The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Preview
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A great open world adventure game should create a world that seems to exist, even when the player isn't present, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is no different.
The various villages littered around the world feel alive, and we were told that all the characters go about their day, completing their various tasks. There is also a new economy system in place. Where a coastal town might have cheap fish, a town further inland may have the same but at a higher price.
A new dynamic weather system has also been created, which we saw during Geralt's meditation sitting atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. As time passed, we saw clouds roll in over the mountains, creating a huge storm that whipped up some violent waves.
We were told that taking a boat across the sea during a storm is a dangerous task, as your boat can capsize, or be thrown against jagged rocks thanks to the violent waves.
the-witcher-wild-hunt-4-oxcgnIf travelling in real-time isn't your idea of fun (points for immersion!), fast travelling is also present, but only to towns and places previously visited. However, it's one thing to be able to create a massive world, but it's another to make it come to life.
Witcher 3 doesn't simply provide a massive world with a few points of interest separated by big, boring expanses. In between travelling to places relevant to main or side quests, randomly generated encounters pop up to drag the player off the beaten path.
In the demo we saw, Geralt came upon a solitary hut, with bandits harassing the owner. Geralt dispatched the bandits, and went along his way. However, instead of being a throwaway task, these encounters are tied in with main missions, and can have consequences relating to later in the game.
