Perhaps it’s because we’ve been talking about Unity’s Paris this morning, but there’s something about opening an E3 demo on horseback that recalls our first glimpse of Assassin’s Creed long ago. With the wind behind our protagonist and an unnamed city ahead, it feels as if anything is possible in this new generation – even if the dream is the same we had for the last generation.
You’ll need to skip through a little excitable E3 chat, after which we find out the name of that city: the evocatively Eastern-European Novigrad. It’s a “living breathing ecosystem” hosting several thousand people.
In the sphere of RPGs, Novigrad’s convincing clutter recalls Baldur’s Gate, or Athkatla, the unpredictable hub city of its sequel. But this is The Witcher, so naturally our first stop is a brothel.
Novigrad has four distinct districts, we’re told: “worlds within a world”. And Geralt will need to be careful about what quests he accepts where – because doing so might mean turning down an opportunity from an opposing faction before even becoming aware of it.
The Witcher 3 is due on February 24. Which is a bit of a relief, given everything else coming before Christmas. How many of you hankering after it it are new to the series?