I spent years forcing myself to finish The Witcher 3 —don’t repeat my mistake - Ars Technica

I don’t like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I’m sorry to disappoint you. I know it’s confusing, and I hope you will still respect me.

I had to say that a lot back in 2015. When the game first came out, the community of critics and enthusiasts I was a part of went bananas for it, much in the same way the current crop of journalists and influencers rallied around Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in 2025—another game that didn’t really work for me, if I’m being honest.

The Witcher 3 was showered in accolades and awards, and it seemed like every Twitter conversation was about it. There were memes all over Reddit about how no other game could live up to it, plus lengthy essays from games journalists about just why it was so incredible. “Game of the Year” awards rained from the proverbial sky.

Meanwhile, I tried it and found it a slog. It took me years to finish it, because I kept losing interest, but I felt like I had to force myself to keep going in order not to be out of the loop.

Those who knew me found this baffling. “You love RPGs like this,” they’d say. “Two of your favorite recent games are Skyrim and Mass Effect. This is like the best of both of those. What’s the problem?” (I’m paraphrasing, but I got several versions of basically this.)

The thing is, games are so diverse in focus these days that “I love open world RPGs” can mean a lot of different things.

Creating a character vs. playing a character

Every RPG I have ever truly loved was a game in which I made my own character.

Filling out that blank character sheet with a vision for the identity I wanted to inhabit was by far my favorite step when I played D&D, GURPs, Traveller, Shadowrun, and other tabletop RPGs when I was younger.

To me, the overriding point of a role-playing game is defining your role and inhabiting it. It’s creating my own alter ego to meet a certain fantasy, and seeing where inhabiting it takes me.

The Witcher 3 puts you in the shoes of Geralt of Rivia, a man with decades of history, the subject of multiple games, books, and a TV show. Geralt is as well-defined as they come, and while you get to make some choices for him, they still reflect the core of who that man is.

It’s genuinely impressive that The Witcher 3 ‘s writers managed to give the player meaningful choices within this framework. Each branching dialogue choice taps into different aspects of and conflicts within Geralt’s personality and values—the writing in The Witcher 3 is far above par, I’ll give it that. But ultimately, it’s just Geralt through different lenses, not an identity formed by the player.

Even Cyberpunk 2077, a game made by The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red that I do love, offers a sort of middle path between these approaches. Yes, there is a named protagonist, and yes, they have some hints of a predetermined personality in much of their dialogue. But the player can customize how they look and define their background, and that background gives the player very different dialogue options. The major choices in the game reflect fundamentally different values, not just conflicts within one person with an otherwise consistent worldview.

The same is true for Mass Effect 3 ‘s protagonist, Commander Shepard. You decide what they look like, you pick their background, and you get to make a very meaningful impact on who they are through your dialogue choices, play style, and more.

Some open-world RPGs take one path here, and some take the other. It’s OK to only like one of them, regardless of what others may value.

Power fantasy vs. earned competence

Geralt is, frankly put, a total badass. The man has been training for his entire life to face off against the most terrifying monsters around, and his mutations put him in a different class from most people.

Part of the appeal of The Witcher 3 is in being that badass. I understand that appeal very well. But you know where this is going: it’s not what I’m looking for from my RPGs.

I enjoy the transition from nobody to somebody, from novice to master.

The Witcher 3 gives you ways to specialize Geralt, strengthening powers and abilities he already has, but he is most definitely not starting from zero. It’s not just because The Witcher 3 is a sequel, either. The game’s designers are intentional about making sure you feel the power fantasy in full force from the very beginning.