The Witcher 3 is finally almost here. Reviews are already pouring in for the game, and the reviews are amazingly positive so far. Find out what major publications have said about the game today in our Witcher 3 review roundup:

IGN: 9.3/10

IGN is notorious for giving away high scores like candy, and they were overwhelmingly positive of The Witcher 3, giving it 9.3 out of 10.

Unfortunately, they reviewed The Witcher on Playstation 4, where its graphics take a serious hit. Framerates are limited to a laughable 30 frames per second – and the PS4 struggles to even handle that rate smoothly at times.
Perhaps the best praise for the Witcher 3 was its endless replayability:
“Even after over 100 hours with it, there’s still so much more to do, learn, and hunt in The Witcher 3.”
Reviewer Vince Ingenito also praised the combat for being “awesome” and said that the best moments came from venturing off the main track. While the main campaign is about what you would expect from a fantasy game, the side quests give new depth to an already-expansive open world.
One of my pet peeves about RPGs is that the world doesn’t seem to change that much after you save the world. In The Witcher 3, the reviewer says the choices you make – even in smaller side quests – seem to have a legitimate and powerful influence on the world around you.
The review only had one “negative” listed in the conclusion: “Story padding” That’s a problem I’m happy to deal with.

GameSpot: 10/10

GameSpot doesn’t hand out 10/10s to every good game that walks through its doors. In fact, GameSpot has a hall of fame-style article where they mention all of the games that have received 10/10 scores over the years.

There are just 8 games on that list, including: Bayonetta 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Soul Caliber, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, Chrono Cross, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time.
And now, you can add Witcher 3 to that list.
GameSpot reviewed the game on PS4 and concluded with this succinct explanation:
“Where the Witcher 2 sputtered to a halt, The Witcher 3 is always in a crescendo, crafting battle scenarios that constantly one-up the last, until you reach the explosive finale and recover in the glow of the game’s quiet denouement. But while the grand clashes are captivating, it is the moments between conflicts, when you drink with the local clans and bask in a trobairitz’s song, that are truly inspiring.” – Kevin VanOrd
In terms of “negatives”, GameSpot only listed “some disruptive bugs”. That’s it. Under positives, the reviewer praised the “beautiful open world”, the “absorbing story”, the “fantastic detailing reveals the consequences of your actions”, and “there’s so much to do.”

Game Informer: 9.75/10

Game Informer gave The Witcher 3 nearly a perfect score, awarding it 9.75 out of 10. Here’s what reviewer Kimberley Wallace had to say about the game:
“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt encompasses what I hope is the future of RPGs. It stands out for its wonderful writing, variety of quests and things to do in the world, and how your choices have impact in interesting ways. Usually something is sacrificed when creating a world this ambitious, but everything felt right on cue. I still think about some of my choices and how intriguing they turned out–for better or worse.” – Kimberley Wallace

Why didn’t the game get 10/10? The only negatives mentioned in the review are “long load times”, which will always be an issue on consoles. The reviewer also complained about the Ciri sequences, which can be boring, and the fact that your weapons sometimes break, which can disrupt your journey.
Those seem like pretty minor complaints – especially since most people will be playing The Witcher 3 on PC.
To give that 9.75/10 review some context, Game Informer has awarded 26 games a perfect 10 score over the years, including all of the games seen here. Those games include Resident Evil 4, Mass Effect 3, StarCraft II, BioShock, BioShock Infinite, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

The Telegraph: 100

The Telegraph awarded The Witcher 3 a perfect score of 100. The only complaint was that combat eventually felt too easy once you’ve levelled up all your major skills, although the reviewer called this a “fairly small complaint.”
The reviewer also said: “I have never felt like I was wandering a more compelling world, or a more convincingly created one.”

PlayStation Official Magazine UK: 4 stars out of 5

This is the lowest review score given to The Witcher 3 thus far. Playstation Official Magazine gave the game a dismal 4 stars out of 5.
The reviewer claimed that bugs really detracted from the game. He concluded that:
“Tricky one, this. A great game, undoubtedly, but a different game to the one many were expecting. And in an industry that places such enormous emphasis on pre-order sales, the manner in which a game presents itself in the months prior to launch matters… It’s a game that’s effectively talked itself out of a recommendation in every PlayStation gamer’s collection, by the narrowest margin.”

In other words, the reviewer is mad because CD Project Red advertised the game as an open world RPG when it actually is an open world RPG? The reviewer seemed to get mad that Skellige wasn’t accessible via real-time travel – despite the fact that CDP RED said exactly that prior to release.
In any case, when the lowest review score is from some PlayStation magazine and it’s 4/5, that’s not a bad thing for The Witcher 3. Keep in mind that this is the magazine that gave FIFA 09, FIFA 11, and Warhawk their highest accolade, the Gold Award.

Witcher 3 Release Date

All of the reviews so far have reviewed the game on the PlayStation 4. The game will also receive a day 0 patch which might fix some of the bugs. Of course, the minor graphics problems will also likely be solved on PC, where the graphics look truly amazing.
The Witcher 3 will officially be released on May 19, 2015. If the reviews above are to be believed, it’s one of the best RPGs ever made.