The Witcher 3: Wild Hunttakes dozens of hours to complete, even without its robust expansion packs. It’s easy to see why: it’s set in a narratively rich world where it feels like just about every NPC has their own story to tell. WhileSkyrimis notable for opening the door for open-world video games,the RPG genresuffered a deluge of games in its wake that had vast worlds that felt empty thanks to the shallow side quests that were on offer which were more suited to MMOs than single-player games.
The Witcher 3made many side quests feel as important as the main quest, where the lives of the ordinary people living on the Continent were intricate, who lived in a world of cause and effect; in a word, they mattered. Because the side quests involved smaller NPCs, they served the purpose of making the Continent and world ofThe Witcherfeel like a living world far bigger than the one created by CD Projekt Red.
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The Witcher 3 Quests Create a Living World
Side quests inThe Witcher 3are triggered in several ways; they can be picked up on Notice Boards in settlements, overheard in conversation, discovered in the wilderness, or NPCs can call over Geralt to give him a job. Geralt’s day job as a witcher is the perfect excuse to put him into these scenarios where plot can happen. As a witcher, Geralt can travel and meets people from all classes and walks of life as everyone needs a monster to be slain from time to time.
CDPR could have left these contracts as simple monster-slaying stories, or MMO-style fetch quests, but instead it keeps the theme of the series at the fore: “Evil is evil… If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.” That idea carries through many of theWitcherside quests which stay with Geraltand, in turn, the player. The player is rewarded for pursuing the contracts with each contract becoming invariably more complicated than a simple track-and-kill situation, with the best quests inThe Witcher 3asking the player to define Geralt’s morality.
The Themes of The Witcher 3 Are Found in its Side Quests
Rather than carrying this theme through the main story, this theme is present in the everyday lives of the ordinary people living on the Continent, and becomes incredibly relevant toGeralt’s storyas his everyday is built on the petty grievances and decisions of people who have access to powers like curses and monsters. Rather than the story’s theme being given through the main storyline in small and intermittent chunks, its presence is inescapable and continuously builds on itself as the player progresses through the story, allowing for a perspective that grows.
This transformsThe Witcher 3from a game that could have been filled with meaningless filler quests that made the vast world feel empty, and instead used the opportunity to give the player side quests that they wanted to fulfill. This expectation is set up early in the game in its prologue section inWhite Orchard, where the small side quests reveal a world where people are doing what they can to survive in a conquered land.
As an RPG that clearly cherishes character and story,The Witcher 3set a new standard for RPG video game side questsjust as much asSkyrimdid for open worlds in RPGs. They create the expectation that nothing is as simple as it appears, and encourage the player to dig further to find the truth of the matter. That all is incredibly helpful for completing the main quest, and makes the world feel alive rather than a dollhouse waiting for the player to arrive, transforming how RPG video games work going forward.
The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
