Sony has announced August's PlayStation Plus games.
Those on the subscription's Extra tier will get the following titles:
In addition to the above, those on PS Plus Premium will also get access to the below:
Ačkoli výroba hry začne ještě letos, zástupce herního ředitele Paweł Sasko o Project Orion, pokračování Cyberpunku 2077, říká, že jde o „nejpokročilejší“ z probíhajících projektů společnosti. V rozhovoru pro Flow Games v jejím podcastu řekl: „Většina z nich je v rané fázi. Jediným rozdílem je projekt Polaris.
„Nová sága o Zaklínači tedy vstoupí do výroby ještě letos. Je ze všech nejpokročilejší.“ Sasko zopakoval grafy zveřejněné během posledního setkání akcionářů společnosti, které naznačují, že většina vývojářů pracuje na Polarisu.
Kromě Orionu a Polarisu mezi další projekty, na kterých se v současnosti pracuje, patří Project Sirius od The Molasses Flood a The Witcher Remake od Fool’s Theory. V přípravě je také originální IP, Project Hadar.
Navzdory pokročilému stavu nemá Project Polaris stanovené vydavatelské okno a na odhalení si možná ještě nějakou dobu počkáme. Spoluředitel CD Projekt RED Michał Nowakowski uvedl, že se tým snaží s pokračováním „posunout nové hranice a prozkoumat nové oblasti„. Zkrátka a dobře, fanoušci by Zaklínače 3 „v novém hávu“ očekávat ještě neměli. Zatím však zůstaňte naladěni na aktualizace.
Článek Zaklínač 4 je „nejpokročilejší“ ze současných projektů společnosti CD Projekt RED se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Update Sunday 23rd June, 2024: FromSoftware has responded to CD Projekt Red's congratulatory tweet, saying it is "truly an honour" for the Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree to be "placed alongside" The Witcher 3's Blood & Wine, long considered one of the greatest DLCs ever made.
In a response to CDPR's original X post, FromSoft said: "It is truly an honour to be placed alongside Blood and Wine, one of the all time greats.
"We are humbed by your kind words. Thank you."
Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!
Oh and if you want to read more, you can - you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.
Which was the first game to have a dash move in it? The earliest I can think of is the Mega Man series. But was that a slide or a dash? Because although they serve similar functions, I think they're distinct things. It's tricky! Today of course, dashes are synonymous with action games, and even other kinds of games, and it's probably more common to play games with them than without them. Dashes have become a fundamental part of our gaming lexicon. But the question is, which dashes have been the most memorable - which dashes are the best?
Three-and-a-half years after its disastrous December 2020 debut, after dozens of patches and the launch of last year's Phantom Liberty expansion, CD Projekt Red no longer has anyone working on Cyberpunk 2077.
Just 17 people had been working on the game still as of 29th February this year, CD Projekt previously shared as part of their last financial update. Now, as of 30th April, that number is zero.
It's a small but significant moment for CD Projekt as it finally leaves Cyberpunk 2077 behind - with the vast bulk of its development might now focused on its next game in The Witcher series, currently still codenamed Polaris.
A new earnings report from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt makers CD Projekt Red has revealed that the follow-up to the sorceress-courting, Nekker-thwacking, horse-reassuring RPG is currently being worked on by around 400 people, and plans to move into the production phase by the “second half of the year.” Elsewhere, the report shows that the studio’s previous RPG, Cyberpunk 2077 officially ended all development at the end of April, at which time the remaining 17 staff still tweaking that game’s ray-traced chewing gum foil moved on to the Witcher 4 , or ‘Polaris’, as they keep insisting it's called.
V rámci svého nedávného čtvrtletního fiskálního brífinku sdílel CD Projekt graf ukazující, kolik lidí pracuje na mnoha projektech, které má v současné době v různých fázích vývoje. Podle grafu je k 30. dubnu v CD Projektu momentálně nula lidí, kteří pracují na Cyberpunk 2077 . To je méně než 17 lidí, kteří na hře stále pracují k 29. únoru.
Na druhou stranu velikost týmu pracujícího na projektu Orion , který je pokračováním Cyberpunk 2077, se o něco rozrostla, ze 47 lidí k 29. únoru na 56 lidí k 30. dubnu. Hra, která byla potvrzena být ve fázi koncepčního návrhu od října loňského roku, je vyvíjen především nově zřízeným severoamerickým křídlem CD Projekt RED.
