8 Reasons The Witcher 3 Still Feels Like the Standard for Fantasy RPGs

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Published May 15, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT

Adam Braunstein is a Staff Writer at DualShockers who has been covering games professionally since 2019. He primarily writes lists and features, with a focus on RPGs, JRPGs, action-adventure games, VR, long-running franchises, nostalgia, and the broader state of the gaming industry.

Before joining DualShockers, Adam contributed to gaming outlets including Venture 4th, GameSkinny, The Nerd Stash, Attack of the Fanboy, and Daily Gamer. He has also interviewed developers, written occasional guides and news articles, and reviewed games for previous publications. Adam holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing.

In my opinion, after almost 11 years, we have yet to reach the heights that 2015 brought us with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Since then, we haven't gotten an RPG that engulfs you so totally, with a level of immersion and beauty that makes people recall specific areas of the game years later.

There was just something special here. The Witcher 3 was the perfect medley of forces that came together to create a game that I put on my short list of being one of the best titles ever made.

There is a reason that we still compare every RPG that comes out to The Witcher 3, and there's a reason that no matter how many great games come out year after year, none have yet to return to the heights that we once experienced with this iconic title. We're going to explore what made it so special.

8 The World

Unlike Any Other

The Witcher 3 The Wild Hunt Best Non Souls RPG

There is something truly special and cohesive about the world of The Witcher 3. Simply known as The Continent, the world here is incredibly believable. It's far away from the more whimsical fantasy RPGs we've seen in games for years, as this one felt much closer to a realistic and believable world. It's a land ravaged by war, and you can feel it more than any game I can think of.

In Velen, you can see the families destroyed by the war, and the battlefields that had no use for a Witcher. Instead of seeing the battles happening, you see the horrific fields of bodies, where monsters roam and pick the bones of the dead. In Novigrad, you see a thriving city, full of people shielding themselves from the horrors in the wild, yet also fighting their own war inside the city walls, hunting mages and any manner of people deemed unnatural.

In Skellige, you see another land completely removed from the war on the mainland, with its own culture, yet also caught in a succession-based turmoil for a throne. It's an amazing place to explore, with places that feel real, lived in, scary, and ugly. It's a game world that's not afraid to show you what a full world should look like, and other games just don't have the guts to do that.

7 The Best Side Quests Ever

Still the Bar

The Nilfgaardian Deserter in The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 has the best side quests in any game period. It's not just that there are a lot of them, because there certainly are, but it's the depth, the writing, and the characters with them that make them special. Some of the best quests in the game are, in fact, the side quests. There is so much variety, too. From hunting down a vampire draining the citizens of Novigrad of Blood to discovering a star-crossed lovers' story gone very, very wrong, there is consistently something new and interesting to discover when you happen upon a new town or city.

There is also the investigation aspect of the game, where you need to search for specific things in the environment using Geralt's (now copied over and over again) Witcher Senses. It makes you feel like Geralt himself. You're not being told the story; you're learning about it alongside him. It's a masterful way to execute the classic show-don't-tell idea in writing, and it hasn't been done close to as well since.

The Assassin's Creed RPG games have definitely tried to do side quests on this level, but it's the writing that sets CD Projekt Red's magnum opus apart from everyone else. These quests had weight to them, and the multiple outcomes really made you consider what you're going to do next, because the effects could result in people living, dying, or worse, and the fact that you cared so much about the outcomes meant that no matter how brief or long the quests were, they mattered.

6 The DLC

Two Unforgettable Journeys

The Witcher 3 has two DLCs that are better than entire games. The first one, Hearts of Stone, is a dark adventure about a man named Olgierd who can't die and the terrifying character of Gaunter O'Dimm, who is far more than what he lets on. The resulting journey is amazing, taking you to some very creepy places, fighting new enemies, and ultimately deciding the fate of a man who might not deserve a happy ending. It's got some of the best storytelling in the game and fits perfectly within the world to the point that it feels like something that was there the whole time.

Then there's Blood and Wine, which is a 40+ hour experience that feels like an entire separate game. It takes place in the land of Toussaint, an almost fairytale-looking world that is a far cry from what you experienced in the tons of hours prior. Everyone is dressed in colorful outfits, the wilderness is booming with beautiful vistas, and everything seems perfect from the outside looking in. So why is a Witcher there? That's the mystery you're there to unfold, and it turns from a fairytale into a nightmare, with vampires taking center stage and one of the most compelling villains out there in Detlaf.

Both of these incredible DLCs have tons of new weapons, armor, side quests, and even new game mechanics to add to the experience. There is more content in the DLCs here than the base content of most full games, and seeing the DLCs for other RPGs in recent years, it just doesn't hold a candle to what was done here. Compare this to the DLC in Starfield or Final Fantasy 16, and there is no competition.

