If you asked me between 2015 and 2020 why I loved The Witcher 3, I would probably made a very long list of things. But in 2021 after the release of both Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, that list is much shorter. It’s now basically just ‘the wind’ and ‘the sun’.
Earlier, more carefree times, I thought The Witcher 3 was exceptional for a number of reasons, most likely the same as the one you listed. Things like his clever writing, memorable quest, consequent choices, and sweet main character. So when the same team is responsible for making The Witcher 3 set out last year to release a new game, it’s the kind of thing I got excited about. Still sad Baronne, more babies in the oven.
Cyberpunk 2077, as you are no doubt aware, did not deliver on those fronts, or many others, to the point where it plays out, it feels like playing something from a completely different studio. I fired up the game and expected to experience the same Temerian magic, and removed it after not finding a single drop of it.
Continue bummed from Cyberpunkthen was literally the very next game I played Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and whaddya knows. It seems I’m going to feel it Witcher 3 magic though, just in someone else’s game. And that me Witcher 3 worship (or at least its core) did not have much to do with consequences and storylines; I was just in love with a beautiful forest and a fast sunrise.
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I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m an open-world game designer. That shit must be hard. But I’m an experienced enjoyer of it, and if I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s my appreciation for their worlds – not the games themselves, but the places they play – often have little to do with how ‘busy’ they are. .
If there’s a big single player game, it’s a form of escape, and my favorites are usually the ones that really make me escape. Use Cyberpunk as an example, even if only so recently, it is in a huge, bustling city full of cars and pedestrians and advertisements and shops. This is not an escape! This is, uh, the life most of us lead every day!
No, if most of us lead an urban life, then it’s a natural environment that is a real escape. And The Witcher 3’s was such a beautiful world, where you could almost smell the wet grass and feel the wind on your face, and it’s one of the few open world games where I ever wanted to reach every corner of his map, not to reach the goals , but just to see what it looks like and to suck it all up.
A living, living world like this is just so much more alluring than a concrete jungle. Maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s something more excessive in all of us, a call to nature that is only more pronounced the further so many of us get out of it. I have written before about virtual tourism in Yakuza, but this is a specific place. It’s more of a state of mind, a love of nature wherever it is, whether it’s a fantasy world or a historical caricature.
Other games I loved for this reason are Oblivion and the Far Cry series, while Assassin’s Creed Odyssey came very close a few years back, even though the Mediterranean coastlines and the crisp blue waters cut closer to my love Windwaker as The Witcher.
Valhallatog, o son. It is exactly which I pursue. His idyllic caricature of England from the 9th century is like a weekend getaway in a nature reserve, although there is a lot of murder and climbing in between. Not my ideal vacation, but it’s part of the package.
While Valhalla s’n the opening of Norway series is breathtaking in its own alpine way. When I arrived in England, it took about three seconds before the feeling started to tingle. That ol Witcher 3 neurie. The Oblivion fever. Long grass. Large trees. Val blare. Chattering birds. Running water. A gentle breeze. Sunlight pierces through branches, bathing a campsite in an orange glow.
Oh, that’s the shit. It is escape. Not in deeds, but in intent.
Valhalla performances that some of the most memorable open worlds are not defined by their density, and that business is not equal to credibility. England has a few points on the map where things happen, for sure, but for expansive spaces there is nothing to do, and like all the best travel, there is nothing to do but enjoy the breathtaking scenery , which is a pleasure that resonates with me so much more than boring work in the open world.
Although it can be tempting to pack a video game world with as much sound and anger and stuff as possible Cyberpunk intended it so, sometimes it’s best to just leave an open world open, and let’s enjoy the sights. In these cases, as with Valhalla, the nothing is not a problem. This is the best thing about the game.
