The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine

Set after the events of the base game, Geralt is offered a contract by Duchess Anna Henrietta, the ruler of Toussaint, a vassal duchy under the Nilfgaardian Empire. Two knights of Toussaint have been murdered in strange circumstances, and Geralt is tasked with finding and killing the monster responsible.

Geralt arrives in Toussaint and investigates the murder of a third knight. With the help of Henrietta and Captain Damien de la Tour, he infers the men were killed for violating the five virtues that all knights of Toussaint swear to uphold. He later sees fourth knight get killed by the Beast, a higher vampire that Geralt chases and battles in a warehouse. Regis, another higher vampire and friend of Geralt, interrupts the fight and convinces the Beast to leave. Regis explains that the Beast is named Dettlaff. Regis is bonded to Dettlaff, by whom he is recovered, by vampire code.

Geralt and Regis join forces to find out why Dettlaff is committing murders despite being indifferent towards human affairs. After following clues, they discover that his former lover Rhenawedd has been kidnapped, and that the kidnappers are forcing him to murder the knights. Clues left by the kidnappers lead them to the ducal winery, where the wine keeper, known as the Cintrian, admits to selling to a mysterious buyer.

Geralt and Henrietta sneak into a soirée where The Cintrian is due to attend. It turns out that the Cintrian attempted to steal a jewel. Orianna, the owner of the residence hosting the party, caught him red-handed and struggled with him, ultimately killing him. Orianna reveals a young woman sold her the jewel, and Henrietta identifies it as a family heirloom lost many years ago. She speculates that her long lost sister Syanna, who was exiled for supposedly being afflicted by a curse, may be involved. Geralt recovers a knife The Cintrian had, which seems to belong to the lord of a castle nearby. Henrietta tasks him to investigate the castle, find Syanna and return her unharmed. Regis shows up with Dettlaff in tow, announcing their intent to assist Geralt with finding the blackmailer.

De la Tour's men assault the blackmailer's castle while Geralt sneaks in through the back. He is joined by Regis and Dettlaff, the latter of whom is eager to recover Rhenawedd. Inside, they find her, and Geralt deduces that Syanna and Rhenawedd are the same person, who faked her own kidnapping and was also behind the sale of the ducal wine and the attempted theft of the jewel. Feeling betrayed, Dettlaff leaves in a rage, threatening to destroy the capital city of Toussaint, unless Syanna agrees to meet him for an explanation within three days. Geralt explains Syanna's scheme to Henrietta, but the duchess refuses to believe it. Upon learning that Dettlaff is the Beast, she demands Geralt to kill him.

Geralt has no luck locating Dettlaff in the next three days. Later on, lesser vampires begin attacking the city. Geralt and Regis have two choices: free Syanna so she can talk to Dettlaff, or find the Unseen Elder who can force Dettlaff to appear before Geralt. If Geralt chooses to free Syanna, he and Regis convince de la Tour to tell them where she is imprisoned. Geralt and Regis reach the palace's playroom and find an enchanted fairy tale book where the sisters used to play together as children. Geralt enters the book's world, the Land of a Thousand Fables, and locates Syanna. While in there, he has the option to retrieve a magical ribbon for her. She explains her reason for murdering the knights – they were the ones who exiled her, and some of them even abused her during the journey. If Geralt opts to find the Unseen Elder, he talks to Orianna, who offers to tell him the way if he slays a vampire targeting an orphanage under her patronage. Geralt and Regis reach the Unseen Elder's lair and persuade him to recall Dettlaff.

