleasant surprise are the dialogues, dubbed and subtitled completely in Spanish. As in every RPG self-respecting, all conversations will lead us to different choices, to be pondered carefully as any of our actions has a consequent reaction that can lead the two kingdoms to destruction or glory. Each choice will lead to a completely different ending and there are twenty of them available, just as we have been able to admire with the various chapters of The Witcher. To complete the main storyline, including several side missions and a lot of exploration to enjoy the landscapes to the fullest, the game kept us company for more than 30 hours, while also offering a high degree of replayability.
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a great spin-off that will take us back to the fantastic world created by Sapkowski. CD Projekt RED, as usual, managed to come up with another pleasant surprise giving life to a deep card game with excellent game mechanics, a deep storyline and excellent longevity thanks above all to the multiple choice dialogues. The game is currently available for PC through the proprietary GOG.com platform at an affordable price of € 30.00. So if you are a fan of the witcher, go ahead and buy it!
► Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a Card Game-RPG type game developed and published by CD Projekt RED for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 23/10/2018 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 04/12/2018 The version for Xbox One came out on 04/12/2018
