After the success of The Witcher 3: Complete Edition’s release on the Switch, CD Projekt Red must have noticed the potential for more of games under that property to come out to Nintendo’s portable wonder, because now, more than a year after its initial PC and console release, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is also out for it.
I considered the game to be a fantastic departure from the usual The Witcher fare back in 2018 thanks to its blend of adventure gaming and pure tabletop card goodness, and I still think that after testing this Switch port. It performs admirably and didn’t lose much on transitioning to a smaller screen.
The mix between polygonal and 2D art still works beautifully, and so does the card game portion of Thronebreaker. It does a fantastic job easing you into the mechanics that make Gwent such a fun card game, while dropping tidbits of adventuring and role-playing in between, like the different responses you can give as queen Meve of twin kingdoms Rivia and Lyria. Not to mention all of the deck and army building you do as well along the way, which are handled extremely well in-game via the variety of NPCs you interact with.
With the quality of this game and its Switch port in mind, it begs the question: when is a Switch port of Gwent coming out? Out of the current gen consoles, the Switch is by far the best suited out of all to get that game, considering its obvious portability and ease of handle. Then again, CDPR has cut support for the console versions of Gwent, so it’s up in the air if that’s ever happening.
Considering this is my third time playing Thronebreaker, I’m surprised to see myself once again drawn into it. It goes a long way to show just how well CD Projekt Red nailed making Gwent into a single player experience after the success that it’s been as a multiplayer card battler online. Taking into account that it started out as a mere mini-game in The Witcher 3 a few years ago, it’s shocking to see how far it’s come, perhaps even surpassing the main game’s popularity in a way.
For fans of The Witcher, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a great pick up. Not only is it a great game on its own, it approaches a side of the lore that’s pretty much untouched in the mainline series. Anyone remotely interested in card gaming is also likely to enjoy how well it teaches you the ins and outs of Gwent, and hopefully that will help you get into proper Gwent, which is really fun on its own. Switch owners who had yet to dive into it haven’t got an excuse not to do it, which hopefully is a sign that there’s more to come from CDPR.
