The
Witcher III is my favorite game of 2015, and Blood and Wine is my favorite gaming experience of 2016 so far. Blood and Wine gave me a new, beautiful
land to explore, a solid main quest line, a good crop of side quests, fun
characters, a wonderful soundtrack, and more great Geralt dialogue. There are
each a good thing that all people need.
Blood
and Wine’s location, the country of Toussaint, is breathtaking. So much
that I hesitate before fast traveling back to the other lands of Witcher III, though I am, as far as I
can tell, finished in Toussaint. Though no more quests await, I can’t help but
frolic through the fields, taking screenshots and delighting in the music. The
rolling hills and valleys of Toussaint are some of the most beautiful game
visuals one can see in 2016.
Toussaint is based on France. It’s
not too difficult to discern this, given the many vineyards, the accents of its
people, and the look of its buildings. Toussaint offers a refreshing change of
scenery and environment from the rest of Witcher
III’s Temeria, much like France does, I’m sure, to northern Europe. I can’t
say for sure as I’ve never been to France. (But I have been to Toussaint!)
The soundtrack lives up to the
quality of the base game’s, if not even surpasses it. The music that plays as
you explore the world complements the beautiful, rolling visuals. The battle and
dungeons tracks are great, and I loved the theme it plays when you are
investigating a scene. Each track has a French sound to it. I’m not a music
expert, so I can’t elucidate here on all the nuances of French music—but you’ll
know what I mean.
The main quest involves a beast
plaguing Beauclair, the capitol city of Toussaint. It has been killing
prominent citizens in extremely violent fashion. Duchess Anna Henrietta, ruler
of the region, summons Geralt and offers him a contract to slay the beast.
Geralt finds out, soon after he has undertaken the task, that slaying this
beast is going to be more difficult than it is for most contracts. This main
quest line is enjoyable, if victim to some cliché plot devices that, honestly,
most narratives fall to. There’s even a ‘secret background character that suddenly
comes into the picture in a “did I mention” sort of way, at just the opportune
moment to make you think “surely not…but of course!”…’. But the use of these
ploys does not detract from the main quests’ overall quality. Like the major
quest lines of The Witcher III,
there’s excellent dialogue, a couple key choices to make, tough boss battles,
and good set pieces. It’s more of what you loved from the base game.
Ditto for the side quests. You’ll
fight plenty of monsters plaguing vineyards, encounter a few anguished spirits,
help a few folks with curses (like an unfortunate werebird), and meet colorful
characters throughout. A new feature in this DLC is furnishing a home—one of
the side quests has Geralt restoring a house given him by Toussaint’s duchess.
All the quests amount to a hefty amount of content for a twenty-dollar DLC
package. Even still, if you’re as Witcher
III-crazed as I can be…you’ll be wanting more.
This DLC comes along with an update
to the base game that improves the user interface and makes other minor
changes. One of these that I appreciated is that the game now pauses the action
when you bring up the menu to change signs, rather than only having the game
enter slow motion when you do so.
Blood
and Wine has great quests, great visuals, a great soundtrack,
and brings improvements to the base game. I loved it. It got me back into The Witcher III, after all, and got me
psyched for a new-games-plus! (The option of a new-game-plus is one of the more
recent updates around the time of this DLC.)
