As I stated in the introduction, Storm of Zehir and Mask of the Betrayer are two completely different games. I could even say, that the only thing they share is the engine. While MotB was an epic journey to save yourself from (or embrace) a curse, SoZ is centered around something someone might call ‘generic adventuring’. Indeed, the focus is put mainly on exploration and going through various dungeons, while at the same time having a continuous income of trade bars from your evergrowing merchant company. Actually, for most of the game, you can completely ignore the main quest, and focus on finding new treasures to uncover. Most of the time I spent in the game was on the overland map, and not because I was fighting all the time, but because I wanted to visit every single corner, to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Every gamer who wants his RPG to have a lot of exploration, will definitely find SoZ to be very enjoyable.​

Skills also influence exploration of certain terrain. There is a Swimming skill which allows you to navigate shallow waters (It is innate to Humans), a Mountaineering skill to navigate mountains, and so on. But apart from skills, you will also need spells to explore the world. A fascinating thing about this game is that there are high towers in them, and if you reach their rooftops, you will be right inside the skies and can use Levitation spell to walk on clouds. If there is a large sea of lava between you and your destination, you use Teleportation. If you want a simultaneous top down view of the area, you have to use Wizard's Eye. Please note that these spells aren't merely helpful, they are essential. Sometimes a combination of spells will be needed. And you won't be told how or when to use them.​

Fallout 3 is a very enjoyable hiking simulator. This title has been bestowed by many upon Bethesda’s titles, and their post apocalyptic wonderland takes the cake. It’s fun, silly, odd, engaging, and engrossing. Much has been said about this game from both camps; the lovers and the haters. I consider it a worthwhile investment if discovery is your thing and you’re willing to take a break from the high fantasy worlds and high-tech sci-fi environs that populate most of today’s industry. Fallout 3 is down to earth while still being crazy. It’s difficult and accessible. It’s gory and humble. It’s the sum of gaming paradox.
But above all, it’s a post nuclear role playing game.​

Since the Hero never displays any kind of motivation behind his actions we're left with an empty shell that is given a fixed semblance of a personality, one that sometimes may not even correspond to the personality we try to imbue in him. There are also a couple of situations where the game doesn't seem to know how to handle the freedom it offers. During the training in the Guild I repeatedly assaulted a roommate, only to be called to the presence of a Hero which grew irate with every new attempt of mine and warned me not to repeat this, or else I'd suffer the consequences. Well, the consequence here was that the same warning would be repeated on and on without the main character being punished in any way. The most powerful wizard in the guild threatened to snuff out my life force if I kept beating him but as with most dogs, it was all bark and no bite. And after the 73rd crotch punch with no punishment, it was time to move along.​

As I said before, the game is mostly based around exploration. The world really is huge, and the goodies hidden throughout the map are worth the effort. By venturing too far from the road, you might find chests with basic supplies like food rations, torches, whetstones or herbal packs that speed up the healing rate while resting, or maybe powerful potions that drastically boost your statistics, or simply a new sword or a set of armour if you are not satisfied with your current one. Normal chests can be either harmless, or locked, or trapped, or both. Many traps are lethal, and they can be ‘sensed’ only through a spell, so if you stumble upon such, but you are not quite confident about your lockpicking skill, it’s just better to let it be. Apart from these ‘normal’ chests, there are also Moredhel chests which have a wordlock upon them. When using such a chest, you are presented a riddle, and a few slides with letters. To open the chest, you must make the slides show the password (some of the riddles are really hard, believe me).​

I've started with the setting, main story overview, and major design elements (character system, combat, multiple ways to handle quests, non-linearity, etc). I didn't do all the quests or ways to solve them, of course. I'm talking about the concept phase here. For example, one way to keep the main quest non-linear is to have multiple factions interested in it. These factions shouldn't want the same thing as that would make your choice of a faction less important. So, they should want different things which would give you different reasons to pursue the main quest and would require you to make very different decisions once you are at the end of your journey. At the same time you can't be sent to several different directions at once, so your final destination should be able to offer and support different outcomes, etc. In other words, you develop the frame of a game first and then fill it in with the actual content.​

The Witcher is one of the first games . . . well, ever . . . to actively hype its choices and consequences. This alone should make it interesting to the average Codex reader. The basic idea, in case you've been living under a rock (or, you know, have a life outside of games) is that The Witcher presents you with choices during the course of the game without clear answers. Only much later in the game do you discover the consequences of your decisions, which can have significant impact on the plot.​