SABlister

A great wonderful new addition that contrasts the drearier areas of Witcher 3 with a much more fairytale and playful world of Blood and Wine. Filled with many more great interactions and characters with even some of the best in the Witcher series overall, this DLC seeks to give the series an ending for Geralt that satisfies fans of the game. New Beautiful visuals, enemies, quests, there is very little reason not to buy this immediately if you own the Witcher 3.

A sprawling epic role playing game following the exploits and adventures of the guy trying to catch up to the hero. The games protagonist, Geralt is on a search for his daughter for most of this game, while she goes through a harrowing adventure dodging a vicious and unstoppable army. You hear, see through some short flashbacks, and are told through expository dialogue what's been happening, but it's the mundane stories and problems in the world of the Witcher that Geralt runs into that provide a very human and compelling adventure. It sounds strange and possible boring to be playing a minor player in a grander adventure, but as Geralt you get to see and shape the small stories that fall to the wayside in these grand adventures. Unlike most protagonists in role playing games, Geralt has a personality, history, and friend, leading to great dialogue and interactions with characters. You can shape his decisions and to a small extent his personality, but Geralt is his own man who will respond with personality all his own. This is in thanks to some of the best writing and cinematography in a videogame to date, giving all the characters, big, small, or even as tiny as a no name shopkeeper, personality or a story for no other reason than to flesh out the people and world. A review of the Witcher 3 wouldn't be complete without praising the absolute technical mastery that has gone into this games graphics and animations, without a doubt they give the grand vistas, horror, the emotional, and even comical moments so much more punch. From small things, like a grimace from a bad joke, wrinkle of the forehead, to the large things like a character crying over a friends death or the look in a mans face as falls into a suicidal despair. They don't make the story or the game, but in conjunction with the writing it provides a boost that pushes the Witcher 3 to a level above any RPG that has come before it. For Fans of the Witcher series, it's a must buy and for people completely unfamiliar with the series it is as well. One warning I give to players, even though it is spectacular from the beginning, the game is so large it can feel so daunting with the massive amount of content available that many players will not be able to get hooked by it with only an hour or two. But I guarantee, if you stick with it for another couple hours, do a few more quests, the game will sink it's claws into you.

The game lacks the ability to produce the atmosphere a horror adventure stuck in the oppressive atmosphere of being stuck at the bottom of the ocean, alone, with dwindling oxygen should produce. Instead, the game throws in jump scares, occasionally plays with the players perspective, and clunky sea creature encounters. In VR, I'm sure the suit provides a more oppressive atmosphere, but not enough to get past the slow plodding pace and lack luster scares with no impressive technical aspects in either sound or graphics.

Nier: Automata is a great game with a wonderful story and extremely enjoyable and varied gameplay. From very hard hitting emotion notes to some great humor the story very often leaves you guessing at what's next and providing one of, if not the most heartfelt ending sequence in recent memory. This doesn't make it perfect, it has some technical issues and the start could turn some players off by lacking save functions for the first 25 to 45 minutes depending on fast you rush through the first section. But the downsides pale in comparison to how many amazing elements this game has in every aspect.