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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone Review Thread

Reviews are coming out for the expansion pack

Gry Online - 9.5/10

IGN Spain 9.5

XGN.nl - 9.5

IGN - 9/10

The story in Hearts of Stone alone would make it worth getting, but it succeeds on other levels as well. The fun new enemies and bosses, along with the customization potential of Runewords make Hearts of Stone a very well-rounded package that shouldn’t be skipped.

Gamespot - 9/10

This thematic pulse elevates an already great batch of content. Hearts of Stone feels just as much a part of the narrative as any of the main game's quest lines, but stands on its own as a memorable adventure. It may have its negative moments and the pacing may be broken at certain intervals, but The Witcher 3's first paid expansion is well worth the return to the Northern Kingdoms.

There's a point when a character whistles the boss fight music. And just when you're sure one such encounter is coming, he walks away to that haunting tune, without so much as a fistfight. This is what Hearts of Stone does best. It takes our expectations and runs with them.

Multiplayer.it 8.5/10
Spaziogames.it 8.5/10

GameReactor EU - 8/10

Hearts of Stone is, in our opinion, the closest you can come to an ideal expansion in this day and age, or as CD Projekt Red would put it, an old-school expansion. It offers more of the same gameplay experiences that we've come to love and at the same time it kicks it up a notch in terms of story. We get new content, new areas to explore, new toys and new characters. All the while Geralt is as grumpy and mean as ever, and we wouldn't have it any other way
 
Nice so far. Very jealous of reviewers. C'mon monday 4pm Est!
OGrP5QK.gif
 

Walpurgis

Banned
There's a point when a character whistles the boss fight music. And just when you're sure one such encounter is coming, he walks away to that haunting tune, without so much as a fistfight. This is what Hearts of Stone does best. It takes our expectations and runs with them.
hubba hubba
 
That's a nice hefty spoiler in the Gamespot review isn't it?

"I really enjoyed this so I'm going to ensure it's impossible for you to enjoy it in the same way."
 
I already started my new game+ playthrough because I just couldn't wait. I'm only level 40 now, so it'll be awhile before I can jump in but I already fell back in love with this game. So good.
 

roytheone

Member
Looking good so far! I will probably not play this DLC right away, but will wait until the second one is available and then play both in one big chunk. I have discovered that I enjoy playing DLC that way a lot more compared to playing them at launch and having to wait for the next one.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Ugh. Halo 5, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Just Cause 3 all on the horizon for me and yet I know that I will be getting lost in Wild Hunt all over again. The game is just that good and now we are getting even more of it.
 

Wagram

Member
"Hearts of Stone is, in our opinion, the closest you can come to an ideal expansion in this day and age"

Clearly never touched a Souls content DLC. Glad to see this is worth it though, but it's CDPR so I had no doubt anyways. Only pass i've ever bought without thinking twice.
 

Phazon

Member
Got it yesterday and only 3-4 in, but it's really fun and already had a lot of laughs and fun moments. Well done, CDPR ^^
 
so is there any good combat mod yet? because i am really burned out by the original combat system and stopped playing. Death march is just too easy and boring...
 

RowdyReverb

Member
I got midway through TW3 before I got tired of it. No fault of the game's, I had just binged TW2 and had enough of that setting for a while. I think I'm going to wait for a definitive edition of this one before I re-buy it. The DLC looks great.
 

Pif

Banned
Still have to finish the main quest. Bought the game day 1 but I get lost on sidequesta every time.

150 hours and still didn't make it to skellige...
 

Courage

Member
If this is an 'ideal expansion', what will the second piece of DLC be, which is supposed to be much bigger and offer a whole new area to explore.

Based CDPR.
 

Chris1

Member
Expected no less. Main game was amazing and can't wait to dive into the expansions.

The next one is actually longer, innit?

It is.
Hearts of Stone will take Geralt on an all-new 10-hour adventure into the wilds of No Man’s Land and the nooks and alleys of Oxenfurt, where he’ll try to complete a contract from the mysterious Man of Glass. Caught in a thick tangle of deceit, Geralt will need all his cunning and strength to solve the mystery and emerge unscathed.


Blood and Wine, a 20-hour tale that will introduce the all-new in-game region of Toussaint, will take Geralt to a land untainted by war, where an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and knightly ritual masks an ancient, bloody secret.

HoS = $10
B&W = $20
Season pass = $25

Less than $1 per hour of gameplay if you buy the SP.. unreal pricing compared to what we're used to seeing.
 

Fbh

Member
Good to hear it's great.
Now with both this and the free DLC, CDPR is really showing other devs how to make good DLC.
 

Karl Hawk

Banned
If this is an 'ideal expansion', what will the second piece of DLC be, which is supposed to be much bigger and offer a whole new area to explore.

Based CDPR.

Blood and Wine. 20 hours of content with a new region (Touissant). Should be priced at 19.99$
 
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