Briefly: It’s not often that I get to pick up a game at retail. Working (over) full time leaves me little time for gaming, and I’ve all but replaced my habit of buying games that I’ll never play with buying Amiibo that I’ll never use. It’s (arguably) more expensive, but at least they’re holding their value at this point instead of depreciating faster than a new car.
Yep, that’s my wall.
Today, I picked up CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 3. Somehow, the game (series) has slipped under my radar for all these years; It wasn’t until reading the universal praise of the latest game (including Gamespot awarding it the 9th perfect score that the publication has ever given), that I finally started looking into it. The game looks incredible, and though I’m unsure just when I’ll have an opportunity to really delve into it, I simply had to support the company.
When I unwrapped The Witcher 3‘s physical package (the standard edition by the way), I was greeted with a more comprehensive amount of content than most special editions include. It was so noteworthy, in fact, that I had to write about it.
See, most games today come with nothing. Reversible covers are cool but rare, physical manuals are all but nonexistent, and if you’re lucky you’ll get a single piece of paper advertising some inevitable map pack or DLC. The lack of manuals or any additional content has made the switch to digital more and more attractive over the years, but the fact that I often play my games once and then trade them in has been the only thing keeping me buying physical copies. I’m so, so happy that I purchased The Witcher 3 physically however, as this is what it came with:
That’s a lot of extra content, for a game that takes 100+ hours to complete, for the exact same price as every other new game that releases.
The first thing you’ll notice when you open the package? The heartfelt ‘Thank you’ note that makes you want to give these guys all of your money:
In case it’s tough to see from the photos above, The Witcher 3 also includes a map of the Northern Realms, a cardboard sleeve, a soundtrack CD, and The Witcher Universe Compendium (containing a ton of useful info on the characters and previous events, AKA a physical manual). Inside the compendium you’ll also find a download code for the first issue of Dark Horse Comics’ The Witcher: House of Glass comic book, and a code for a new hero in The Witcher Battle Arena mobile game.
Again, this was all from the regular edition of the game. I’m still having a hard time believing it.
Have you picked up The Witcher 3 yet? What do you think of the game so far?