Every so often a game gets released showing what video games are capable of. These games push the possibilities of the medium and are truly special. “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is one of those games.

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” is a third-person action role-playing game created by Polish developer CD Projekt RED and was released on May 19. It is the sequel to “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.”

Players take the role of Geralt of Rivia, a witcher. Witchers, or monster hunters, are trained at a young age and mutated to have increased senses and health. The only visual aspect identifying them as a witcher compared to a normal human is their catlike eyes and their trademark two swords carried on their backs.

The plot has Geralt on a quest to find the location of his adopted daughter, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, or Ciri. She is a very special individual because she is one of the only people alive containing Elder Blood. This gives her great magical powers with the potential to cause great harm or do great good. Because of the Elder Blood, Ciri is hunted by a group of world-traveling elves called the Wild Hunt. Geralt intends to stop the Wild Hunt from capturing Ciri.

This story stands out among its competitors because, despite how grandiose the plot becomes, it is a personal tale about a father and daughter. Geralt and Ciri’s relationship is extremely enjoyable to watch because the choices one makes as a player, through dialogue decisions and actions, impact the plot. Ciri’s development as an adult and magic wielder are affected by Geralt.

This has a unique effect, making the player feel like a father and truly feel proud of Ciri despite the fact she is a video game character. No other game I have experienced has had the same effect on me.

The gameplay is a third-person sword fighting game, and the combat revolves around Geralt attacking, counterattacking and dodging his enemies. He can use a crossbow to hit enemies from range or send flying enemies to the ground to more easily damage them. The player can also craft bombs for damaging groups of enemies or potions for restoring health and increasing his strength.

This is a massive game. For this review, I clocked in around 180 hours of gameplay, and still have more activities to do.

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” is an open world game. The setting takes place in five different areas: Velen, Novigrad, Skellige, White Orchard and Kaer Morhen. Players can roam free and explore these huge areas containing everything from villages and big cities to mountains and forests.

While traveling, a player can also do a variety of different activities. The player can progress the plot, do side quests, horseback race and more.

One task to note is witcher contracts, which are jobs posted by villagers on notice boards to remove monsters or creatures harassing their town. Geralt must use his witcher senses to track down these creatures and defeat them.

These monsters are generally stronger than the typical enemy. Upon figuring out what the creature is, the player should prepare by brewing the necessary potions and weapon oils to have every advantage to defeat these foes. This side objective adds some extra thought and strategy to this action heavy game.

Another exceptional aspect is the extremely well-thought-out card game, Gwent. This is not just a small side game but a full-fledged card game on par with real popular card games like “Hearthstone” and Magic: the Gathering. Gwent comes complete with many cards to collect and surprising depth. Some players of “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” have claimed they have spent as much time playing Gwent as they have playing the core game.

All in all, there is very little to complain about the game.

The fast travel system, a system allowing players to quickly move across the map to areas they have explored already, is a little inconvenient sometimes. Other open world games let a player fast travel whenever they want. In “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” you have to run to designated locations before the ability is available.

This is particularly noticeable when you are exploring the world and have not found a fast travel location in a while. This forces the player to either keep going forward in the hopes of finding a fast travel spot or backtracking to an old one.

Another issue is the inventory system.

Throughout the game you can loot and collect a large assortment of items. These are used for equipping Geralt with better items, crafting new gear or brewing potions. The problem is the sheer number of different items can be very daunting.

Upon completion of the game, I had 347 individual items just in the alchemy and crafting ingredients section, not including the other four inventory tabs containing other categories of items.

Overall, these complaints are extremely minor and do not greatly impact the overall experience of the game.

One final thing to point out is CD Projekt RED is going further than most companies would in supporting their games post release.

Since the game’s launch, they have had one or two pieces of free downloadable content released to players each week.

Also, the inventory issues mentioned above will be dealt with in a downloadable patch coming soon. This will have huge improvements to the inventory system, such as adding sorting filters for massive inventories and creating a place for players to store items.

This patch also comes with other game tweaks such as improvements to movement and horseback riding.

Rounding out the game is a compelling soundtrack with music for every moment. Whether it is a soothing ambient melody while exploring a forest or a song for an intense battle to get the heart racing, this game has it.

Furthermore, the developers are planning on releasing at least two expansion packs in the future. These updates combine to approximately another 30 hours of gameplay, roughly as long as the previous game in the series, “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.”

It is hard to describe why “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is so special in words. It can only be understood through experiencing it, if you have the time to devote to it.

To put it simply, “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is the definition of a masterpiece in the video game medium.

5 out of 5 stars