The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has reclaimed its place as the highest-rated open-world RPG in gaming, which means it's now ahead of FromSoftware's hugely successful Elden Ring, which released earlier this year. That's not to say the latter is not worth playing. In fact, along with God of War Ragnarok, Elden Ring cleaned up at The Game Awards 2022, taking home such accolades as Best Art Direction, Game of the Year, and even Best Role Playing Game. However, the tables have now turned.
As a series, The Witcher was a superb entry in the RPG genre, with many fans considering the third entry to be one of the greatest open-world titles of its generation, if not of all time. With developer CD Projekt Red now working on a new installment, as well as an official remake of the original 2007 game, the exploits of Geralt of Rivia will once again be burning bright in the AAA gaming sphere. In the meantime, Wild Hunt has reclaimed its number one spot, in terms of review scores.
As spotted by GamesRadar, The Witcher 3 is once again listed as one of the best open-world RPGs in the current market, at least on one platform, with a Metacritic score of 97 on PS5 at the time of writing. Not that it ever truly dropped off its plinth, but the fact that it now beats Elden Ring's PS5 score of 96 means that it just scrapes ahead of the FromSoftware title. Given how the latter was considered one of the most successful games of the year, with all of its TGA awards evidence of that, that's some feat. The reason for this usurping on PS5 is almost certainly to do with the next-gen upgrade of CD Projekt Red's title. However, Elden Ring does still beat The Witcher 3 on Xbox Series consoles with a score of 96 against 95.
Offering up a fresh tweak to the visuals, the new PS5 and Xbox Series versions of The Witcher 3 have brought the seven-year-old title back into the fore. The 2015 release is still considered a remarkably gorgeous game, but this upgrade brings it into the modern world, with ray tracing and other graphical improvements. The upgrade being free to anyone who already owns the game on previous generation systems will almost certainly help keep the game in good standing.
Of course, Elden Ring could still reclaim its title. After all, it's still a magnificent and highly praised video game, a perfect gift for any gamer this Christmas. In any case, both releases are beloved additions to the genre, but it remains to be seen how long The Witcher 3 will be able to beat out the competition.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: GamesRadar, Metacritic
