The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine Reviews
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We will have to wait until next week to get our hands on Blood and Wine, the final expansion for CD Projekt's critically acclaimed end to the Witcher trilogy, but reviews are already out and, so far, they are also very positive. It's definitely an encouraging sign.
GamesRadar, 4.5/5.
Blood and Wine isn't really concerned with reinvention, though. Like its wandering hero, The Witcher 3 may be set in its ways, but it's really good at what it does - in The Witcher's case, that means providing a captivating world to explore, well-thought-out and morally ambiguous scenarios to quest through, and countless beasts to slay. It may be Geralt of Rivia's last video game outing, but this final expansion is a hell of a way to go.
Videogamer.com, 9/10.
Arguably, Blood & Wine is just more Witcher 3, but it goes to great lengths to distinguish itself. Tonally, as mentioned, but visually too. Golden sun-kissed vegetation, a glistening river and a pointy fairytale castle right in the middle are the first things you see in Toussaint. It's a glorious image, and fitting one for a character who is being put out to pasture. That he's given the opportunity to take the piss out of aristocratic fools, take their money for fixing their stupid problems and, now, head back to his vineyard for a kip, is everything I wanted for him at the end of his journey. There is wit and wisdom here that was always detectable in The Witcher games, but never quite so accomplished as it is in these, his final hours.
Finally, given how subversive CD Projekt's strategy has been, how they've managed to outclass the big dogs by simply doing the best job they could do with The Witcher 3 after years of honing their craft, Blood & Wine is a triumphant slam-dunk from a team at the top of their game. There is no better way for Geralt to sign off than to do it while whispering .et fucked' at a bloated and out-of-touch set of flatulent shitebags. Play his last adventure, it's his best.
PC Gamer, 94/100.
Frankly if one of these expansions came out every year I'd still be playing The Witcher 3 in 2020. However, this is a fine end. Fantasy RPGs like this offer us the chance to walk through the pages of pulp fantasy fiction, to stand opposite the witches, wizards and wights of those stories. Even if we can't form our own words, or ultimately greatly affect the stories they tell, the semblance is powerful enough. Even in its immutable, heavily cutscene-driven form, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine is an accomplished piece of genre fiction with some characters I'll come to miss. Pour a goblet of the red stuff and join them, you won't be disappointed.
Eurogamer, "Essential."
All in all, Blood and Wine is a fitting swansong for The Witcher 3. It's a playful goodbye, but also a testament to what made the series so good in the first place. It brings a vibrant new perspective to the world of The Witcher while remaining true to the gritty, medieval P.I gameplay that made it great in the first place. It's an emotional yet mirthful fairytale; one every Witcher fan ought to experience.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun, scoreless.
Much like Mass Effect III's wonderful Citadel expansion, this last outing is as much a victory lap, to remind us of the good times and end in the right spirit. There's a moment in both games, where the characters seem to step out of themselves, just briefly Shepard to look at the Normandy and state that it's been one hell of a ride, even if chronologically she hasn't fought the final boss yet. She's talking to her crew, and we're included because we're part of it. In Blood and Wine, it's a more understated moment. A simple glance through the screen from an old man who's literally seen everything a look of respect, of gratitude, of recognition. Something ends, something begins.
I like to think that it'll be happier than most of what's come before.
Destructoid, 9/10.
However many little nagging issues I have with Wild Hunt (the combat is still a bit too simplistic), Blood and Wine is the best The Witcher has ever been since the first game. I came in merely expecting a bigger Hearts of Stone, but ended up getting something more expansive in nearly every sense of the word.
Shacknews, 9/10.
There wasn't much I didn't like about this new land, and while I did experience a few issues -- I once crashed several times during a major cutscene, which forced me to watch the first half of the scene multiple times-- overall the experience was fairly bug free. The world of Toussaint is a pleasure to explore, and it's plenty big enough to keep you coming back for more of the Witcher series for days to come. All in all, it is the best ending we could have hoped for a character as interesting and well-crafted as Geralt of Rivia.
Gamepressure, 10/10.
Blood and Wine is an adventure spanning many hours during which we'll get even more of what we're already familiar with and a couple of new things thrown in the mix. Those of you who thought that Hearts of Stone had too much talk and too little action will be pleased this time. At the same time, those who praised the consistency of the plot and the unusual approach to the narrative in the adventure starring Master Mirror can rest assured that this story is just as unusual. Every story, however, must come to an end, and I can say without a hint of doubt that this ending is satisfying in every respect.
Twinfinite, 5/5.
As the closing chapter for Geralt for the foreseeable future, Blood and Wine was a most beautiful send-off. There's something oddly beautiful about the rainbows and butterflies set behind blood spatter painting the walls, the macabre pictures against lush purples, greens, and blues. The horrors within Toussaint are laid bare for those not content with its mysterious allure. One need only look beyond the flowers to find the corpses hidden among the bushes.
To spend my final moments here was quite fitting the darkness laying just beneath a dazzling surface, the vast threads meeting to create either your happy ending or your bittersweet reminders, and the adventures small and large that led there. It has been a life well lived, and if there are to be no more adventures, then a villa in Toussaint doesn't sound like such a bad idea.
GameReactor UK, 9/10.
CDPR recently confirmed to us that Blood and Wine was definitely the last expansion for The Witcher 3, and so this marks the end of the road for Geralt. Maybe for now, maybe forever. If this little sojourn to Toussaint is to be our final adventure with the silver-haired monster slayer, then it's a fitting conclusion. Blood and Wine, barring a few not-unexpected glitches (clipping, some funky physics, and so on and so forth), is a fine expansion to our game of last year. Following on from that, CDPR may well have made the best expansion of 2016, and it's one that we can heartily recommend to fans of the original eager to once again head into battle with Geralt and his silver sword.
Finally, there's a couple of reviews-in-progress. USGamer:
Blood and Wine continues CD Projekt Red's streak of excellence. If you thought Hearts of Stone being great might've been a fluke, this expansion puts that idea to rest. From what I've played, it's put together just as well in the story and quest department and it stands as a slight improvement from the previous expansion due to the new scenery. Regardless, I don't think Witcher fans will regret joining Geralt on his last adventure.
And GameSpot:
Blood and Wine is outrageously beautiful. Its new region, Toussaint, takes the air of the French countryside, though its skies are bluer, its foliage more lush, and its rolling hills more impressive. It's as close to high fantasy this dark fantasy series has gotten, and is all the better for it, as if The Witcher 2's elven rose garden had been expanded to continental proportions. Every rose has its thorns, however; dank caves harbor terrible beasts, and cemeteries shelter the most horrid of Toussaint's residents.
The creepiest accordion tunes you've ever heard serve to underline the horror. This is not a surprise, given The Witcher 3's consistently excellent audio, notwithstanding a few too many glitches where Geralt speaks over himself when you activate multiple triggers at once. There's more to say about The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, of course, and I will have a full review for you once I've finished. For now, however, I can confirm what you likely guessed: Blood and Wine is quite good, quite big, and quite likely to make you glad to return to one of video games' most engaging worlds.