Mezitím je tu i Project Polaris, což je další hlavní řada hry The Witcher, zdaleka největším projektem, na kterém CD Projekt momentálně pracuje, přičemž k 30. dubnu na něm pracovalo 407 lidí (nárůst ze 403 lidí k 29. únoru). Společnost již dříve uvedla, že RPG vstoupí do plné výroby někdy v roce 2024.
— CD PROJEKT IR (@CDPROJEKTRED_IR) May 28, 2024
Článek Vývoj Cyberpunku 2077 skončil, na Zaklínači 4 pracuje přes 400 lidí se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Níže se podívejte na úvodní trailer, ve kterém uvidíte některé z těch nejzajímavějších věcí, kterých je schopen.
Mezi některé možnosti patří vytváření cutscén a úprava terénu, aby bylo možné implementovat například přístavy, v nichž může Geralt naskakovat na lodě. Hráči mohou také vytvářet prostředí, například les plný hub, a vyměňovat modely postav, aby Geralt během cutscény chytil Marigolda místo Triss. Pokud chcete umístit koně na střechy, vytvořit nové nepřátele nebo nahradit Geralta Krvavým baronem, volba je jen na vás.
Hra Zaklínač 3: Divoký hon je k dispozici pro konzole Xbox One, Xbox řady X/S, PS4, PS5, PC a Nintendo Switch. Od května 2023 se jí celosvětově prodalo přes 50 milionů kusů. CD Projekt RED pracuje na pokračování s kódovým označením Polaris, které je ve fázi předprodukce a podílí se na něm více než 400 vývojářů.
Článek Nástroj pro úpravu Zaklínače 3 REDkit je nyní k dispozici na PC se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Jedním z největších jmen, které pořadatelé čerstvě oznámili, je bezesporu Warren Specter, který se nám zapsal do paměti díky hrám System Shock, Deus Ex nebo sérií Ultima. Na jeho přednášce se nám pokusí vysvětlit jak vyvíjet hru jako kousek umění a ne jen obyčejný produkt.
Neméně zajímavou tváří je skladatel Petri Alanko, jenž se postaral o hudební doprovod pro tituly Control, Quantum Break a oba díly série Alan Wake. Taktéž byl nominován na cenu BAFTA. Pokud se tu bavíme o největších jménech letošního ročníku Game Access, tak by byl doslova zločin nezmínit Jill Murray. Jill se podílela na hrách jako Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag a v neposlední řadě také na poslední Subnautice. Momentálně pracuje jako Creative director na hře Atom Eve od studia Invincible Presents.
Nebudou chybět ani zástupci českého herního vývoje. Těšit se můžeme na osvědčeného rétora a spoluzakladatele Warhorse Studios Martina Klímu nebo Marka Rosu, jenž je CEO studia Keen Software House a stojí za vývojem herního enginu VRAGE. O panel, který si určitě nenechá ujít žádný fanoušek Cyberpunku, se postará Gabriela Pešková, která v Polsku kouzlí na pozici Senior Graphic Designer pro studio CD Projekt Red. V panelu nazvaném Cracking the Code of Imposter Syndrome bude společně s Gabrielou debatovat Merve Meszaros (Virtuos), Brad Auty (Flying Wild Hog) a Adida Van Oosten (Acreates and Deltion College).
Aktuální seznam hostů naleznete na oficiálních stránkách Game Access.
Nedílnou součástí Game Accessu je i Indie Showcase. Letos tomu není jinak a k vidění budou hry z Česka, Slovenska, Německa, Turecka i Brazílie! V dosud neviděném počtu indie her se představí například Tomáš Malý s Unnatural Worlds, studio Vostuda se stejnojmennou hrou nebo jihoamerické studio Kraken s titulem The Last Parade. Svou novou hru Kubikon zde bude prezentovat Petr Kubíček z KUBI Games a k vidění bude i velmi očekávané Scarlet Deer Inn od znojemského studia Attu Games.
