Peak immersion in gaming

You know the feeling after you binge watch an entire eight seasons of a great show on Netflix? Or when you finish a really long series of deep and enriching fantasy novels? You’re left in a void where you aren’t sure what your normal life was or what your daily routines were before that piece of entertainment consumed your soul.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the videogame equivalent of that feeling. Keep in mind, this is a singleplayer campaign, not one of those MMORPGs that are known for their addictive online PvP qualities. This game didn’t break any sales records and quite frankly, isn’t even that well known to the mainstream gaming audience.

But it’s a triple-A title that packs a mighty punch. It has an immense, sprawling open-world. It has one of the most complex and interweaving narratives that I’ve ever experienced in any form of entertainment. It’s a marvel of technical achievement in performance and animation. It has a strategic and satisfying combat system. It has branching dialogue paths with choices that change the outcomes of not just the entire game, but also of character arcs and sub-plots. It’s an incredibly gorgeous world in which to roam around and admire the sunsets for hours on end.

The story that the game tells is so good that it could be a bestselling book. The game continues the story of an already established series of books, but it does so in a self-contained manner. It’s a very mature tale of loss, redemption, kindness, revenge, faith, and reunion. It treats players like adults and expects a lot from them.

After pouring over 120 hours in to the game a few weeks ago, I still can’t forget about the dramatic events that unfolded, the epic battles I had, and best of all — the quiet, somber moments the game gave you to reflect in the midst of all the chaos. As much as the trailers want you to believe it, the game isn’t really about slaying monsters. It’s about growth, discovery, and learning.

It’s obvious that the developers exercised immense restraint when it came to quest design and player choice in the game. There’s a grace and finesse with which the story is revealed to the player over time. There’s a smooth and deliberate subtlety to how the camera angles pan across frames and how the cinematography paints the mood of the scene.

There are quests with branching dialogue paths where the outcome changes depending on what you chose to do. There’s never any purely good or evil choices. Much like real life, every choice is some shade of gray. Even well-intentioned choices can and often do have negative repercussions.

One particular standout questline is one involving the Bloody Baron — a man seemingly appearing to be a stereotypical trope of a very generic fantasy warlord at first glance — whose character development over the questline rivals some of the most famous characters in literary fiction.

Technically, it’s a marvel of engineering. These are the best weather effects in any game I’ve played. The rustling wind, the cresting waves, and the dazzling sunrises/sunsets really do make you feel like you can almost smell the air. Everything from character animations, lip syncing, player movement, and NPC interaction are the best in class.

It’s worth pointing out all these individual feats because the true immersion in the game is achieved when it all comes together. There’s nothing quite like riding your horse at a full gallop towards your next objective during a rainstorm while you stumble upon a monster hideout on your way there, revealing an available sidequest for you to do. You find things out about the monster, learn some stuff, brew some potions, track the monster, slay it, level-up, upgrade your skills, collect a trophy, collect your reward, and continue towards your main quest.

The sense of continual progression is so good in the game that I seriously believe it to be one of gaming finest achievements to date. There’s never a dull moment in any quest and it all feels connected to the story of the much larger world.

Upon completing the game, I felt a huge void in my mind (and heart) for weeks. It got me so emotionally invested in its characters and story that I wanted more. No other singleplayer campaign of a videogame has had as lasting of an effect on me as this one. It tackled major themes of political intrigue, dynastic trifles, and morally gray choices as well as minor ones of lighthearted romantic flings, competitive card games, and family squabbles.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt rightfully won over 250 Game of the Year awards for 2015. It was highly praised and critically acclaimed for setting a new standard for not just open-world RPGs, but for gaming in general. The quality and depth of content players are receiving for $60 is second to none.

I can confidently say that The Witcher 3 is the best singleplayer game I have ever played and that it’s the most immersive digital experience I’ve ever had, beating out film, music, and literature by a landslide. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who has the time to invest in it and is curious to see what total immersion in a virtual world feels like. Saddle in and hold the reins tight, for you’re in for a wild ride.