Puzzle-driven Witcher spinoff
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a premium role-playing game from CD Projekt Red, developers of the acclaimed Witcher franchise. In terms of premise, it serves as a spinoff of the main storyline. Instead of a titular Witcher, you take on the role of Queen Meve, a war veteran herself, as she embarks on a quest to redeem her kingdom.
Aside from being set within The Continent, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales also focuses on the same Queen Meve, the Merry Widow referenced in The Witcher 2, and the mother of a prince in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Strategy-heavy card game
In terms of gameplay, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales combines generous amounts of deckbuilding and puzzle-solving. This game was intended as a standalone single-player companion game to the larger card game, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. As mentioned, it focuses on Meve during events preceding the first Witcher game. It focuses on the Merry Widow building her small ragtag army to retake her northern kingdoms.
Aside from an original story, Thronebreaker also boasts an original map. Five regions that were referenced but never explored make their debut here. Visually, it departs from the close views of the main Witcher games. Instead, it features a 3D isometric view similar to Baldur’s Gate 2. For the encounters, each player has a turn to play a single card, or they can pass and just end the turn.
However, there are a few optimization concerns with the game. The gamepad support has a couple of glitches, and there are intermittent framerate drops across the game. As for the game, it’s just too easy. The game is easy to learn and once you’re on board, you’ll find that its difficulty level scales poorly, even when playing on the hardest difficulty setting.
A refreshing Witcher experience
With a strong narrative driving the entire game, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a great addition to the immersive fantasy world of witchers and monsters. Although it changes a couple of key gameplay elements, such as becoming a card game built on top of an isometric-view RPG, it’s still a Witcher title through and through. Recommended both for Witcher and card gaming fans.