Velkolepost Game Accessu podtrhují i doprovodné akce. 1. června se na brněnském výstavišti návštěvníkům ukáže Czech Game Live Orchestra. Během koncertu zazní melodie z her jako Last Train Home, Someday You’ll Return, Vigor, Ylands nebo sérií Mafia a Arma. O den později, tedy 2. června se ovládne halu P na brněnském výstavišti show Percival: Wild Hunt Live a zazní tak soundtrack ze třetího zaklínače přímo od jeho spoluautorů.
Game Access 2024 se nezadržitelně blíží a s rozšiřujícím se seznamem hostů a nadupaným programem také rychle mizí vstupenky. Ty si zatím stále můžete zakoupit zde.
Článek Letošní Game Access přiváží velká jméno herního vývoje se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Cyberpunk 2077 associate game director Paweł Sasko has thanked the game's community for the thousands of positive Steam reviews it has received in the last 30 days.
The open-world action-adventure game had a release so disastrous, CD Projekt investors considered suing the studio for "materially misleading information", and Sony refunded Cyberpunk 2077 players unhappy with the game's performance on PS4 even beyond the typical two-hour playtime limit before pulling the game from sale completely shortly after it launched.
Now, in the wake of its acclaimed Phantom Liberty DLC, 95 per cent of the 7000+ reviews left in the last month are positive, something Sasko said they "always believed" but "never thought [he] would actually see it".
Freya Allen, who plays Ciri in Netflix's Witcher adaptation, has said she feels sorry for Liam Hemsworth ahead of his turn as Geralt, and hopes viewers will give him the "time of day" when the show's fourth season makes its debut.
Speaking with Collider, Allen said the Witcher's fanbase "can be very attack-y", adding that Hemsworth's situation is not an "ideal" one. Allen is, of course, referring to Hemsworth taking over the role of the show's white-haired monster hunter, after original actor Henry Cavill called it a day at the end of season three.
"I don't want to speak for him, but from what I've understood, I feel like he's really wanting to try and bring the heart. He's been training," Allen said. "But I'm really excited to see what he does. And he's such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?"
CD Projekt Red's official mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt now has a release date.
The Witcher 3 REDkit, as it's known, was made available last month for playtesting ahead of a full release. Now we know from a Steam post that's later this month: 21st May.
The editor will be available for free for anyone who owns the game on PC.
Cyberpunk 2077 associate game director Paweł Sasko has thanked the game's community for the thousands of positive Steam reviews it has received in the last 30 days.
The open-world action-adventure game had a release so disastrous, CD Projekt investors considered suing the studio for "materially misleading information", and Sony refunded Cyberpunk 2077 players unhappy with the game's performance on PS4 even beyond the typical two-hour playtime limit before pulling the game from sale completely shortly after it launched.
Now, in the wake of its acclaimed Phantom Liberty DLC, 95 per cent of the 7000+ reviews left in the last month are positive, something Sasko said they "always believed" but "never thought [he] would actually see it".
Freya Allen, who plays Ciri in Netflix's Witcher adaptation, has said she feels sorry for Liam Hemsworth ahead of his turn as Geralt, and hopes viewers will give him the "time of day" when the show's fourth season makes its debut.
Speaking with Collider, Allen said the Witcher's fanbase "can be very attack-y", adding that Hemsworth's situation is not an "ideal" one. Allen is, of course, referring to Hemsworth taking over the role of the show's white-haired monster hunter, after original actor Henry Cavill called it a day at the end of season three.
"I don't want to speak for him, but from what I've understood, I feel like he's really wanting to try and bring the heart. He's been training," Allen said. "But I'm really excited to see what he does. And he's such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?"
CD Projekt Red's official mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt now has a release date.
The Witcher 3 REDkit, as it's known, was made available last month for playtesting ahead of a full release. Now we know from a Steam post that's later this month: 21st May.
The editor will be available for free for anyone who owns the game on PC.
Freya Allen, who plays Ciri in Netflix's Witcher adaptation, has said she feels sorry for Liam Hemsworth ahead of his turn as Geralt, and hopes viewers will give him the "time of day" when the show's fourth season makes its debut.
Speaking with Collider, Allen said the Witcher's fanbase "can be very attack-y", adding that Hemsworth's situation is not an "ideal" one. Allen is, of course, referring to Hemsworth taking over the role of the show's white-haired monster hunter, after original actor Henry Cavill called it a day at the end of season three.
