Having finished my second play-through of the Witcher, I’m struggling to come to grips that it’s over. I managed to discover so much more on my second go. I managed to beat the game on the highest difficulty setting, and I think I’ve done all that I would want to do. Sure, I could go back for another go and, say, let Radovid live, or choose Triss Merigold over Yennefer of Vengerberg, or let Ciri die… but I’m happy having killed Radovid on both my play-throughs. I’m happy with Yennefer on both play-throughs, and I’m happy with Ciri having become empress in my first play-through and a witcher on my second.
One of the reasons I decided upon a second play-through is because I had made a choice in the Blood and Wine expansion — which was amazing, I’d like to add — that lead to the death of both Anna Henrietta and her sister Sylvia Anna, which I hated. Replaying the DLC was a treat, and I got to experience an entirely portion of the story which I didn’t even know existed. The Land of a Thousand Fables storyline was amazing. But then, the Orianna storyline that I went through the first time was pretty cool, too.
Anyway, I’m level capped, I have all the grandmaster legendary witcher outfits, I’ve explored all the question marks on the map, and there’s little for me to do. I have to admit that it’s time to stop playing the game, even though I don’t want to yet. I had the same after both play-throughs I did for Mass Effect 1-3; I feel the incredible sadness and emptiness. I know I’ll find something new, that there are plenty more fish in the sea, but I can’t imagine anything gripping me as tightly and engrossing me as much as this game did.
But what now? What’s next? Well, I’ve started reading the books, which are amazing. I’ve also started playing the second game, which is okay. Both give me a lot of context for the game, and might tempt me to do another play-through of the game at a later point. I still have a few games that I could play, but in the wake of The Witcher, I simply don’t feel like anything will fill that void.
