The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Published in 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt quickly became one of the most popular Role-Playing Games in the last decade. One of the reasons for that might be the complex game mechanics that create a unique experience for the player, highly depending on the decisions he or she makes. This article will not only highlight this, but also how the morality of the player affects the whole gameplay and how immersion is created and can be enhanced by different settings and mods.

About the Game

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open world action Role-Playing Game played in third person perspective by polish developement studio CD Project, published in 2015. It is the last part of a game-trilogy, based on the Witcher fantasy novels by polish author Andrej Sapkowski. Main charakter is Witcher Geralt of Rivia, whose task ist to rescue his so to say daughter Ciri who is on the run from the evil instance Wild Hunt. On his journey he has to fight different monsters, help NPCs and do many other quests, providing hundreds of hours of gameplay.

There are two previous games: The Witcher (2007) and The Witcher 2: Assasins of Kings (2011). In addition to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, there are two DLCs (downloadable contents, also known as extensions): Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.

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Research-Relevant Topics of the Game

Core Game Mechanics

Skill-Tree

There are four different Skill Trees and seventy skills in total, that the player can invest points to. Only twelve of these can be equipped at a given time, but they can be swapped. The points are gained by either leveling up or by finding Places of Power. The four skill trees are: Combat Skills, Signs, Alchemy Skills and General Skills. Mutagens, which can be found by killing monsters or searching chests, can also be equipped to provide different benefits (e.g. increased health, more armor points or stamina).

Since the player can chance these skills more or less individually, the skill-tree not only helps to make the experience more individual, but also to help creating immersion, because the player is able to identify more with Geralt.

Decisions

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt lives from the decisions and choices the player makes. Beginning with the skill system, to the weapons and armor, to the option to help different Non-Player Characters (NPCs) while doing side quests and finally to make important decisions within the dialogue with main characters to get forward in the main quest. Almost every decision made by the player has smaller or bigger consequences for single characters, whole villages or the Witcher-World itself.

Depending on the decisions during the journey to find Ciri, there are different good or bad endings for the characters and the Witcher-Wold the player can achieve. Some of them are:

• Ciri disappears, if Geralt doesn't let her make her own decisions
• Ciri becomes a witch
• Geralt lives happy with Triss
• Geralt lives happy with his girlfriend from the previous games Yennefer
• Geralt lives alone, because he tried to get both women at the same time
• Cerys, Hjalmar or Crach an Craite becomes Queen or King of Skellige
• Novigrad will be dominated by Radovid, Emhyr van Emreis or Djikstra
• Either the magicians or the elves, dwarfs and gnomes get hunted
• There are different 'endings' for specific characters in the game that have more or less consequences

For example in one quest, the player has to decide whether Geralt kills a ghost that lives inside a big tree or to believe the story it tells him and release it. If he sets it free, a whole village that was threatened by its power is destroyed, but the orphans in the swamp are safe and alive.

If he destroys the ghost, the village is safe, but the orphans vanish and are probably eaten by the Crones (the ghosts 'daughters').

Creating an Immersive Experience: Settings and Mods

There are different ways to create a more immersive gaming experience. One is to use mods (modifications), the other is to use the original options of the game to alter its appearance. For example the player can turn off the mini map, the in-game music and don't use the option to call Roach (Geralt's horse) at any point to keep it more realistic. Additional to that, the available mods for the PC version of the game can be used to create an individual experience for the player. Some of them only alter the appearance of the game like fighting animations or the characters' outfits, while other provide additional features to create a more realistic gameplay. For example the maximum weight that Geralt is able to carry can be lowered by a mod, so tit isn't possible to have six swords, three pairs of boots, gloves and several heavy armor items in the inventory at the same time.

Related Research Approaches

Immersive Gameplay

The immersion of the player depends on how far the player is allowing the story to take her or him in. Also the settings or even mods that are changed and used have an impact on the gaming experience.

Decisions and Morality in Video Games

Since the whole storyline is affected by the players' decisions, the individual understanding of morality has a huge impact on the gaming experience. The player decides if he or she wants to act as he or she would do if the characters were alive or to do the opposite and see how far an immoral behavior leads.