Toss a coin to your fellow Witcher because it’s once again time to venture into the world of The Witcher 3. Sporting better performance, improved visuals, and an abundance of quality-of-life improvements, we dive right into the next-gen update just to figure out how next-gen it really is. 

Kings Die, Realms Fall, But Magic Endures

When The Witcher 3 was released in 2015, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Being a console-only player at the time and seeing this as the third iteration in the franchise, I thought I’d be a bit lost in the story and world. Rarely do you jump head-first into a franchise, especially during a release that was essentially its series finale. Yet despite this, CD Projekt Red somehow managed to make one of the most welcoming games for new and old players.

It did this by crafting a beautiful world filled to the brim with lore that had a sense of discovery while supplying us with an incredibly well-written story fit for a role-playing game, and with gameplay — although not perfect — still a blast with an insane amount of depth.

Seeing the story unwind in The Witcher 3 was like reading a book. The kind of book that had you hooked the moment you began, and where you would look up for a brief second, only realize that hours have passed by. It truly was a game in its own league, one that could only come once in a generation. That was seven years ago, and often times when you revisit a game, you realize it isn’t all it’s quite up…