The Witcher is not an easy world to jump into after three games, but The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt accessible for newcomers in the best ways possible . The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings failed to embrace non-fans in a detrimental way, but Wild Hunt fixes that. It brings Geralt’s origins back to the forefront to introduce new characters, it tells a new story and brings us to new places. It also does a commendable job of bringing the series’ rich history into all of its new stories.

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“ ...you will be able to determine what Geralt had done in the past.

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“So, we were aware that there would be a lot of new players coming into the Witcher world to play Wild Hunt, and we worked really hard to make sure that the prologue is inviting to these new players,” Senior Writer Jakub Szamałek explains. “It unravels kind of slowly so it allows you to get used to this world and get to know the characters, so we really worked a lot on the prologue to ensure that, even if you know absolutely nothing about the Witcher universe, you can get to know this universe by the end of it.”In that regard, “you’ll know who the Witchers are, who Geralt is specifically, what are their aims, what is the world like, and what’s the true state of the world right now. So, we think that, by the time you finish the prologue, you really do have a grasp of the basics of the story and you kind of learn more about it as you go.”PC players of The Witcher 2 will be able to directly transfer their save to keep their story going, but console players – or anyone who may have lost their save – aren’t as lucky. “If you did not have that for whatever reason, there will be a sequence in the prologue that, if you have chosen that you want to simulate the choices from the previous game, you will be able to determine what Geralt had done in the past,” Szamałek says. "Geralt is eventually questioned about what happened, and his answers color your story with important history, and may have meaningful ramifications down the line."Szamałek explains that, as a result, “sometimes the attitude of NPCs will be different to you, depending on what your relationship had been in the past. Sometimes you’ll have a different side quest depending on whether you did or did not do something in the previous game. So, there’s a lot of small and bigger ways in which we make you feel that what you did in the past is taken into account.”Those who opt out of including The Witcher 2’s choices in their Witcher 3 story won’t suffer confusing subplots or context-free conversations, either.Szamałek claims The Witcher 3 “is a game which can be easily picked up, even if you have no previous experience with the Witcher universe.” While certain aspects of the series’ complexity may prove dense, or even overwhelming early on, there’s enough time to explore the world and soak in its details that it’s more manageable than ever.

Mitch Dyer is an Editor at IGN. He hosts IGN Arena , a podcast about MOBAs. Talk to Mitch about Dota 2, movies, books, and other stuff on Twitter at @MitchyD and subscribe to MitchyD on Twitch