Final score is calculated by weighting and averaging all datapoints across multiple categories.
The fundamental gameplay experience including fun factor, mechanics, and technical performance.
The core experience is highly praised for its immense fun factor and engaging gameplay loop, but its overall strength is slightly diminished by persistent technical performance issues like crashes and stutters that affect some players.
Story quality, world depth, replay value, and overall content value.
This category performs exceptionally well because players feel the game delivers a vast amount of high-quality, immersive content with outstanding replay value, all seen as an excellent investment without intrusive monetization.
Visual and audio quality combined with creative and innovative design elements.
The game's presentation is highly regarded due to its enduring visual and audio quality, which players find beautiful and immersive even years after release, combined with a creative vision that keeps the world feeling fresh and unique.
Multiplayer features, social aspects, and developer support systems.
Despite being a single-player title, this category is viewed positively due to strong community engagement around in-game activities and modding, complemented by a general appreciation for the game's lasting quality and foundational support.
Our True-Review is based on 10 datapoints collected over multiple days. Each datapoint is scored and weighted according to its importance. These weighted scores are then averaged to calculate the final True-Review score.
You can look at the scores and weights and make adjustments to see where we derive the final from. Tinker, play, test and above all else - have fun!
Open Score TinkererOur reviews are based on comprehensive datapoint analysis collected over multiple days of community feedback and gameplay data. Each datapoint is scored and weighted according to its importance in the overall experience.
Learn more about our methodologyPure enjoyment and entertainment value of playing the game.
Players feel an immense sense of fun due to the deep emotional investment they develop in the characters and the overarching narrative. The world is described as captivating and alive, making exploration and discovery inherently enjoyable and encouraging multiple playthroughs. While some specific gameplay mechanics can cause minor frustration, these are seen as insignificant compared to the powerful, immersive experience that makes players wish the game would never end.
Quality of primary gameplay systems including combat, controls, and core interaction loops.
The core gameplay is highly regarded because its combat system successfully blends cinematic action with satisfying strategic depth, making encounters feel engaging and skillful. Players appreciate the rewarding loop of exploring the vast world, undertaking meaningful quests, and developing their character. Although some find specific elements like the loot system or parry mechanics to be occasionally clunky, the fundamental systems are praised for creating a deeply immersive and enjoyable experience.
Game stability, optimization, frame rate, bugs, and overall technical execution.
For a game of its age, the technical performance is often considered impressive, but recent player experiences highlight persistent flaws that prevent a seamless experience. Recurring issues, such as crashes on certain console platforms and disruptive audio glitches, are the primary drivers of frustration. These technical drawbacks, while not universal, are frequent enough to indicate that the game's execution is solid but can be inconsistent depending on the player's platform and situation.
Overall quality of story, world-building, characters, and narrative pacing across all content.
Players feel the content quality is exceptional primarily due to the masterful storytelling and deep, nuanced characters that create a truly memorable experience. The game is praised for its pacing, which expertly balances a compelling main story with side quests that are often just as rich and engaging, making the world feel cohesive and alive. This high standard of writing and world-building keeps players deeply invested, easily overshadowing minor complaints about gameplay mechanics.
Amount of content, replayability factors, and long-term engagement potential.
The game's replay value is considered exceptional because its branching narrative choices and deep character-building systems actively encourage multiple playthroughs to see different outcomes. The two major expansions are consistently praised for adding dozens of hours of high-quality content, significantly contributing to the game's long-term appeal. While the core experience is vast, some players on console express that more robust modding support could further enhance its already impressive longevity.
Price-to-content ratio, DLC value, microtransaction fairness, and overall monetary value.
Players overwhelmingly feel the game offers incredible value, primarily because the sheer amount of high-quality content included in the base game and its expansions far exceeds its price point. The complete absence of microtransactions is a major point of praise, seen as a refreshing and consumer-friendly practice that builds significant goodwill. Minor annoyances with in-game systems like loot distribution are considered trivial when weighed against the substantial and rewarding experience the game provides.
Combined assessment of graphics, art style, sound design, music, and overall presentation.
The game's presentation is highly praised because its distinct art style and graphical fidelity have aged remarkably well, still creating a world that players find beautiful and immersive. The atmospheric musical score and detailed sound design are consistently cited as critical elements that enhance the emotional weight of the narrative and the richness of the world. While isolated audio bugs or subjective dislikes of certain assets exist, they do little to detract from the widespread admiration for the game's impressive audiovisual quality.
Originality, fresh ideas, creative design elements, and innovative approaches to gameplay or presentation.
Players attribute the game's creativity to its masterful world-building and unique artistic vision, which established a new standard for open-world RPGs and still feels fresh today. The integration of highly creative elements, such as the in-game card game Gwent, is seen as a testament to its innovative design that enriches the world beyond simple questing. This lasting impact and the game's ability to remain engaging years later are why players feel its original design was exceptionally creative, even if some mechanics now feel dated.
Quality of multiplayer gameplay, social features, community interaction, and online experiences.
Despite being a single-player game, players find strong social value through shared in-game experiences that foster a sense of community. The integrated card game, Gwent, is a primary driver of this sentiment, creating a competitive meta-game that players discuss and strategize about online. Furthermore, the active modding community provides a collaborative social layer, allowing players to create and share new experiences, which helps satisfy the desire for interaction without a formal multiplayer mode.
Developer communication, update frequency, bug fixes, and overall post-launch support quality.
For a mature title, developer support is viewed positively not because of frequent updates, but because the game's enduring quality and stability are seen as a testament to the developers' foundational work. The community's satisfaction is rooted in the fact that the game remains a polished, deeply engaging experience years after release. The few recent complaints are not about a lack of ongoing support, but are focused on technical issues introduced in a major patch, reflecting an appreciation for the game's prior stability.