The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone is the first major expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, released in October 2015. It adds a new storyline set in the existing game world, where Geralt is hired to deal with Olgierd von Everec, a nobleman with a mysterious and cursed past.
The expansion introduces new characters, quests, enemies, and the Runewords system, which enhances gear with powerful effects. It emphasises narrative depth and moral choices, consistent with the tone of the main game.
At 10 hours, Hearts of Stone is rather brief given the sprawling scale of Wild Hunt, but with that brevity, it never overstays its welcome. It melds well with the overall themes of the core adventure even if it feels wholly detached from it, but sometimes all you need is more Witcher-based antics.
This new adventure moves quickly, and feels like Wild Hunt in microcosm; cool moment after cool moment, condensed into a much
shorter running time, with less cool distractions to pull you off in
every which direction. Having less to do is no bad thing, and this
story feels more focused and well paced as a result. Without adding an
entirely new continent...
Hearts of Stone is the perfect example of DLC done right. There's not a better reason to get back into The Witcher 3 again.
Hearts of Stone is a piece of DLC that has been done right, genuinely adding to an already great game. The antagonist in this content is for me a better and more interesting character than the members of the actual Wild Hunt from the main plot, and you also learn more about Geralt's past too. If you own and enjoy The Witcher 3 then Hearts of Stone is...
By taking Geralt out of his element and changing the course of what we'd expect from a stoic witcher, Hearts of Stone is a must own for anyone that's been hanging on to The Witcher 3. The story alone is enough to warrant jumping back in, but the way it integrates into the existing game just expands the already massive scope of the world. It's not perfect,...
