On top of that, Geralt has never been so warmly welcomed on a contract. Geralt even spends most of the adventure teamed up with an old friend who happens to be a higher vampire (not a spoiler, he's completely open about it), and one of the most sociable and pleasant companions a Witcher could have. Instead, while there are monsters like everywhere else in the Witcher universe, relatively speaking it's a place with few concerns and no real reason to be afraid of the dark. I was expecting the place to be on the lines of Mordavia from Quest For Glory IV, where beautiful days give way to terrifying nights and the people hide in terror of vampires and their minions. well, actually, at night things are pretty much the same. Which would explain some of the dodgy, not-quite-French accents. Knights ride around in search of adventure or glorious battles to win the hearts of their lady-loves, peasants go mostly unmolested by soldiers or invaders, and most people are said to be slightly drunk all the time. Unlike most of The Witcher series so far, it's an idyllic place untouched by war or even that many problems. Unlike the last DLC, Hearts of Stone, Blood and Wine also takes place in a brand new region - Toussaint. Though that said, this is a Witcher game. There aren't any truly bastard-hard enemies like the Caretaker from Hearts of Stone, though the final one gives it a good shot, but Geralt does have to handle some seriously big brawls. The story is standalone, but you'll want to have finished the main game. Bah!) The gist though is that you can unlock new mutations that do more than just boost damage, like freezing people with Aard or landing critical hits with other signs. Well, pardon me for being distracted by the obvious route glowing red with Witcher senses. Other smaller additions include dyes that can be used to customise Witcher gear, a new Skellige Gwent deck, and a tweak to the mutation system that I unfortunately wasn't able to try due to a bug - not being able to slide down a rope into the new area and get the gear. As with Hearts of Stone, you can continue your existing save into Blood and Wine, or be given a brand new Geralt at Level 35 to customise with what you want. There's a whole new map full of points of interest, treasure troves, Witcher contracts and more, and I still had great swathes of it left unexplored. In raw terms, I finished this DLC in about 15 hours, but that's not even close to a complete run. I'd love to see some of the stuff that CDP has rejected over the years for being too silly or time consuming, because as ever, they're all implemented with the kind of love most RPGs restrict to their big critical path set-pieces. In terms of quest design though, it's surprises around every corner, from dealing with a wight with a spoon obsession to trying to track down a statue's magical testicles. The mechanics are well-worn now, there aren't really any changes to the core systems, and I could happily go a year or so without the words "Use your Witcher senses to-" trying to burn their way into my screen. Of course, it's also another huge DLC pack full of everything that The Witcher III does so well, including offering the power to surprise. A big 'thank you' present wrapped in a bow and slipped with love between universes. Blood And Wine is their parting gift - not to us, but to Geralt himself. But CD Projekt RED, which has ridden this series from obscurity to the top-tier of RPG developers, clearly aren't. At some point, he'll be just a little too slow to dodge out of the way of the incoming griffin, and his reward for a lifetime of heroism, compassion and saving the world will be a painful, lonely, and likely little-mourned death on some cold hill somewhere. At some point he won't be strong enough to ply his trade. Geralt is a man out of time, both figuratively, and aware that the end isn't going to be far off. There's always been an element of finality to The Witcher. Is it a fitting finale? Here's Wot I Think. Now, Geralt's final adventure comes to an end in a terrorised land. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best RPGs ever made, and the first DLC, Hearts of Stone, certainly didn't let the side down.
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