The news thatThe Witcher 4will feature Gwent was undoubtedly thrilling, but it wasn’t necessarily obvious.The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis massively beloved as an open-world action-RPGand, while it wasn’t the first time a game in its genre featured an elaborate minigame with a collectible element, Gwent is an indelible part of its success with its impact unwavering to this day.
Despite being developed by none other than CD Projekt Red, however,Cyberpunk 2077inexplicably lacks its own Gwent minigame equivalent. If it’s hoping to be a meaningful evolution of theCyberpunk 2077IP and CD Projekt Red’s contributions to immersive RPGs overall while also digging its heels into its strengths in gameplay,Project Oriondebuting its own Gwent-like minigame could be an easy layup. Likewise,Hogwarts Legacyis in the same boat.
The Witcher 4’s Gwentcould probably be identical to how the minigame looks and playsThe Witcher 3and be received warmly. If it is extrapolated to play more similarly to Gwent inThronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, though, it could be phenomenal. Either way, knowing that Gwent is indeed being reprised is at least one arresting reason whyThe Witcher 4is highly anticipated.
For everything it does well,Cyberpunk 2077has no such minigame to look forward to possibly returning.Cyberpunk 2077is obviously its own franchise with its own identity apart fromThe Witcher, but it doesn’t make much sense why a fully fledged collectible minigame like it wasn’t pursued when Gwent is so successful and adored.
Of course, if something comparable couldn’t be agreed upon or would’ve been half-baked it’s then better that CD Projekt Red didn’t feel obligated to reinvent the wheel with yet another minigame that would’ve been held to theimpossibly high standard Gwent has set for all open-world RPGs sinceThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Hogwarts Legacy 2 and Project Orion Debuting Gwent-Like Minigames Would Be a Big Boon
Seeing as how wonderfully Gwent fleshes outThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, open-world RPGs that don’t dabble in a collectible- or card-based minigame seem like they may be at a disadvantage now. Indeed,Hogwarts Legacynot adapting Gobstones or Wizard’s Chessas a collectible-based minigame seems like a missed opportunity.
Summoner’s Court is the only minigame players indulge in with a story-spanning side quest associated with it, and with such an enormous open world in the Scottish Highlands it would’ve made all the sense in the wizarding world if there had been a dedicated Gwent equivalent. Now thatThe Witcher 4is on the horizon with Gwent confirmed to return,Hogwarts Legacy’s sequel would be wise to hop on its bandwagon, especially if it’s fortunate enough to launch around the same window—a high likelihood if both sequels are in active development.
Like Gwent,Hogwarts Legacy’s own deck-building minigame could be an outlet for players to learn about different factions, species, or races inHarry Potterlore.Famous Witches and Wizards Cardsalready fulfill that role for notable figures, and marrying them with cards that could represent other characters or beasts that players may come across would be phenomenal.
There’s no tellingwhetherHogwarts Legacy’s sequel may adopt Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the Scottish Highlands altogether. But, if it does, having a more exciting and enriching reward than Demiguises to prowl at night for could relieve the tedium of all its repetitive collection and challenge tasks. That’s not to say every single question mark litteringThe Witcher 3’s maps leads to a full-blown quest or an enticing storyline, and yet having Gwent to pursue via miscellaneous inns or NPCs is a fun throughline players can tend to whenever they’d like a bit of respite from cutting down foul monsters and fouler humans.
Hogwarts Legacy, on the other hand, only encourages players to sweep its open world to cross items off of a rather monotonous checklist. Besides a couple of arcade cabinets (playableRoach RaceandTrauma Dramaminigames), access points are the only other minigames of sorts that players frequent. Access points are intended as a crucial vein of eddies and components, though, and lean more toward emulating a lockpicking feature a laOblivionrather than an extracurricular and leisurely minigame like Gwent. The frivolity of a minigame such as Gwent wouldn’t even contend with the supposed urgency ofCyberpunk 2077’s plot.
V is said to be slowly eroding via Johnny Silverhand’s engram and yet players can spend upwards of 100 hours with Side Jobs, Gigs, and other interactions that never forcefully urge them to rush to the story’s end.
Plus, in an ending such as The Sun, V can go on to live for several months with no certainty that she’s even remotely close to dying by the time credits roll. The main campaign is fairly short in comparison to how much side content there is, and players can easily double or triple their playtime by scouring the map for every and all points of interest.
As such, a minigame stretching outward to each corner of Night City with associable items to collect for it could’ve been right at home. Regardless of whether it takes place in Night City or someplace else, it would be exhilarating if CD Projekt Red eventually introduced a thorough andspectacular minigame inProject Orionor another futureCyberpunk 2077game. It took CDPR threeWitchergames to craft Gwent and, with any luck, it’ll hopefully take one less entry forCyberpunk 2077to have its own.