5 The Characters

Take Your Pick

The characters in The Witcher 3 are maybe the best cast you can have in a game, period. I mean, take your pick when it comes to who is the best written or best acted. You've got people who love Yennefer and her badass disposition and boss attitude, and others who love Triss and her innocent nature, seemingly out of place in a world like this, yet stuck with uneasy allies because it's all she knows. Then you've got people who love the grey types, like Dijkstra, who is a wildly compelling character that balances his morals and allegiances on the head of a pin, easy to push to either side depending on his mood.

There are characters like Gaunter O'Dimm, a terrifying presence in the Hearts of Stone DLC that makes you believe there are forces in this world that Geralt is just not capable of defeating, while also being a wildly charming individual at the same time. And then there are the smaller roles, like Keira Metz, who stars in the game in the early hours, offering a very interesting and complex character who is both a potential love interest and someone who could betray Geralt for her own needs.

It's such an amazing cast that I've mentioned a handful of great characters, and I still haven't named a good 10 more that are all equally compelling and well-acted in their own right. They all feel incredibly real, and go beyond just being characters in a game, as these are people you get to know, with personalities and growth and everything that so many games today seem to miss.

4 The Thrill of the Hunt

Preparation is the Game

People rag on the combat in The Witcher 3, which I understand, as the melee is pretty random-feeling with what moves you're going to pull off, and the ranged combat isn't the best feeling either. But where the game nails it is the monster hunting.

Throughout the game, you're going to get plenty of contracts to hunt down monsters, and each one requires its own set of preparations. While most games are going to require you to upgrade armor, weapons, and stats, The Witcher 3 requires you to craft specific oils and potions and create traps to deal with these terrifying creatures in the game.

Just finding their nests and following the clues is still such a unique mechanic that makes you feel like you're really hunting them down and not just wandering around and finding them. It's a mechanic that a ton of games have copied since, but it still hasn't been done better than it was in The Witcher 3.

3 The Enemies

Foreign Threats

The Witcher 3 is a fantasy world heavily based on Polish folklore, so its host of enemies that you'll be fighting against are just much different than any other typical fantasy fiends. You're not going to be fighting your typical orcs and goblins here, but instead, things far creepier and more disturbing.

You've got Rot Fiends that feast on rotting corpses, Drowners that pull unaware swimmers to untimely ends, Leshens that tower above you in dense forests, feeling ancient beyond anything else in the game, and so much more that will keep you combing through the Bestiary to see what the origins of the creatures are and what their weaknesses might be.

I think the most affecting creature you'll face off against, though, is the Noonwraith, an absolutely terrifying ghost enemy that has a design that is just a horror to behold. Then there's the variety of enemies the Wild Hunt throws at you, from its hounds to its challenging swordsman. There are so many different kinds of enemies to fight in each area that it keeps the experience fresh, and that variety is something I think has bogged down many RPGs in recent memory, with games forgetting to up the ante as the game progresses. The Witcher 3 had this down perfectly.

2 The Music

A Soundtrack for The Ages

The Witcher 3 stands next to Skyrim to me as the best soundtracks in the history of gaming. The way each area had its own music was such a great touch; it showed you the game was progressing and the feel of each area. Velen had a downtrodden, sad background song playing throughout it, making it well known that you were not in a place of joy.

Meanwhile, you had the eclectic and bustling soundtrack in Novigrad, showing a much more upscale quality of life despite the horrors taking place within the walls. Skellige, though, might've had the best songs in the game. The first notes you hear stepping off the boats are just pure magic, and it doesn't let up the entirety of your time there.

The battle music was also amazing, again, shifting from area to area, with the stakes of the story being reflected by the songs playing. The style of the music was also just so different from what we'd heard in RPGs before or since. The singing and the various instruments being used created an orchestral masterwork that was as good as it gets.

1 Geralt of Rivia

An Icon that Has Yet to Be Topped

While there have been a ton of RPGs in recent years, most of them give you the opportunity to create your own character. Make them look how you want, decide their classes, their abilities, etc. And that's all well and good; however, you don't ever have a singular character that everyone knows. And that's what Geralt was—an icon. From the first moments in Kaer Mohren, you knew it. The voice, the swagger, the look. There had never been a character that looked like him or acted like him.

Geralt became a video game legend, from his monotone delivery, to his interesting sense of morality, to his various romance arcs; he was just so compelling to play as. He was medieval Batman in some ways, but also very much a Ronin, a wandering sellsword trying to make a buck and help whoever had the coin to hire him. He was a grey character. He was not the hero, he wasn't the chosen one, or the strongest person in the world, or anything of the sort. He was just another person in the world caught up in a whole lot of turmoil. He was such a refreshing character, and while he was born in a book, he came to life in the games.

I can't think of a single RPG hero since that made close to the same impact as Geralt has had. Whether it be the fantastic voice work of Doug Cockle or how he seemed lifelike in a way characters today struggle to feel, the character was just all-time.