The combat is a bit stiffy, for me is the weakpoint on the game, maybe because i'm on the begining, but it feel like a sword version of Hogwarts Legacy but with mobility, not even when i played the first Kingdom Come Deliverance i feel the combat so dull, but still passable.

The story is pretty good, and the replay factor over the choices and consequences system will probably get me even more playthroughs than The Witcher 3, the graphics and art design are fantastic, among all this hyper realistic bullshit with the dlsuckass 5, i'm glad for that.

The exploration is divisive for me, as i love explore a well done and dense open world, looking for quests, loot, locations and interesting encounters, the fact of the time limit usually is a bother for me, i dislike this kind of system for limit my exploration (like the Dead Rising series), but i understand than that's the game main mechanic.

My main complain would be about the time system also applies to skill learning, lucky someone will do a mod to solve this...

The temperature is too hot for me. That's because I get suspicious of games that are mega-viral and seemingly come out of nowhere to have everybody talking about them all at once. I figure it's often either a fad, a masterfully executed guerilla marketing campaign, or genuinely outstanding, or some combination of these things. Of course, sometimes it is just genuinely outstanding, and if that's the case I'll probably pick it up eventually. But there's no rush, so regardless of which it is, I'm a patient gamer and I'm perfectly willing to wait and let the dust settle so I can get a better perspective, and very often I find these kind of games fade pretty quickly and are forgotten and in the clear light of day I'll often realize they're not really the kind of game I like anyway. And if they're the kind of genuinely outstanding instant classic they seem to be at first, they'll still be around once I'm ready for them, and potentially on sale. So, overall this strategy of suspicion-by-default and wait for more data has served me well.

There are plenty of games I'll impulse-buy, but it's never the popular ones, it's the ones that have a dozen reviews. I'm always suspicious of popularity. I do not believe in the wisdom of crowds, at least for my own entertainment preferences. I have very specific interests and preferences, and frankly I know them when I see them, and this probably isn't it.

I got it as a gift over the long weekend and I completed a blind run, about ~40 hours, ~5 or so days left on the in-game timer. I thoroughly enjoyed the game... so much that I immediately started a second run to explore other options. The choices are a bit more than just a secondary dialogue and different coat of paint, depending on how and when you do certain things.

All in all, as an original story with solid mechanics, it's one of the better games I've played in a long while.

Seconding everyone who said its one of their favorite games of the past year. I'm about 30 hours in and it's only been getting better. It's incredibly well written and performed, and the combat and general mechanics are some of my favorites in video games. If you played Blood and Wine in the witcher 3, you basically get to have all of the cool vampire powers you saw in that. Quickly entered my top 5 favorite games honestly.

Its definitely solid. Has a lot of witcher 3 DNA. The systems themselves aren't groundbreaking but its a good package for it all. I think if they have a fairly fast turnaround reusing assets and keep the memento rolling it could be a great series. And if this is to its final game what witcher 1 was to 3 that will be the greatest game of all time

It's Nice. Feel like Witcher 3 little brother. Like the story so far. I find really cool that you can do whatever you want. You can skip entire part of the game. You can kill quest character and still find a way to progress. You can even kill story boss without doing the story, because you can find them in the world. (In specific place). You can even ignore the main objective with the timer. And you can still play after this timer. I really like this proposition. It's refreshing. Choice matter. But some side quest feel repetitive (like 3 quest to destroy enemies camp to gather attention of the boss. Even if there some twist in each quest. I like the combat too. The directional parade make me feel like playing Mount And Blade, but easier.

I really dislike the fact you feel 'locked' in combat mode if there enemies. I cannot start a fight, and do the planeshift freely to some roof for example, to flee or attack from high ground. If you try to planeshift, it just teleport behind a enemie.

Overall, it's pretty good on story and character, storytelling. Sometimes less interesting, sometimes really cool.

I loved this game, I couldn’t put it down from start to finish, I explored lots of books and crannies, became a power fantasy vampire, killed the vassals, and had a great time. I would highly recommend this game as one of the best vampire games ever made.

That said, after beating it I uninstalled it and know I won’t be playing it again. It was perfect for what it was, but the end game had nothing left. Frankly I like that a game like this can still happen, it’s a fantastic single player game not a lifestyle game.

For anyone like me, definitely worth the money.

Oh also huge props to it working out of the box great on Linux with a 4080!

Genuinely my favorite game of the last year. When I talk about the reasons I enjoy certain games, this one literally by the book hits all those marks perfectly. Does it have a little jank? Yes, but what game worth playing doesn’t.

Vampires and witches are a yes, but I will give the game time to get polished and go on sale.

Refunded it. It had too much Witcher 3 DNA for me. Thought the vampire powers could offset that, but the combat was just completely unenjoyable. Definitely not worth 70€. Maaaaybe for 20€ down the line.

Haven't played, but the more I hear the more I want to. Kind of broke for the next few months, plus these next few months are stacked with the most amount of games I actually want to buy in years... so this one may be left till a discount and then buy late in the year or early next year.

For reference I have only purchased like 1 game in the past few years and that was Clair Obscure day one of its release. So having like 5 or so games that I really want to buy in the next 3ish months is crazy. And yes i still play a bunch of games, just been ones a friend will let me borrow or the free games on PS+ which has been more than enough to keep me occupied.