"I don't want to speak for him, but from what I've understood, I feel like he's really wanting to try and bring the heart. He's been training," Allen said. "But I'm really excited to see what he does. And he's such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?"
CD Projekt Red's official mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt now has a release date.
The Witcher 3 REDkit, as it's known, was made available last month for playtesting ahead of a full release. Now we know from a Steam post that's later this month: 21st May.
The editor will be available for free for anyone who owns the game on PC.
After a month or so of testing, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's offiical mod tools REDkit will launch on May 21st. It'll make it easier for players to make new quests, items, weapons and so on for the nearly nine-year-old RPG.
Valve's Steam Deck is a highly capable piece of kit, often reaching parity with last-gen consoles at ~720p, while more demanding current-gen efforts can prove quite playable as well - even including some of the top-end Unreal Engine 5 titles. The RDNA2 graphics hardware inside the Deck is even capable of ray tracing, though this support has largely been dormant in SteamOS. That's started to change over the last year, with first Vulkan and then DXR-enabled titles running under Proton with RT enabled - and RT performance has seen big boosts as well.
Today we're taking a look at the state of play when it comes to RT on Steam Deck, looking at some of the best-looking PC titles to see whether they can be playable with RT engaged. Can we get good frame-rates even with demanding ray tracing settings? And how does the Valve's handheld compare in performance terms against the more powerful ROG Ally?
The most obvious place to start is with the Steam Deck is some of the easier ray tracing workloads available - and I think Doom Eternal is a good first choice. The game runs well with minimal settings tweakery: 720p resolution, medium settings and RT toggled on. Relative to the non-RT version of the game, we get solid (if somewhat low-res and slightly ghostly) reflections on glossy surfaces, with very different material properties when RT is enabled. This makes for a transformative difference in scenes with glossy materials, though an aggressive roughness cutoff means that semi-gloss materials are largely bereft of RT treatment.
The end is approaching for Netflix's uneven The Witcher adaptation; the streaming service has officially renewed the show for a fifth season, which will be its last.
Netflix shared the news on Tudum, its "official companion site", adding that Season 4 and Season 5 will be shot back-to-back, with production of Season 4 already underway in the UK.
The Witcher's final two seasons are set to adapt author Andrzej Sapkowski's three remaining books - Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake - with showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich promising "an epic and satisfying conclusion to the series.
CD Projekt's official mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now available for playtesting on Steam - albeit initially only to select registrants - ahead of its full release "later this year".
The editor, formally known as The Witcher 3 REDkit, is described as a "comprehensive modding tool" that's based on the same tools used by CD Projekt to create to Wild Hunt in the first place, and one that "should allow for nearly limitless freedom in modding it".
"From crafting new quests, items, weapons, and characters to developing animations, entire storylines, and new territories," the blurb on REDkit's Steam page continues, "this tool empowers you to shape your adventure precisely how you envision it."
The end is approaching for Netflix's uneven The Witcher adaptation; the streaming service has officially renewed the show for a fifth season, which will be its last.
Netflix shared the news on Tudum, its "official companion site", adding that Season 4 and Season 5 will be shot back-to-back, with production of Season 4 already underway in the UK.
The Witcher's final two seasons are set to adapt author Andrzej Sapkowski's three remaining books - Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake - with showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich promising "an epic and satisfying conclusion to the series.
CD Projekt's official mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now available for playtesting on Steam - albeit initially only to select registrants - ahead of its full release "later this year".
The editor, formally known as The Witcher 3 REDkit, is described as a "comprehensive modding tool" that's based on the same tools used by CD Projekt to create to Wild Hunt in the first place, and one that "should allow for nearly limitless freedom in modding it".
"From crafting new quests, items, weapons, and characters to developing animations, entire storylines, and new territories," the blurb on REDkit's Steam page continues, "this tool empowers you to shape your adventure precisely how you envision it."
Doug Cockle, the gravelly voice of Geralt in CD Projekt Red's Witcher video games, has shared his thoughts on the Netflix series.
Speaking with YouTube channel Behind the Voice, Cockle said there were some "choices" made in the writers room for the Netflix adaptation he didn't understand, but appreciated "we have to give different mediums their space".
