The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition (NSP, XCI) ROM + v4.04b Update + All DLCs

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition is a 2015 action role-playing game developed and published by CD Projekt. It is the sequel to the 2011 game The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and the third game in The Witcher video game series played in an open world with a third-person perspective. The games follow the Witcher series of fantasy novels written by Andrzej Sapkowski. The game takes place in a fictional fantasy world based on Slavic mythology. Players control Geralt of Rivia, a monster slayer for hire known as a Witcher, and search for his adopted daughter, who is on the run from the otherworldly Wild Hunt. Players battle the game’s many dangers with weapons and magic, interact with non-player characters, and complete quests to acquire experience points and gold, which are used to increase Geralt’s abilities and purchase equipment. The game’s story has three possible endings, determined by the player’s choices at key points in the narrative.

GAMEPLAY

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an action role-playing game with a third-person perspective. Players control Geralt of Rivia, a monster slayer known as a Witcher. Geralt walks, runs, rolls, and dodges, and (for the first time in the series) jumps, climbs, and swims. He has a variety of weapons, including bombs, a crossbow, and two swords (one steel and one silver). The steel sword is used primarily to kill humans while the silver sword is more effective against creatures and monsters. Players can draw out, switch, and sheathe their swords at will. There are two modes of melee attack; light attacks are fast but weak, and heavy attacks are slow but strong. Players can block and counter enemy attacks with their swords.

Swords have limited endurance and require regular repair. In addition to physical attacks, Geralt has five magical signs at his disposal: Aard, Axii, Igni, Yrden, and Quen. Aard prompts Geralt to unleash a telekinetic blast, Axii confuses enemies, Igni burns them, Yrden slows them down and Quen offers players a temporary, protective shield. The signs use stamina, and cannot be used indefinitely. Players can use mutagens to increase Geralt’s magic power. Geralt loses health when attacked by enemies, although wearing armor can help reduce health loss. Health is restored with meditation or consumables, such as food and potions. Players occasionally control Ciri, Geralt’s adoptive daughter who can teleport short distances.

The game has responsive, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamic environments. The day-night cycle influences some monsters; a werewolf becomes powerful during the night of a full moon. Players can learn about their enemies and prepare for combat by reading the in-game bestiary. When they kill an enemy, they can loot its corpse for valuables. Geralt’s witcher sense enables players to find objects of interest, including items that can be collected or scavenged. Items are stored in the inventory, which can be expanded by purchasing upgrades. Players can sell items to vendors or use them to craft potions and bombs. They can visit blacksmiths to craft new weapons and armorers to craft new armor with what they have gathered.

The price of an item and the cost of crafting it depend on a region’s local economy. Players earn experience points by completing quests. When a player earns enough experience, Geralt’s level increases and the player receives ability points. These points may be used on four skill trees: combat, signs, alchemy, and general. Combat upgrades enhance Geralt’s attacks and unlock new fighting techniques; signs upgrades enable him to use magic more efficiently, and alchemy upgrades improve crafting abilities. General upgrades have a variety of functions, from raising Geralt’s vitality to increasing crossbow damage.

The game focuses on narrative and has a dialogue tree that allows players to choose how to respond to non-player characters. Geralt must make decisions that change the state of the world and lead to 36 possible endings, affecting the lives of in-game characters. He can have a romantic relationship with some of the game’s female characters by completing certain quests. In addition to the main quests, books offer more information on the game’s world. Players can begin side quests after visiting a town’s noticeboard. These side missions include Witcher Contracts (elaborate missions requiring players to hunt monsters) and Treasure Hunt quests, which reward players with top-tier weapons or armor.

The game’s open world is divided into several regions. Geralt can explore each region on foot or by transportation, such as a boat. Roach, his horse, may be summoned at will. Players can kill enemies with their swords while riding Roach, but an enemy presence may frighten the horse and unseat Geralt. Points of interest may be found on the map, and players receive experience points after completing mini-missions in these regions. Players can discover Places of Power for additional ability points. Other activities include horse racing, boxing, and card playing; the card-playing mechanic was later expanded into a standalone game, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.

SETTING

The game is set in the Continent, a fictional fantasy world based on Slavic paganism. It is surrounded by parallel dimensions and extra-dimensional worlds. Humans, elves, dwarves, monsters, and other creatures co-exist on the Continent, but non-humans are often persecuted for their differences in the northern realms. The Continent is caught up in a war between the empire of Nilfgaard—led by Emperor Emhyr var Emreis (Charles Dance), who invaded the Northern Kingdoms—and Redania, ruled by King Radovid V. Several locations appear, including the free city of Novigrad, the Redanian city of Oxenfurt, the no man’s land of Velen, the city of Vizima (former capital of the recently conquered Temeria), the Skellige islands (home to several Norse-Gaels Viking clans) and the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen.

