1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2015 was no stranger to impactful games. As the months passed, we snuck through Angolan jungles and the Afghan desert. We honed our skills in frantic vehicle-based soccer arenas. We survived the irradiated wastes of post-nuclear Boston. And we confronted the horrors of a mysterious Victorian nightmare.
But none of these experiences left as much of a lasting impact as that of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The expansive setting was a character in itself, and its inhabitants felt nuanced and real. From the swamps of Crookback Bog, to the grimy alleys of Novigrad, to the frozen islands of Skellige, our journey through the Northern Kingdoms set the stage for one of video games' most engrossing epics.
We explored political turmoil, civil war, supernatural elements, and a vibrant wilderness with creatures both beautiful and grotesque. This was a world that seemed to breathe on its own, and carry on without us, indifferent to our motivations as the witcher Geralt. We may have been powerful, but we were still only one person. We weren't without our allies, though. We had the cunning Yennefer, the wise Vesemir, the two-faced Dijkstra. And of course, we had Ciri. She was one of the most convincing characters to emerge from 2015, and in the end, The Witcher 3 was about Geralt's fatherly relationship with her. That we could see her grow, and watch her make choices of her own, lent an emotional thread to the entire experience. CD Projekt Red created vibrant characters that responded to our actions, and in doing so, added emotional weight to every choice we made.
This rang true in The Witcher 3's myriad side quests as well. Here we had vivid supporting characters and subversive plot threads rivalling those of the main story. Many RPGs encourage quest completion with new gear or experience gains. The Witcher 3’s quests, on the other hand, were compelling through the sheer force of their writing alone. The content on The Witcher 3’s periphery told some of the most immersive stories not just in 2015, but in any RPG to date.
Because in The Witcher 3, every detail in its landscape builds toward an immersive, convincing world full of exciting quests, where your actions can have real consequences. It was a year of numerous detailed worlds, but after all is said and done, and we look back on 2015, it was The Witcher 3's that truly felt alive.
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