CD Projekt Red has a reputation for doing almost everything right, from The Witcher 3, which is one of the best western RPGs, to the more ambitious Cyberpunk 2077. The independent developer always seems to have a winning hand with games. Gwent was a beloved side activity in the last Witcher game, but it has since bloomed into its own collectible card title. CD Projekt Red then went ahead and created a story mode for the card-building game that has now dropped on the Nintendo Switch. Thronebreaker is the marriage between Gwent and a text-driven adventure that aims to satisfy those who love the card game but still thirst for another story from the Witcher universe. We checked out Thronebreaker to see if it can live up to the high expectations.

Gwent is a collectible card game that combines two gameplay systems: deck-building and competition. While going through the game, we collect and create new cards to improve our deck so we have a better shot at winning upcoming encounters. The actual card game itself is straightforward. The winner is whoever has the most points, which are dictated by the card values on the board, at the end of a round. Gwent is a best-of-three competition, so whoever wins two rounds takes the cake. There's more complexity based on card skills and abilities, but that's roughly the gist of it. If you've played The Witcher 3, you probably know that the simple setup is enough to reel you in.

It's not the same version of Gwent that we played in The Witcher 3, though; this is a significantly altered and improved iteration. Each player has two rows to lay down cards. The front row is for close-combat units, and the second for ranged units, but cards can be played in either row and may change depending on how they are played. Cards also have special skills that automatically trigger when certain conditions are met or executed within a turn. It's easy to create chain reactions with the cards to inflict devastating damage or other effects. As such, Gwent is easy to understand but difficult to master, which is a rare but welcome trait for a card game. Thronebreaker doesn't lean into that potential very well, but more on that later.

Thronebreaker is essentially a story-driven, single-player experience. We follow Meve, Queen of Lyria and Rivia, on a quest that takes her across a decent chunk of the Witcher world. A queen's job is full of decisions and altercations, most of which are solved with a round of Gwent. The segments between Gwent battles are filled with dialogue and basic exploration. It's mostly a text-based adventure that's been fully voiced with great production value. This isn't a negative, but if you aren't into games that resemble visual novels, this likely isn't your cup of tea.

However, if you enjoy a decent story, this may be a huge selling point. CD Projekt Red consistently excels at telling a unique, detailed and captivating story. This is also true for Thronebreaker, which fits perfectly into the established Witcher universe. As such, there are quite a few decisions that have to be made, but they are usually less impressive than they were in The Witcher 3. Occasionally, we're prompted to choose our next action, but the results are often nothing more than gaining a few resources to improve our camp and deck or to influence morale, which awards either +1 or - 1 for our cards in the next battle. It's good enough but certainly not ground-breaking.

It's not all text-based, though. The game features a semi-open-world map that our character can roam freely to fulfill both main and side-quests. We control Meve from a top-down perspective and can either talk to inhabitants or look around for resources and battles. This is where the deck-building comes in. We can set up a camp at any point to improve our crew (deck). There are several tents, including an ad-hoc pub to strike up conversations with our closest allies, a command tent to control our units, and a workshop to improve our buildings. With each upgrade, we can gain buffs for our deck or gain access to new cards. Those can be crafted (and occasionally found), so your deck is growing constantly. The only downside is that there is no way to create decks for different gameplay approaches. Before fighting an opponent, it'd be nice to be able to quickly cycle through pre-built decks for that particular situation and strategy.

If there's anything I'd be lamenting about, it's the relatively low difficulty of Thronebreaker. Even on the hardest difficulty, most required story battles do not provide any challenge. The game can be a breeze for someone who has grasped what they need to do to win a game. There's remarkably little challenge in anything the game throws at you, except some minor exceptions.

It's impressive how well CD Projekt Red has incorporated story and visual cues into the experience without altering the game mechanics. Gwent games within Thronebreaker are tailored to the respective story beats, so they don't play the same way every time. Rules may change to reflect the situation at hand, so fighting a mighty beast may be visualized by fighting against a deck of cards that comprise the beast. Attacking a stronghold may spawn cards that resemble the outer walls that must be taken down, and cards that symbolize moving units may actually move across the table.

Still, the difficulty is an issue. The only exception to that are the occasional puzzle challenges that pop up along the way. Those are battles where both our own and the enemy's decks are pre-selected, and the duration is shortened to a single round. These are really fun and challenging, as they require an understanding and ability to string together card abilities to create chain reactions. It would have been great if the regular campaign could have included more of that to make the story more demanding and rewarding. It was usually those puzzle challenges that I'd look forward to playing, as they were genuinely fun to figure out. The rest of the game is well-polished and fun, but this would have elevated the experience even further.

From a technical standpoint, it's far removed from the prowess of other titles — especially The Witcher 3 — but it does a good job for a visual novel combined with a deck-building card game. It has a relatively simple but aptly detailed style that looks slightly cel-shaded. Dialogue sequences are sometimes conveyed in text and with minor character animations, and both are well executed. The world map is detailed and varied with enough callbacks to the Witcher titles to please fans of the franchise. Gwent matches mostly look plain, except that the player's character model is part of the board and showcases various animations based on the actions you take. It's consistent with everything else in Thronebreaker, making it a well-polished and decent-looking experience. The music deserves a special mention, as it's reminiscent of the music in the original game series and pushes the right buttons for returning players.

As for the quality of the Switch port, we haven't encountered any bugs or even performance issues. The game runs perfectly fine on the handheld, regardless of how you play. The only minor caveat is that there isn't much to distinguish this version from others. It would've been nice to see touch-screen functionality for Gwent battles, as that would've made sense given the nature of the game and controls.

With Thronebreaker, CD Projekt Red has succeeded in making a fun, single-player experience about a simplified card game. It's a polished, story-driven experience that has a lot going for it. It's not a masterpiece, and there are some minor gripes, such as the difficulty (or lack thereof) and the absence of meaningful decision-making, but it is still an incredibly entertaining game. If you're into The Witcher and on the lookout for another story in the same universe, you can't go wrong with Thronebreaker.

Score: 8.0/10