Where to even begin with Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales? A Gwent singleplayer spin-off with former being card game that, in turn, became a separate standalone title in its own right after the Witcher 3's mini-game hit it big with audience. Due to how similar it appeared to Gwent lead many, myself included at first, to dismiss it as expansion turned glorified cash-in. I'm so glad to have been wrong.

Lest I spoil too much considering the title we assume the role of Meve, queen of Lyria and Rivia as her realms get involved in the Second Nilfgaard War, setting events before the beloved trilogy of games, and Meve herself gets deposed early on by underhanded tactics not foreign to Black Ones. What follows is a rather extensive effort to gather allies all over the Northern Realms in order to battle what appears to be an endless Nilfgaardian war machine steadily taking over everything in its path. What propels this story is strength of characters more than anything because it is a rather archetypal “taking back what's yours” setup. Meve and her advisers definitely sell it, though. Particularly the queen for whom I have nothing but praise given the manner she is portrayed as strong, no-nonsense leader yet one with nuanced layers underneath it all. Doubly so because you don't constantly see her as this imperious and immovable monarch even during circumstances that would utterly break a lesser person. Once you add other characters to the mix along with their own inputs on current events you have quite the back and forth. To writers' credit even those characters I didn't particularly care for, like for example Rayla, I still enjoyed their presentations. Whether they're right or not is up to the player to decide and I was honestly taken aback by how this story doesn't hold back any punches especially in terms of final outcomes.

Before I get into cards and combat I'd like to comment on the vaguely overlooked aspect of Thronebreaker – RPG elements it gets from the Witcher. Make no mistake for they are here and in strength.

Coming from what we're used to these days, what with so many third-person RPGs and isometric party-based RPGs, you may have a hard time categorizing what you're looking at. I don't think that's odd at all because there's a lot in Thronebreaker from adventure, strategy and CYOA. It is specifically the latter upon which the game's entire decision-making system is built on. Unlike the usual fare you get in the Witcher this time choices involved are less geared towards “I better choose the bad one because it's actually the better one in the long run” while still retaining the organic structure and presentation. What do I mean by that? Fact that choices are very rarely presented in arbitrarily important fashion bringing everything to a halt so you can make that big A or B choice. Those exist and there are major outcome differences involved from what I've seen after the fact, but like in CDPR's flagship series we're once again working with a web of myriads of smaller choices that may or may not have larger impact as befitting their importance or lack thereof. One mistake I realized, and couldn't really rectify due to game's reliance on one save file for your ongoing game to avoid save scumming, is how NOT actively meddling can sometimes leave you missing out on content even if it makes sense in order to not cause trouble. World of the Witcher has people with strong opinions on many topics and interfering, even as a queen, can have repercussions.

This naturally leads me to tackle the exploratory overworld segment of the game because that's where you'll be spending majority of your 25+ hours of play time. There are no time limits or anything and game is courteous enough to give you a point of no return warning before entering the final part of each map in case you want to backtrack for some goodies. You should keep in mind that almost everything you do in Thronebreaker feeds into or carries bits of story in it. As you range across half dozen maps in the game, each essentially a self-contained story that continues Meve's own arc, there are resource piles adding to your three resources: money, wood and manpower. You need these to fund your troops via crafting of cards, upgrades to your camp so you can craft more advanced cards or simply tackle events you come across. Will you fix a broken bridge for a hundred wood and have yourself a shortcut? Maybe invest couple of hundred gold into a dubious looking dwarven banker with promise of future payout? Thankfully, few are as straightforward as this and there are almost always multiple choices to be made. Why trade with peasants when you can not only forcefully take taxes AND press them into service at the cost of your troops' morale? These interactions are presented in form of hotspots you come across or make appear, like buried chests you find by following treasure maps or unlock golden chests with an appropriate key. Game is not without mercy and has systems like using a message boards or paying scouting fees to have them revealed on the map, though. Not that these are tricky or anything. You'll come across them more or less naturally with occasional wandering off set roads.

So we at last come to game's combat, cards and deck building. Surprisingly, all of these are less relevant than you'd imagine at first which may be somewhat shocking because in most games it is specifically combat which gets deemed as an easily recyclable element meant to fill in content gaps.

Basically, this isn't your grandpa's Gwent as seen in the Witcher 3, but rather Gwent 2.0 CDPR has been changing for the standalone version they're really hell bent on getting you into with so many rewards being “card X you can now use in Gwent” or some such. It forms the backbone of Thronebreaker's interactions when it comes to, well, everything not involving reading or travel. What really sets it apart is the fact this isn't just a loose collection of matches set against a backdrop of barely strung together narrative scribbled in one go. In fact, it's the other way around – classical Gwent matches, where you have to win three rounds with your carefully built deck, are barely present in the game. What it relies on instead are heavily customized combat scenarios; be they puzzles to solve with specific card properties, unique encounters with gimmicks of their own or just one round matches to keep it short and sweet. Until the very last push I'd say your traditional matches are exceedingly rare, but seeing as they provided little other than resources to loot, and just like in every RPG ever you'll be swimming in those by the end, you never really noticed their absence. You will notice when developers start to overly rely on them to prevent some areas from being quickly cleared, though. I especially liked how game handles boss fights as they're almost entirely presented as puzzles. Almost, mind you. As hype as I was for the cheating bastard of that final boss I did not like how it simply ended up being a points check.

But what of deck building, I hear you say. Isn't it a vital construction block of all card games, you may ask. You would be absolutely correct and if there is a single-most failing Thronebreaker stumbles at then deck building would have to be it. To speak plainly other than mere handful of occasions, and previously mentioned finale, I never deviated from what was essentially a mostly starter deck as game adds more and more units to it according to what story developments you follow through on and whatever cards you get from collecting fragments. If you want a title that will test your deck building skills and getting all those synergies just right this is where you add a massive red mark against the game. Further not helped by its relative low difficulty all the way through. Hell, it's the PUZZLES that will test you more until you get the knack for it. All those base camp improvement I spent resources on felt wasted in terms of “recruiting” new cards and were more used for upgrading some of them to improved versions where their effects were amplified, for example. That's on top of some flat bonuses like adding more armor to unit cards or faster map movement speed for Meve.

Usually not something I talk about unless there is a specific reason to comment on it there are production values in Thronebreaker. Top throughout and put all other card games to shame no matter where their focus may be. Putting aside outstanding character voice work, which only further establishes and reinforces the setting based on what we've experienced of it so far, there's also the omnipresent narrator for lines not written down in journals and notes. Soundtrack is stellar with its orchestral take while still playing with folk music and drawing heavily from the third game for inspiration. You know composer is serious when he emulates a howl with instruments for the Duke of Dogs' theme, making for a soundtrack worth listening on its own. I think their artists did a great job layering breathtaking backgrounds with lower polygon character models, used sparingly except for in one scene, and actual 2D assets that steal the show whenever game gives you a new vista to gawk at. Or cards. Those gorgeous, gorgeous cards.

Final Thoughts and Rating?

Criminally overlooked if not underrated game that may have given people the wrong impression before release. Come for the cards and the Witcher tie-in, but stay for the story that puts many RPGs to shame and outstanding soundtrack. This leads to some failings like lower difficulty putting a damper on actually tweaking your decks and strategies alike, though. A 25+ hour narrative that manages to shine a light on how a certain Witcher got his title and what a barely name-dropped queen did to restore her kingdom presented in an absolutely worthwhile package as you take adventuring steps through plentiful CYOA scenarios and puzzles galore in place of traditional Gwent matches. Potentially even guide you to standalone Gwent itself? Makes you wish we could get more Witcher Tales in the future...