The actor noted the show is a "different medium from the games", which themselves are a different medium from the books, comics and other Witcher-related media. The show's "gotta have room to be its own thing", Cockle said.
Podpora hry Cyberpunk 2077 byla (z větší části) ukončena a další hrou, na kterou se CD Projekt RED zaměřuje, je Zaklínač 4 (nebo také Project Polaris). Vývojáři nedávno prozradili, že na dalším díle fantasy RPG série pracuje více než 400 lidí, přičemž projekt je v současné době ve fázi předprodukce a do plné produkce by měl přejít někdy v tomto roce.
Je samozřejmě ještě příliš brzy na to, aby bylo jasné, jaká hra nakonec bude, ale i když CD Projekt RED ještě není připraven začít tyto detaily sdílet, studio chce fanoušky ujistit, že Zaklínač 4 (nebo jak se nakonec bude jmenovat) nebude jen „Zaklínač 3 v novém hávu“.
Během nedávného rozhovoru s investory se jeden z výkonných ředitelů Michał Nowakowski dotkl rizik spojených s tvorbou nové hry a snahou o inovaci, načež dodal, že ačkoli příští Zaklínač bude stavět na tom, co se CDPR naučilo z minulých her, bude také dělat věci, které studio „ještě nedělalo“.
„Pokud jde o riziko inovativních prvků – tvorba nové hry je vždy tvůrčím rizikem, zejména proto, že se snažíme posouvat nové hranice a zkoumat nové oblasti, dělat něco, co jsme vlastně ještě nedělali,“ řekl Nowakowski (přepis přes Rock Paper Shotgun). „Myslím, že chci říct, že byste neměli očekávat Zaklínače 3 v novém hávu, tak nějak. Samozřejmě stavíme na základech toho, co bylo předtím, a na tom, co jsme se naučili, ale přidáme nové herní prvky a nové mechanismy, které jste v našich předchozích hrách neviděli. Řekl bych, že dělat takové věci je vždycky risk. Není to jen opakování toho, co bylo uděláno dříve.“
Podrobnosti o Zaklínači 4 byly doposud skoupé, CD Projekt RED pouze potvrdil, že hra je vyvíjena na Unreal Engine 5 a bude prvním dílem nové trilogie. Ředitel hry Sebastian Kalemba také uvedl, že hra bude sloužit jako „vynikající vstupní bod“ pro nováčky v sérii.
Článek Se Zaklínačem 4 uděláme „něco, co jsme ještě nedělali“, říká CD Projekt RED se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Velmi nedávný příklad jsme zaznamenali s Dragon’s Dogma 2, hrou, která navzdory širokému uznání i tak vyvolala spoustu odporu pro své začlenění mikrotransakcí po uvedení na trh. Ne všichni hráči v oboru však vidí hodnotu v takové strategii.
Vývojáři Zaklínače a Cyberpunku CD Projekt RED zastává už léta postoj, že mikrotransakce by neměly být součástí žádné hry, která je navržena jako zážitek pro jednoho hráče. Během nedávného Q&A s investory ohledně dotazu na potenciální mikrotransakce v budoucích hrách CDPR finanční ředitel Piotr Nielubowicz znovu zopakoval, že vývojář nezamýšlí zahrnout mikrotransakce do titulů pro jednoho hráče, než dodal, že monetizace ve hře je něco, co studio může stále zvažovat u multiplayerového zážitku.
„Nevidíme místo pro mikrotransakce v případě her pro jednoho hráče, ale nevylučujeme, že toto řešení v budoucnu využijeme v případě projektů pro více hráčů,“ řekl.
V současné době má CD Projekt RED řadu rozpracovaných titulů, včetně Zaklínače 4 a Cyberpunku 2, přičemž také spolupracoval s Fool’s Theory na remaku původního Zaklínače. Všechny z nich jsou však nastaveny jako zážitky pro jednoho hráče, což znamená, že CDPR pravděpodobně nebude zahrnovat mikrotransakce. Totéž však nemusí platit v případě spinoffu The Moasses Flood’s Witcher, který je potvrzen jako multiplayerový titul.
Článek „Ve hrách pro jednoho hráče nevidíme místo pro mikrotransakce,“ opakuje CD Projekt RED se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
It is official: Netflix’s series based on The Witcher has been renewed for a fifth and final season. The fourth season is currently in production and both seasons will be shot back-to-back. Get ready to bid the Continent farewell, folks.
