When The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt released in 2015, its huge open world and tight, character-driven storytelling was quick to draw acclaim from reviewers and players alike. The third installment of CD Projekt Red’s take on the franchise finished Geralt of Rivia’s story through a series of cleverly-executed alternate endings which RPGs today can still learn from.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had a huge amount of variance in its endings, taking into account lots of little decisions that the player made throughout the story. To add to that, the game also didn’t present many of these choices as central to the story, allowing fans to replay the game and see the many different places that The Witcher 3’s story can diverge. Here are the different endings of The Witcher 3, and what CD Projekt Red can teach RPG writers about wrapping up their narratives as they take their stories into the next-generation of console gaming.
The Big Three Endings
There are 36 total possible variations for The Witcher 3’s ending, though they can broken down into a few key groups. There are 3 main endings to Geralt and Ciri’s story. The first ending is the “good” ending, and takes place if the player doesn’t visit the Emperor of Nilfgaard during the quest “Blood on the Battlefield,” while also being a good father-figure to Ciri at several key moments throughout the game.
This ending sees Geralt of Rivia tell the Emperor that Ciri sacrificed herself to stop the White Frost. After that, he returns to White Orchard and picks up a new silver sword, which he then delivers to a disguised Ciri. In this ending, it’s implied that Ciri and Geralt get to stay adventuring together.
The second main ending applies if Ciri and Geralt still have a good relationship, but the player visits the Emperor and Nilfgaard wins its war against the Northern Kingdoms. Geralt still returns to White Orchard and sees Ciri, but after a time, she reveals that she will be taking her rightful place as heir to the throne of Nilfgaard, hoping to making positive change there. This is a more bitter-sweet ending, but fits well in the story.
The final main ending is the “bad” ending. If the player failed to be an encouraging father-figure to Ciri throughout the game then Ciri never returns from her confrontation with the White Frost, and Geralt returns to Crookback Bog to take Ciri’s witcher medallion back from the surviving Crone. After doing so, he collapses to his knees in grief as monsters begin to swarm in from all around.
Cascading Consequences
However, the real genius in The Witcher 3’s ending isn't its big three options. The Witcher 3’s epilogue goes through many different major characters and their fates based off of the decisions that the player made throughout the game. For example, if the player didn’t get the bad ending and if Geralt doesn’t romance Triss of Yennefer – or attempts to romance both – Geralt will remain on the Witcher path. If he romances just Triss or Yennfer, the epilogue goes into the details of their lives together after the events of the game.
Other major changes to the ending depend on the player having completed certain side quests in certain ways, hugely incentivizing exploration in the world of The Witcher. The quest “Reasons of State,” for example, more-or-less determines the outcome of the war with Nilfgaard. If Geralt doesn’t help assassinate Radovid or sides with Djikstra, Nilfgaard loses the war and their Emperor is killed by his own people. However, if players side with Roche in “Reasons of State” the Nilfgaardians will win the war.
Another great feature of The Witcher 3’s endings is that the consequences of the players’ actions aren’t always immediately evident. The Bloody Baron, for example, will always be led to commit suicide if the player releases the spirit under the Whispering Hillock and saves the children of Crookback Bog. Only by sacrificing the children will the Baron’s wife not be punished, allowing her to survive and giving the Baron the will to live on.
Why the Witcher's Ending Works
The ending of The Witcher 3 isn’t just a great example of RPG storytelling because of how many different variations it has. Unlike the endings to some other RPG franchises like the infamous ending of Mass Effect 3, the ending of The Witcher 3 tries to take into account actions from across the game, many of which the player wouldn’t expect to affect the overarching narrative. The player is rewarded for staying in character throughout the game, trying to raise Ciri well. and showing compassion to those they come across.
However, simply showing compassion is also shown to be insufficient. Even if the player tries to do the right thing throughout the game it’s very likely that they’ll end up with some grizzly outcomes in the epilogue, be it Nilfgaard eliminating political opposition, Radovid purging the North of mages and non-humans, or something else. This incentivizes players to think critically and not just to do the morally good thing while expecting good consequences like they can in some other RPGs. The game gives the impression that its ending is the sum total of the player’s actions, not just a path they went down towards the end of the game. Actions have consequences, and consequences snowball and interact with one another.
Despite this, at no point do the events which effect the outcome of the game feel obscured or frustrating. Although the ending can be affected by things which feel relatively small like Geralt’s interactions with Ciri, it’s also clear that Geralt and Ciri’s relationship is central to the story, and that these moments shouldn’t be treated carelessly. In short, The Witcher 3 is a masterclass in making players feel the consequences of their actions and the ways those consequences interact, both personal and political. As different developers race to be the next big RPG developer on the next-gen consoles, CD Projekt Red’s approach to endings may be one to learn from.
The Witcher 3 is available now.