Seeking Open-World Closure

I’ve been mostly ignoring current video game releases, instead working to finally finish the massive stories of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Red Dead Redemption 2. With Grand Theft Auto 6 looming on the horizon, I've been wanting to finally knock out Rockstar Games' last release, and I returned to Wild Hunt due to the recent announcement of a fresh remaster and a brand new expansion titled "Songs of the Past" at Gamescom.

I have definitely burned myself out on side quests in games like these before, and have missed some great late-game moments because of it. Now I'm ready to reclaim my open-world gamer cred. I know how the hell Skyrim ends; I can take a chunk out of these intimidating open-world behemoths!

I resurrected my old RDR2 save, but started from scratch in Wild Hunt because I love making fresh starts in RPGs once I have more knowledge of the game. When I last played a huge binge of RDR2, I did a ton of side content, accepting every Stranger quest and going on some relentless hunting and fishing sprees. Starting back up, I was filthy rich and mostly focusing on the story, picking up with the gang in a precarious spot hiding outside Saint Denis after brawling with the Braithwaites. It took a moment to jog my memory on the early plot points, but I knew I had gotten too deep to start Arthur Morgan’s story over again.

Like Riding a Smelly Horse

Exploring Saint Denis and the surrounding area was a great way to jump back into the game. The main story missions in the city really drove home the futility of Dutch’s mission to keep robbing and sweet-talking his way to a mythical massive score to escape the encroaching Pinkerton agents. Every job is a bust or a set-up; fellow gang members you’ve grown to love start getting picked off brutally quickly, but Arthur is a right-hand man to his core. Any minor questioning of Dutch’s tactics exposes the gang leader’s skill as a master manipulator, silencing Arthur with just a few barbs and paternal scolds. Oh well, I’m sure Dutch will get everyone out of this pickle, and Arthur’s cough is probably nothing serious.

Armed with newfound knowledge and love for the world of The Witcher after reading the full book series last year, I’ve truly enjoyed my reintroduction to Wild Hunt as well. I’m still a few hours from where I left off last time, and currently diverting from Skellige shenanigans to play the Hearts of Stone expansion. Like the books, the world is sharp and mean, but also bleakly funny, and the story doesn’t hesitate to deliver a gut-punch with unexpected twists when you’re expecting cliché open-world quests. Crime scene investigation and cave exploration do get a little old, but I still haven’t gotten tired of the monster fights and writing. I miss being an Alchemy freak, as in my last playthrough; I opted to go all in on Signs this time, but I still love poring over the glossary to see my monster index expand.

The remastered version has refreshed the visuals and animations, updated systems like the menu UI, and, in my favorite change, beautiful new skill trees that help Geralt feel more like a battle mage than my previous Signs build. These additions are all extremely welcome, and help emphasize how the game's foundation has remained so solid in the years since it launched. My first was on the Nintendo Switch port, so there's definitely a feeling of whiplash thinking of my first hours in the world compared to how it looks now.

Wild Hunt is generally a smoother play experience than RDR2, but it’s interesting to see where they both refrain from sanding down the edges completely. Neither permits unrestrained fast travel, with RDR2 only letting you fast travel to previously visited settlements unless you pay for a stagecoach. Wild Hunt lets you fast travel between markers, or between ports when you hop in a boat, with a small smattering of markers already unlocked when you open a new massive map. Adding a minor extra step to commit to fast travel helped subtly push me to do the longer horseback journey more often.

Dual Revolvers and Dual Swords

RDR2 is undeniably fiddly and frustrating to pilot at times, but it’s impossible not to get swept away in the grandeur of the experience. Just riding through towns, sticking up any store you want, and chatting up random NPCs feels so sublime. Both the developer-authored and spontaneous player-driven action segments deliver on all the Western gunslinger fantasies I could possibly dream up, and several more I never expected. The depth of control here, while it may spin out occasionally, really lets you sink into the character and feel like you’re part of this world, capable of making a meaningful impact.

Both games feature gruff male protagonists; I never expected to care about them when I started the games, but their voice actors, Doug Cockle as Geralt of Rivia and Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, deliver brilliant performances in these tough roles. These characters are outcasts in ever-shifting worlds, leaving their ways of survival behind. They've adopted monstrous qualities to stay alive against the odds, and attract scorn from the "regular" folk for reflecting the more brutal parts of their world back at them.

While these characters trade in ruthless violence and live in moral grey areas, they are shaped and somewhat redeemed by the people they fight for: Dutch’s Gang for Arthur, and for Geralt, his dysfunctional family consisting of Ciri, Yennefer, the Witchers of Kaer Morhen... and Dandelion, who could forget him? The player isn’t deprived of important story choices, but Geralt and Arthur are both notably beholden to the strong, driven personalities of other characters. I could see writing teachers balking at this, on paper, but their surly agreeability fits in games where the list of favors you agree to inevitably swells massively.

Unfinished Business

I love side quests. I really love them; I've written thousands of words about some of my favorites. I could easily get lost in either game's side content and never resurface, but I'm obviously no completionist. I get especially feral with RPGs, wanting to track down the best gear and the hardest fights, but even tiny favors that end with a paltry stack of Crowns in Wild Hunt help the small settlements Geralt and Roach are barging through feel more alive.

Both games cram great writing and voice acting into every nook and cranny of their worlds, and it's tragic to think that players could be skipping through a lot of it. I've certainly been guilty of that at times, and I'm all for a zoned-out "podcast game" session now and then. Still, I've felt very rewarded by my decision to focus more intently on the stories here, both grand and small. You don't need a huge ethical dilemma to make a memorable story, though I have stumbled into plenty of those in Wild Hunt.

In RDR2, Arthur's cough is revealed to be a terminal case of tuberculosis in Chapter 5, which he contracted while beating up a debtor to the gang named Thomas Downes way back in Chapter 2. This reveal absolutely affected how I approached the side content. It's hard not to think that Arthur would do everything he can to help the gang before his time comes and lean more into story missions, hastening the inevitable, but side missions also let you leave a mark, good or bad, on the world. I did a streak of story missions, but eventually felt a push to go for a hunt again and meet that next Stranger.

Even as you distract yourself, Arthur's racking cough when you consume provisions, or his more somber mood in late-game cutscenes, remind you that he's on borrowed time. Is walking away from the main story, or the whole game, actually the most merciful move? How many Arthur Morgans are living in the digital limbo of unfinished games?

It’s a Game, Not a Sprint

I can't guarantee whether I'll have the stamina to see both these games through to credits, but I was not expecting these experiences to resonate with each other as much as they did for me. I thought it might be jarring to jump between such different settings, but it was actually a relief to remember I could go slice up some Drowners if I've gotten tired of shootouts with the Murfree Brood. When I'm too sad about Arthur's impending mortality, I can work on Geralt's fantastical tasks for an immortal noble in Hearts of Stone.

I regret losing steam on both of these games when I first began. I'd certainly consider them some of my favorite open-world games, with these recent sessions only affirming that stance. It feels like a disservice that I still don't know their endings all these years later, but they demand a lot of your time and attention. I get bummed out when I feel like I'm rushing through an experience people painstakingly put together. That can happen more than I like when I'm putting a commentary piece together, but sometimes rushing is the only option to be able to see more along with, you know, living my real life.

You don't have to beat the final boss or clear all the achievements to prove how much a game means to you, but these two unfinished journeys had definitely been weighing on me. I haven't tied a neat bow on my time with either game yet, but I'm happy enough that I'm not burned out on them either, and genuinely excited that I have more to discover.