Welcome to my review on: The Witcher 3 - Blood and Wine expansion. This is the second and final expansion to come out for The Witcher 3, back in May 2016. If you ever played the base game you will know how well done and polished it was, Blood and Wine keeps the same level of quality. It looks gorgeous, has interesting characters, and is so long it could almost be it's own game, instead of just an add on to the main one. When I think back on playing The Witcher 3, some of the most memorable moments come from Blood and Wine, so I thought it deserved it's own review.
This takes place after the events of the main quest and brings you to an entirely new location, Toussaint. It sort of resembles France's wine country, with it's rolling hills, and sprawling vineyards. You can definitely see some similarities. In this expansion you get an invitation from the Duchess of Toussaint, Anna Henrietta. Three Knights have been murdered under strange circumstances and she needs Geralt's help in finding out who the murderer is. When Geralt arrives and begins his investigation he finds out that the murders seem to be part of a pattern, and that a fourth one is probably soon going to happen. Geralt and Anna Henrietta rush to check on the fourth Knight who might be in danger, and arrive just as the killer is finishing the job. They give chase and discover that the killer is some kind of beast, a vampire in fact. They corner the beast and force him into a battle, but the vampire is tougher than expected. Before the fight ends another vampire joins the scene and stops the two of them.
This second vampire is named Regis, and is an old friend of Geralt's. He says that he knows the killer and is bonded to him by blood. He convinces Geralt to help his friend instead of killing him, and they eventually find out that the killer is being manipulated by a higher power. You spend the rest of the game following the clues and trying to put together the pieces of what is really going on here. It's not the typical save the world story, but it's nice focusing on a smaller more intimate chunk of content than the overwhelmingly huge world of The Witcher 3.
As you can see in the screenshots, the world of Toussaint is a beautiful place. It's much more colorful and bright than the main game. Everything is so vibrant and detailed that the visuals alone are a good reason to play Blood and Wine. But that's not all it has going for it. There is a lot to see in this expansion, and many side quests to get lost in. There a point where you fight in a colosseum like a gladiator, against new beasts that aren't in the main game. There's a magic sword in a lake in the forest where you meet a new NPC and if you can figure out how to break it's seal it's yours. But probably my favorite new addition in Blood and Wine is that, in exchange for helping with the murder investigation, Duchess Anna Henrietta gives you your own vineyard to live in. Finally you have a place to keep all your extra stuff. You can display various swords and armor on the walls. You can put the trophies you earn on display so you actually can see and admire them. You even get your own butler, and over time you can do renovations to upgrade all the different parts of the estate and the grounds.
Blood and Wine is one of the best expansions I've ever played. I usually don't bother with DLC because it always feels like a way for the developers to milk another 20 bucks out of us for some shoddy add on that should have been in the game in the first place. But this is worth every penny, I might even say I enjoyed this more than the main game. It's sharp contrast from bright and sunny with silly characters, to the dark, spooky, almost horror vibe, keeps everything feeling new and exciting. All the new beasts and locations will keep you exploring and battling for quite a while, and with setting up your new vineyard and watching it change as you do renovations, there is plenty to see and do. Blood and Wine is just as detailed and dense as the main game, and could almost be a stand alone. CD Project Red really went all out with this one, and you can tell a lot of work went into making this as good as it could be. If you haven't played Blood and Wine, or The Witcher 3 in general, I highly suggest checking it out. I would personally have to give the Blood & Wine expansion an easy 95%, not perfect but pretty damn near it!