

The Witcher III’s first expansion starts as most Witcher work does - with a contract to slay a beast. If you decide to play it before you’ve run through the main thread of Wild Hunt, the game presents a custom new game mode that boosts you to level 32, fills your pockets with suitable gear, and provides a tweaked experience where the main story threads are turned off so to not disrupt your main journey. If you’ve not completed The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, rest easy - it can be played separately, or as a series of missions that take place around a character level 30 or higher. Now, we get out first true expansion pack - this one entitled Hearts of Stone. As Eric stated in his review “There is no filler here.” Despite that wealth of content, the team at CD Projekt RED still had more to say, releasing 16 pieces of DLC for free. In The Witcher III, every mission, whether they be side content or critical thread, is hand crafted and beautifully executed. Many open world games suffer side mission fatigue, using repetitive quest structures as filler to extend the playtime. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt is a very likely frontrunner for our RPG of the year, and it’s easy to see why.
