I bought my first have a look at The Witcher 3 at E3 2013 (say that thrice quick), and dutifully defined to PC Gamer readers that though Geralt could also be a reasonably wild man and in addition a type of hunter, that is not what “The Wild Hunt” meant. Reality be informed, the time period was new to me, too.
The Witcher 3 at 10
To have a good time its tenth anniversary, all this week we’re trying again on The Witcher 3—and waiting for its upcoming sequel, too. Preserve checking again for extra options and retrospectives, in addition to in-depth interviews with the builders who introduced the sport to life.
A decade and alter later and The Witcher is now one of many world’s most-recognized fantasy sequence—even my mother is aware of concerning the Netflix present, though I am unsure if she watched previous the primary episode concerning the wizard with a intercourse tower.
The Witcher 3 can also be one of many video games PC Gamer has celebrated and coated probably the most in its 30-year historical past. We have a particular, typically unusual relationship with the sport (you could have heard about our tub obsession). For The Witcher 3’s tenth anniversary, this is a quick historical past of that relationship.
Chances are you’ll like
The evaluate: A time when PC got here second
Solid your thoughts again to the distant previous: 10 complete years in the past. It is a very long time in PC gaming phrases. Steam Greenlight was nonetheless round, nobody was speaking about ‘extraction shooters,’ and although we considered CD Projekt as a PC developer, it did not come as a giant shock to us that console evaluate copies of The Witcher 3 have been out there earlier than PC evaluate copies.
“Whereas evaluate copies of The Witcher 3 have been despatched out for the PlayStation 4 greater than per week in the past, PC code remains to be lacking in motion, regardless of being pre-loadable on Steam,” we wrote on the time to clarify why we did not have a evaluate but. “Bandai Namco tells us that it’s because a giant day-one patch hasn’t been finalized on PC in time for immediately’s evaluate embargo, however will likely be prepared for worldwide launch subsequent Tuesday.”
(If it appears unusual to see Bandai Namco talked about there, it is one other signal of how a lot has modified: Again then CD Projekt relied on Bandai Namco and Warner Bros to assist publish bodily copies of its video games in Europe and North America, respectively.)
Lately, it is extra typically the console variations that reviewers have to attend for whereas a day one patch is finalized and authorized. How far we have come!
After we did publish our Witcher 3 evaluate a few week after the console-focused shops, we gave it a 92%. That is a really excessive rating for us, though it was one notch beneath the rating that seems on our Steel Gear Stable 5 evaluate from the identical yr, which brings me to…
A quick FAQ about our 2015 GOTY decide
What recreation did PC Gamer award Recreation of the Yr in 2015?
Steel Gear Stable 5 was our 2015 GOTY.
Did anybody argue that it ought to be The Witcher 3 as an alternative?
Sure, they did.
Did anybody level out that it was type of odd to offer The Witcher 3 a ‘Greatest Singleplayer’ award although MGS5 was additionally a singleplayer recreation, largely?
Sure, I believe just a few folks talked about that.
PC Gamer additionally declared Demise Stranding GOTY in 2020. Are you in love with Hideo Kojima?
Disagreements over how a lot to reward or not reward Kojima video games has been one of many prime causes of damage emotions at PC Gamer in my time right here. (Not joking.)
Do you remorse not awarding The Witcher 3 GOTY in 2015?
Talking for myself, I like that we selected to have a good time the systems-driven design of MGS5. Our GOTY picks typically do align with standard opinion (Baldur’s Gate 3), however there would not be a lot level to choosing a employees GOTY if our methodology have been to attempt to predict what the most individuals will agree with, which might be higher completed with a ballot. MGS5 received on its deserves, as decided by the PCG staff on the time, and that can at all times be the most effective we will do.
(However I am sure a few of us who have been round then would argue more durable for The Witcher 3 if we did 2015 over.)
Was MGS5 PC Gamer’s most controversial GOTY decide?
We picked Spelunky in 2013 and other people have been fairly mad about that.
The High 100: From GOTY snub to #1
It could not have received our 2015 GOTY award, nevertheless it wasn’t lengthy earlier than The Witcher 3 turned PC Gamer’s prime recreation of all years. We publish a brand new checklist of the High 100 video games yearly, and in 2016 we put The Witcher 3 on the prime, unseating Mass Impact 2 and former champions like Skyrim and Half-Life 2.
“Wow! Our recreation in prime spot over all these superb video games on the checklist… I am a bit misplaced for phrases,” stated Witcher 3 recreation director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz on the time. “It means loads for us, proving that every one the exhausting work that we’ve put into making The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and each expansions was time nicely spent.”
The Witcher 3 stayed in that spot till being unseated in 2019 by Divinity: Authentic Sin 2 (because of its Definitive Version replace). Authentic Sin 2 was unseated by Disco Elysium in 2020, which was lastly usurped by Baldur’s Gate 3 final yr.
In our present High 100 PC video games checklist, printed final yr, The Witcher 3 sits at #6.
And now, the bathtub
We have been simply goofing off, actually. We could not have identified that we would sooner or later have a small however actual connection to Henry Cavill soaking in a bath by candlelight.
It was Phil Savage, present World Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer, who began it. And there actually wasn’t a lot to it: We simply overused a screenshot of Geralt within the tub in articles about The Witcher 3 as a result of it appeared humorous to do this.
Individuals on Twitter observed. A few of them have been delighted. Others have been mad about it. So we saved doing it.
If requested why we saved posting the bathtub picture, I would typically say that we merely did not have some other screenshots of The Witcher 3, which as soon as prompted a PR particular person to e mail me a press equipment with extra screenshots. We did not cease.
For some, the gag was a political assertion, and we did obtain some indignant messages about “double requirements.” I simply loved retaining the bit alive, however I do wish to imagine that Tub Geralt introduced good issues into the world:
When “sizzling tub streams” turned a factor on Twitch in 2021, the chance was not misplaced on us, nor on CD Projekt. With Netflix, the developer streamed Geralt cosplayer MaulCosplay reenacting the bathtub scene upfront of WitcherCon.
For our half, we streamed a loop of The Witcher 3’s tub scene for hours, sometimes enjoying clips of Geralt dialogue from a soundboard. (Sure, one among us was manually enjoying sound clips for hours.)
We archived the stream on YouTube. Behold:
Watch On
And do not forget Large Geralt!
A lesser-known operating Geralt joke happened after modder Votislav posted a stretched-out Geralt face from The Witcher 3’s information. We dubbed it “Large Geralt.”
If I am being trustworthy, I like Large Geralt greater than Tub Geralt. He is so serene, and he nonetheless seems typically after we write about ultrawide shows.
Extra of PC Gamer’s greatest Witcher 3 protection
We have written loads about The Witcher 3 over the previous 10 years. Listed below are just a few extra highlights:
