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I'm thinking about buying The Witcher 3 and I know it's heavily based on a story/narrative.

For the story/narrative to make sense, do I need to play the previous 2 Witcher games - or are the stories for each title independent of one another?

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    I would recommend it in any case. Both games can be picked up for a very reasonable price (9€ and 18€) on gog.com.
    – r0estir0bbe
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 11:31
  • I've never heard of gog.com, thanks @r0estir0bbe
    – ʰᵈˑ
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 11:32
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    Need to? No... but you should.
    – Omegacron
    Commented Jun 25, 2015 at 19:12

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If you never played any Witcher game before you might not understand some parts of the Witcher 3.

Let me explain.

You will not experience that little smile or frown when you meet a character from a previous game (Good or Bad ;) ). Some parts will just fly above you and you won't understand much.

"Who is this?"/"Why is he treating me like this?", you won't notice the little easter eggs found across The Witcher 3 for references to previous games.

I mean, you can play it and still enjoy it. But you will have a far better experience if you play the previous ones.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings I highly recommend, great story and you make some big decisions.

The Witcher is a bit old now and the controls can get a little out of control so I would advise you to check a synopsis online.

You can read a synopsis on both games. I've done it myself. There are some good ones and bad ones. But there's always differences between playing and reading/watching a synopsis.

If you're interested I found one in Reddit, a synopsis Chapter by Chapter HERE. Now it's up to you to decide I definitely LOVED the Witcher 2 and making those decisions I believe has more impact than imagining them. Not only from the Main Quests but also for the beautiful Side-Quests.

If you're trully interested and don't have time for the others. Play it. But then if you like it please support CD Projekt RED and try at least Witcher 2 and then carry your decisions to 3.... You'll find it way more appealing and immersive.

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  • If I read the synopsis of both The Witcher 2 and The Witcher, will I understand the story to an extent of a story (minus character influence) ie.: Ah okay, we are here because X happened in The Witcher 2?
    – ʰᵈˑ
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 9:22
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    The witcher 1 may be old, but it is such a good game that I played it allTHREE times.
    – user113286
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 15:26
  • The Witcher (1) Enhanced Edition is out, and with the mods mentioned in the article below (minus FCR since I just want the story and not higher difficulty), it becomes really beautiful, and even breathtaking at times. I can HIGHLY recommend playing it. The story is really engaging, especially after the first act. There are monsters afoot ;) gamingboulevard.com/2015/05/…
    – Ultroman the Tacoman
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 0:19
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I can definitely say that you will enjoy the story a little better after having played The Witcher and The Witcher 2. However, this is only minor and does not impact your experience as a whole. Therefore, I can also definitely say that you do not need to play the other games.

If you enjoy the story and lore, and want to know about the events leading up to The Witcher 3, I'd recommend either playing the previous games, reading up in a lore primer, or reading the books.

Here's a link to a good, concise story primer that focuses on the essentials: http://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-story-primer-catch-up-on-the-essentials/

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