14 DAY TRIAL // The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now launched and gamers all over the world can experience the final adventure of Geralt, guiding him across a new open world and choosing how he deals with the fate of men and empires.
One of the big talking points before and after the release date is the length of the title, which is estimated to be over 100 hours even for those who are only looking to experience the core story elements.
Apparently, more than 150 hours are required in order to explore the entire world of The Witcher 3 and see most of the side quests, and multiple playthroughs are required to experience the way the branching choices can modify the world.
CD Projekt even plans to deliver two expansions for the game, which will add another 40 hours or so of gameplay.
The numbers are even higher than for Dragon Age: Inquisition, the complex role-playing experience from BioWare, which could be comfortably finished in a little over 50 hours by gamers who were only interested in the critical path.
It's true that replayability was a core element of the title and I spent more than 200 hours in it, trying out three full builds before I got bored with the core mechanics.
A title does not even need to have a lengthy story to keep players occupied for long periods of time, with plenty of fans of Crusader Kings II or Football Manager 2015 spending hundreds of hours with them even though there are no narrative elements.
A virtue and a sin
When I was younger, I was more than happy to play video games that took up weeks if not months of my life and I did not feel any sort of pressure to move away from them and try out something new or something important.
When I played Dragon Age: Inquisition for the first time, I was happy to give it however long it required to reveal its narrative and secrets, but that feeling faded on the second playthrough and almost disappeared on the third.
I am at the moment actively avoiding The Witcher 3 because I know that I do not have the time required to explore the final adventures of Geralt because I have not yet seen everything that Galactic Civilizations III has to offer.
The life and circumstances of a gamer who was 12 in the 90's and of one who is 30+ in 2015 are very different and developers seem to have failed to acknowledge that available time tends to diminish for the entire video game fan community.
On a conceptual level, we love the idea of long games that also feature replayability. In reality, I think we should accept that just one of those values should be emphasized by a big release.
Long and definitive versus short and varied
Titles like The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition should choose whether they aim to be long or they want to be replayable and varied.
The decision should be clearly communicated to the fan base so that they can decide how they can best spend their time and which titles will give them the kind of experience they are looking for.
I will surely play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt at least once all the way through before the end of the year, and to celebrate it, I might even go through the previous two titles in the series once again.
But I cannot do that without a certain regret for the fact that I am missing out on other game experiences meanwhile.
I want big games and I am certain that players need to get value for the money they spend on AAA releases, but I am also sure that a little bit of moderation is something we can all appreciate.