The main character is the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia (Doug Cockle), a monster hunter trained since childhood in combat, tracking, alchemy, and magic, and made stronger, faster, and resistant to toxins by mutagens. He is aided by his lover, the powerful sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Denise Gough), his former love interest Triss Merigold (Jaimi Barbakoff), the bard Dandelion (John Schwab), the dwarf warrior Zoltan Chivay (Alexander Morton), and Geralt’s Witcher mentor Vesemir (William Roberts). Geralt is spurred into action by the reappearance of his and Yennefer’s adopted daughter, Ciri (Jo Wyatt). Ciri is a Source, born with innate (and potentially vast) magical abilities; after the apparent death of her parents, she was trained as a witcher while Yennefer taught her magic. Ciri disappeared years before to escape the Wild Hunt, a group of spectral warriors led by the King of the Wild Hunt: the elf Eredin, from a parallel dimension.

PLOT

Geralt and his mentor Vesemir arrive at the town of White Orchard after receiving a letter from Geralt’s long-lost lover Yennefer. After defeating a griffin for the local Nilfgaardian garrison, Geralt accompanies Yennefer to the city of Vizima, where they meet with Emperor Emhyr. Emhyr orders Geralt to find Ciri, who is Emhyr’s biological, and Geralt’s adopted daughter. Ciri is a Child of the Elder Blood, the last heir to an ancient Elven bloodline that grants her the power to manipulate time and space, and is being relentlessly stalked by the enigmatic Wild Hunt. Geralt learns of three places Ciri was recently seen: the war-ravaged swamp province of Velen, the free city-state of Novigrad, and the Skellige Isles. In Velen, Geralt tracks Ciri to the fortress of the Bloody Baron, a warlord who recently took over the province.

The Baron demands that Geralt find his missing wife and daughter in exchange for information about Ciri. Geralt learns that the Baron drove his own family away with his drunken rages; while his daughter fled to Oxenfurt, his wife Anna became a servant of the Crones, three malicious witches that watch over Velen. He also discovers that Ciri was briefly captured by the Crones, but escaped to the Baron’s stronghold before continuing to Novigrad. At Novigrad, Geralt reunites with his former lover Triss Merigold, who has gone underground to escape persecution by the Church of the Eternal Fire. He learns that Ciri and his old friend Dandelion ran afoul of Novigrad’s powerful crime bosses while seeking to break a curse related to a mysterious phylactery. With the help of Triss and several old acquaintances, Geralt rescues Dandelion, who tells him that Ciri teleported away to escape pursuit by guards. Geralt sails to Skellige and reunites with Yennefer, who is investigating a magical explosion near where Ciri was last seen.

Geralt finds Ciri on the Isle of Mists and learns from her that Eredin, the leader of the Wild Hunt, wants her Elder Blood powers to save his homeworld from a catastrophe known as the White Frost. They return to Kaer Morhen and fortify it against the inevitable arrival of the Hunt. In the battle that ensues, Vesemir is killed, causing Ciri to unleash her uncontrolled power and temporarily send the Hunt into retreat. Realizing that the Hunt will never stop, Ciri and Geralt decide to fight Eredin at a time and place of their choosing. While Triss and Yennefer reform the Lodge of Sorceresses to aid in the fight, Geralt recovers the Sunstone, an artifact that can communicate between worlds. Using the Sunstone, Avallac’h lures Eredin to Skellige, where Geralt defeats him in combat. As he dies, Eredin tells Geralt that Avallac’h has betrayed him, and plans to use Ciri’s power for his ends.

As the White Frost begins to encroach on the Continent, Geralt and Yennefer pursue Avallac’h, but find Ciri alive and well. She tells Geralt that Avallac’h is not a traitor, and has only ever intended to fight the White Frost. Thinking back on her relationship with Geralt, Ciri finds the strength to stop the cataclysm; if Geralt patronized and protected her throughout the game, she died in the attempt, but if he guided her to mature and make her own choices, she survived. The player’s choices can lead to several different endings. If Ciri survives after defeating the White Frost and Geralt takes her to meet her father, she will become the Empress of Nilfgaard. If Ciri survives but does not meet the emperor, Geralt helps her fake her death, and she becomes a witcher. If Ciri is killed in her confrontation with the White Frost, the story ends with Geralt retrieving her medallion from the last remaining Crone. The player’s choices also determine whether Geralt ends up in a romantic relationship with Yennefer, Triss, or neither, and how much of the North is ultimately conquered by Nilfgaard.