# The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

25 Hacker News commenters recommended The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its story, Novigrad and side quests, and its strong modding support, though its length and mod conflicts draw criticism.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong story, side quests and world (4 comments): "Novigrad is a fantastic city and I loved to immerse myself in the game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49175737)) "side stories that are as fleshed out as other full-sized games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49167701)) "I loved the land, story and feeling of Toussaint" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225061))
- Widely acclaimed masterpiece (3 comments): "it's extremely rare that any studio could repeat a masterpiece like Witcher 3" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49639436)) "gaming peaked, for the type that I play, with the Witcher 3" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46723170)) "made the highly acclaimed Witcher 3 in 2015" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49637412))
- Trust in CD Projekt Red (3 comments): "CD Projekt RED did exactly that with both Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46433132)) "CD Projekt Red treats their customers with respect" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49891091)) "CDPR got huge amount of trust after Witcher 3" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46425491))
- Brilliant and tight despite length (2 comments): "Witcher was great because even if long, it was rather tight." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50150121)) "it could have been a bit shorter and still brilliant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979207))

## What people warn about

- Wayland, launcher and release problems (3 comments): "The only problematic one is Witcher 3 which insists on Wayland which breaks everything else" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46194288)) "which was a complete shitshow on release as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46431904)) "It's things like the Witcher 3's launcher." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48704944))
- Long and dialogue-heavy (2 comments): "Dialog heavy, good story, but surely there are other witchers across the lands." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45923745)) "it could have been a bit shorter and still brilliant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979207))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Helldivers 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/helldivers-2.md): 50 recommend
- [Triple-A Minesweeper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/triple-a-minesweeper.md): 40 recommend
- [Quake II](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quake-2.md): 33 recommend
- [Red Dead Redemption 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-dead-redemption-2.md): 28 recommend
- [Grand Theft Auto (1997)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto.md): 28 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt", https://hackerapproved.com/p/witcher-3/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).