The Witcher games have been known for being gorgeous and mature, and supported well by the development team. With the third game in the series, an emphasis has been placed on sheer scope rivaling that of Skyrim, giving an already-imposing title an extra dose of density.

What it is: CD Projekt Red’s current project and the end of the story of Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt brings an open-world ethos to the dark fantasy series. War has given Geralt a sort of blank slate, and the story becomes a much more personal one about him and the person he becomes. You’ll wander around an area 35 times the size of the previous game, broken up into a few separate continents with different feels and problems.

Why we’re excited: This isn’t just an open world because you can wander. You’ll be able to make decisions to change the fates of people and places, and it’s not just a conversation tree. You can show compassion or be merciless, working out ways to let people live or killing them without hesitation.

You don’t find out immediately, but after time has passed, you learn the eventual fate of those involved with your choices. That delayed aspect of it seems intriguing and possibly more logical than usual.

What we’re wondering: Open-world games tend to have a host of technical issues, largely because there’s no way to tell how people will go about things and prepare for those eventualities. With the enormous world and multi-platform release, will Witcher 3 be ready for prime time at release? That’s hard enough for veterans like Bethesda and Rockstar.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be released for PC, Xbox One and PS4… well, when it’s ready. There’s no date set, but the team’s targeting sometime in 2014.