At this point, several endings are possible. If Geralt opts to release Syanna from the fairy tale world, she, Geralt and Regis meet Dettlaff in Tesham Mutna. If Geralt retrieves the ribbon, then it saves Syanna from Dettlaff's killing blow. Then Dettlaff fights Geralt and Regis. Regis reluctantly kills Dettlaff and Geralt is awarded Toussaint's highest honor for slaying the Beast. Before he attends the ceremony, he can choose to join Regis in uncovering the identity of Syanna's would-be fifth victim. It turns out to be Henrietta, whose death would have fulfilled the last virtue, compassion. Geralt can then choose to confront an incarcerated Syanna about it. Regardless, he attends the ceremony and stays by the duchess' side while she judges Syanna for her crimes. If he chooses not to look into the fifth victim, or if he investigates it and then talks to Syanna in an admonishing manner, she stabs Henrietta with a hairpin and is in turn gets shot by de la Tour's crossbow. With no living heirs to the dukedom, Toussaint falls into a state of chaos. If Geralt asks Syanna to consider forgiving her sister, which is only possible if he read a governess' diary before entering the fairy tale world, the two sisters resolve their differences, and Toussaint celebrates.

A third ending results if Geralt did not retrieve Syanna's ribbon. Dettlaff confronts her and kills her. Geralt can choose to let him go or kill him with the help of Regis. Whichever his decision, he is thrown into prison for failing to save Syanna. His friend Dandelion then appears at his cell, telling him that he convinced Henrietta to release him. Geralt then meets with Regis and can choose to look into the fifth victim. He uncovers that the fifth victim was to be the duchess and goes with Dandelion to the ducal crypt where she grieves. She refuses to believe Geralt and forbids him from seeing her ever again.

If Geralt opts for the Unseen Elder path, the elder vampire forces Dettlaff to meet Geralt and Regis in Tesham Mutna. Dettlaff, enraged, attacks both of them, but ends up loosing and getting killed. The ending is the same as if Geralt had not looked into who was to be the fifth victim, with Syanna killing Anna and being killed in turn.

Geralt drinks with Regis, reflecting on their journey and on the past events. If Dettlaff was killed, Regis is attacked by vampires and labeled a traitor for helping defeat Dettlaff. Geralt then returns home to the vineyard estate that formed part of his payment to find a surprise visitor. Depending on the choices and endings from the base game, the visitor may be either Yennefer or Triss (if Geralt romanced either of them in the base game), Ciri (if Geralt romances neither) or Dandelion (if Geralt romances neither and Ciri does not survive the base game).

On 7 April 2015, CD Projekt announced two expansion packs for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—the first expansion being Hearts of Stone and the second being Blood and Wine.[1] Blood and Wine was released on 31 May 2016.[2] It was later released alongside Hearts of Stone in a complete edition for the Nintendo Switch on 15 October 2019.

Blood and Wine received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website, Metacritic.[3][4][5] Many reviewers praised the way CD Projekt Red ended the storyline of the character Geralt of Rivia and the size of the expansion, with some saying it could be a new project.[8][9] In a PC Gamer review by Tom Senior, he praised the developers for making such an in-depth expansion, and if they kept getting released, he'd still be playing The Witcher in 2020. Senior commended the farewell to the series.[10] The Escapist writer Steven Bogos states it is overall a good expansion but it's not the adventurous "save the world" storyline like the previous Witcher titles. He added that the farewell to Geralt of Rivia will leave a smile on your face.[11] Richard Cobbett for Rock, Paper, Shotgun claimed the game wasn't CD Projekt Red's best work. He said it had a good story but not as good as Hearts of Stone's.[12] On the contrary to Cobbett's review, Chris Carter for Destructoid believed Blood and Wine was better than Hearts of Stone due to the latter feeling like a "polished, elongated quest". He said Blood and Wine was expansive enough that it could be considered a new project.[9] "Blood and Wine is sometimes as thematically dark as its predecessors", Kevin VanOrd said in a GameSpot review, although when compared to other aspects of The Witcher 3, it is less grim.[13] Leif Johnson for IGN had initial doubts due to the slow start but started to "love it" within the first few hours of gameplay.[14] Shacknews writer Josh Hawkins noted they experienced a few problems and bugs in the expansion but there wasn't much he didn't like. He added onto this by saying it was, overall, a good addition to the series.[15] Similar to Hawkins, Mike Williams for USgamer said it was a good expansion overall and the farewell to Geralt of Rivia was a success.[16]

• Official website