Monster hunting on the go

In 2015, we got one of the best video games to release in the past 10 years with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It really is a fantastic sequel and game in its own right. Now, with the help of Saber Interactive, the CD Projekt Red title hits the Nintendo Switch, and the first thing on everyone’s mind is, more than likely, how can they do that? Well, they did and did it rather well with a few sacrifices that had to be made.

So, for those that don’t know, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was the much anticipated sequel to The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings. The war of the North has begun. The Nifgaardianempire has advanced their way into the Northern territories and begun taking over. Either the locals accept this invasion, or be taken down. In all of this Geralt of Rivia is looking for Yennefer of Vengerberg who has been caught in the crossfire of the war.

MSRP: $59.99
Price I’d pay: Switch only owner $59.99/Multi console owner: Buy it on another system

The Witcher 3 is an open world game that has players going all over a country taking on quests, hunting monsters, and exploring the area for all kinds of secrets. It is a massive world that is truly amazing to see, especially on the Switch. I would go as far as to say it’s almost a miracle that this game even runs on the Switch, but the fact that I never really had any frame drops with only a few exceptions here and there, and the way it controls and works well really had my mind blown.

So, how exactly did they pull this off? Well, the visual fidelity of the game has taken a downgrade. The game in docked mode only runs at 720p, and while in handheld it fluctuates around 540p. So there is a significant drop in the visuals of the game that make it look blurry in some areas, but they make up for it with how well it runs. It’s legit solid, and in a game where timing can mean life or death, it’s good to see Saber Interactive kept the frames a steady 30FPS as best as they could.

What’s crazy is I actually prefer playing in handheld mode. It looks great on the smaller screen, and even with the issues I have with the joycons, I think portable is the real way to go here. Blowing it up on a TV screen really makes the visual flaws show. At the same time, it is very nice to have the option and both are very viable.

This is the Complete Edition of the game. That means it comes with all the DLC including the two major expansions, Heart of Stone and Blood and Wine. The latter is a 30 hour story itself. There’s a ton of content here, all of it fantastic and full of quests and storylines that have some of the deepest and most interesting fantasy lore I have ever seen in a video game. There’s no denying this isn’t a great game.

In the end, it all boils down to the player. If you are looking for a great RPG to sink your teeth into, The Witcher 3 is an automatic recommend. What is not an automatic recommend is if you already own an Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or a PC that can run games well. If you do have one of those, get this game there. It looks way better and can easily be found on the cheap for $20 at any given sale. This version of the game is really only for the Switch only owners or the players really looking for a portable version of The Witcher 3. Sure, there are some of them out there and I can’t recommend this game enough, but just keep in mind, it does have that visual downgrade that can be a hard pill to swallow for some. If you can look past that, you end up with one of the best games to release in the past decade.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.