The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)

Till 2015, I was the guy with a penchant for the games I had played in my childhood. My top three games were Planescape: Torment, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. I would relentlessly criticize the current video game industry and the direction it was taking (and I still do).

But something changed with the release of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. The game is an absolute masterpiece and, in my opinion, creates an unforgettable experience very rarely seen before in gaming. It should be noted that I do not think that it is the perfect game. It has more negative points that many of the other games in my top ten list. It had a fair number of bugs when it was released, a redundant loot system, a lot of repetitive padding (especially those treasure hunts in Skellige), and a mediocre (but satisfyingly challenging) combat system.

However, the things The Witcher 3 (TW3) does well, it does phenomenally well. The soundtrack, the story, the choices, the side quests, the portrayal of human emotions, the fantastic depiction of the universe’s lore, the wide variety of enemies, and the role playing experience it provides are all brilliant and intricately linked together.

Finally, the real reason I consider TW3 to be the best game I have played to date is the Hearts of Stone expansion. It will introduce you to several complex characters, an absolutely thrilling narrative, a continuation of TW3's euphonic soundtrack, and one of the best villains in gaming history. In fact, if I had to introduce someone to gaming, I would tell them to only play this expansion. Seriously, play The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone.

Actual Score: 4.5/5

So far I am completely floored by this game, it's a great quality title and it's a lot of fun.

I really must applaud the developers for going the DRM-free route. The devs and Gog.com are heroic for waging this war against the stupidity of the gaming market. They've also released the 16 free DLC packages. This is how gaming should be. No stupid DRM client or anything, no fuss, no greed, just an executable file downloaded straight from the web. Sometimes I pirate games, especially if I want to test them out first. Sometimes I wait a year until a game goes on sale. But in this case, I pre-ordered this game as soon as I could. I think I'll even purchase the season pass; gog and the devs really need to be rewarded for respecting the gaming community and for their humility and generosity, and I am happy to give them my money; I'll much sooner buy software on Gog compared to steam.

Gog has also resurrected many of the classic titles from my childhood. Over the years I've spent piles of money on GOG sales, and I shall continue to do so, as long as they keep resurrecting old favourites and listening to the desires of the gaming community.

Absolutely loving this game. Gorgeous visuals, great voice acting, interesting characters/quests, facinating lore... I could go on forever.

The only thing is, like most RPGs, I find myself staring at the minimap if I don't turn it off. And when I turn it off, I get completely lost. I'm waiting for a mod that puts quest directions on screen. That's a feature every open world game needs!