If you can't wait to start rummaging in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's guts with its powerful new modding tools, you can now shoot for early access by signing up for a playtest on Steam. The new REDkit suite is based on the actual tools that CD Projekt RED themselves sued to create one of the best RPGs, and will let folks make a much wider range of mods. We'll be able to make new quests, new characters, even whole new worlds.
CD Projekt Red just dropped the latest update for Cyberpunk 2077, and it makes a handful of visual updates to the game while also addressing some glitches that range from harmless to game-breaking.
Officially, Cyberpunk 2077 is finished, and CDPR planned for patch 2.0 to be the last big update to the game, but things didn’t shake out that way. Ahead of the game’s Ultimate Edition release, patch 2.1 added a ton of new content, including a functional metro system and new companion side activities. After that CDPR shifted its focus to the Cyberpunk sequel, but the developer is still ironing out some details in 2077.
The latest update is patch 2.12, and while it brings a number of welcome changes, it isn’t adding any new content to the game. Instead, 2.12 is aimed at making small adjustments to quests, fixing bugs, and improving the game's performance on some devices. You can read all the details below:
PC
Xbox
All Platforms
The post Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 2.12 notes appeared first on Destructoid.
Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!
Oh and if you want to read more, you can - you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.
Oh snap! It's card-game time. Have you ever played a game only to lose yourself inside a game inside that game? What a sentence. And has that 'game inside the game' ever been a game of cards? Don't lie to me!
Shortly after David Gaider was born, his parents bought a set of 1971 encyclopaedias to freeze-frame the world as it was when he entered it. He still remembers the maps they contained: his first atlas. But there are two moments in Gaider's life when a gift of maps leads to adventure. In the second, he's older, and already working at the job we know him best for. He was a lead writer at BioWare.
At the time, BioWare was embarking on a new adventure, creating two brand new games and the universes around them. One was to be science fiction and would become Mass Effect. One was fantasy and would become Dragon Age. That's the game Gaider was working on - or rather, it was the world he would dream up.
Ideas had been swirling about what Dragon Age would be for a few months. The team knew it would be like D&D but would not be actual D&D, because BioWare was sick of licensed games at the time. They knew they were going for Tolkien rather than Conan or Diablo. "We definitely had at least some idea of the kind of RPG this was going to be," Gaider tells me when in a video call. But BioWare didn't have a world, and that's where the second collection of maps comes in. One day, Gaider was handed a historical atlas of Europe and tasked with going away and coming up with a fantasy world for players to explore.
What just might be one of the greatest action RPGs of all time gets a next-gen overhaul, and brings the game back to consoles and PC in style.
How long has it been since The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt was released? Well, it might be hard to believe, but CD Projekt Red’s masterpiece was first unleashed upon the world in 2015. Yep, a decidedly-eventful 8 long years ago.
When the title first dropped, it was immediately met with a good deal of fanfare. Both critics and fans ate it up, heaping acclaim on the title for its fantastic gameplay, deep and complex story, and awesome delivery.
Of course, that was then. And since it launched, The Witcher 3 has been the recipient of some major expansions, a semi-miraculous Switch edition, and now a full updating. Just released last month, the game’s ‘next-gen’ update boosted the game’s looks and brought it back for the modern Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as the PC.
And while I unfortunately can’t compare this new version to the original, I can tell you it’s really, really good.
If you’re a Witcher fan, then you’re probably going to want to skip this section. That’s because I’m a complete neophyte when it comes to writer Andrej Sapkowski’s Geralt of Rivea and the world that he inhabits. So my retelling of his adventures, and set up of the Northern Kingdoms might be somewhat lacking in nuance.
I haven’t played any of Assassins of Kings (the second game in the series), and have only limited experience with the original. And as for the books and TV show, well I haven’t read or seen any of them. But be that as it may, the world of The Witcher has always intrigued me, so I was particularly happy to get to dig in.
Still with me? Okay, I’ll just assume you’re in the same boat I am then, and do some filling in. Witchers, for lack of a better term, are bounty-hunters that slay monsters. Of course it’s a lot deeper than that, with Witchers being highly-skilled and trained warriors, who’ve received special mutations that gift them with abilities that standard humans don’t have.
Main character Geralt is one of those, and when The Witcher 3 opens, we find him on the hunt for his lover Yennifer. Yenn is no damsel in distress though, and is a powerful sorceress who we quickly learn is in league with an invading army. When Geralt and his companion, an elder Witcher, catch up to her the story really starts, kicking into high gear with the return of his ward Ciri, who’s being hunted by a relentless group of supernatural killers called… The Wild Hunt.
The story is excellent, and filled with great characters and well-realized plot lines. All of it takes place against a high-fantasy world that has seen better days, with war and strife encroaching from all angles.
The Complete Edition, which we’re talking about here, also includes both the Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine expansion packs. I haven’t even touched either of those yet, as I’m still plenty lost in the base game’s quests.
With all of that content though, plus an additional 16 pieces of “extra content” (including stuff based on the Netflix show), there’s an ungodly amount of stuff to see and do in this game.
There’s a lot going on in The Witcher 3, and that extends to the controls. But whereas I’ve gotten a little lost at times in some games that offer a glut of options, that’s not the case here. Part of that comes with the next-gen revamp, as CD Projekt Red added in a new mechanic for casting “signs”.
While Witchers aren’t mages, they do have access to a limited selection of simple spells. These are called signs, and the game assigns them to what’s basically a weapon-wheel kind of thing. Players can simply call up the menu, which slows time in the game, pick a spell, and equip it. It’s easy and as un-cumbersome as it gets.
Geralt is also loaded up with both a standard and silver sword, each of which has its use. The silver is strictly for monsters, while the more average blade is for everything else. Drawing each is as simple as a press on the d-pad. Not that there aren’t other weapons in the game though, as you’ll have the opportunity to use additional hardware, armor, and items.
As far as other improvements, CD Projekt Red has also tweaked the map, and made some user interface overhauls. Exactly what those are, I’m not sure though. Again, I haven’t played the previous version of the game.
But even though I haven’t played the last-gen edition of The Wild Hunt, I can definitely tell you that this one looks as ‘current’ as anything else out there. The Witcher 3 got acclaim for its looks before, but man if it isn’t a beautiful game now too.
The newt-gen edition beefs up the already great looks quite a bit, with ray tracing across all versions. The PC edition does go one step further though, with real-time RT, as well as DLSS support. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions won’t be too bad off though, since both have AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, as well as faster load times.
So basically, if you thought The Witcher 3 looked great already, it looks even better now. And if you haven’t played it on last generation’s hardware, you’ll probably think it looks pretty great even without the comparison.
Along with that too, is some stellar sound in just about every way. The game not only has a beautiful selection of music, but the vocal work from the cast is top shelf. And I should mention that there is a great script backing it up. That doesn’t hurt.
It’s hard to say if The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Complete Edition is worth playing for those who’ve already indulged in the original release. Yes, it should look better than ever before, but it’s essentially the same game, even with the additional content. And if you’ve poured dozens of hours into it already, it’s probably not worth replaying if you’re doing so just for the graphical bump.
On the other hand, if you haven’t played The Witcher 3 in any form, as I hadn’t, then it’s more than worth your time. The game is a legitimate gem, and one of the best action RPG’s I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Speaking of, it’s also massive, so “playing” this game is something that I’ll be doing for a good long time.
A copy of The Witcher 3 was provided by CD Projekt Red for this review
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Complete Edition
Release Date: December 14th, 2022
Platforms: PC (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PS5
Publisher: CD Projekt Red
Developer: CD Projekt Red
MSRP: $59.99 USD
The post The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Complete Edition (PC) Review appeared first on BrutalGamer.
Tracking technology isn't perfect. Actually, that's an understatement. Tracking technology has many pitfalls, including how Google Maps can be accidentally used to track people, and the fact that if you systematically turn off cookies, your internet browsing experience becomes increasingly bizarre. I am offered adverts for afro hair care products and huge bags of puppy kibble, because the algorithms no longer have any idea who I am or how many small dogs I have. And yet.
Surely this technology has reached the point where, if I open a game for the first time in several weeks, it should be able to tell I haven't played for a long time, and ask if I would like a small refresher of the controls.
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