It's not without missteps. For one thing, this is an unapologetically hyper-masculine power fantasy, set in a feudal world that is sometimes gruesomely misogynistic. There are a lot of ludicrously revealing necklines and CD Projekt can be so dogged in its pursuit of moral ambiguity that it winds up muddying waters that ought to be crystal clear. (At one point, a wife-beating alcoholic baron is redeemed and made sympathetic; his wife, naturally, cheated on him.) And yet: The Witcher 3 doesn't dehumanise, neuter or ignore women the way so many games do. This is because it doesn't dehumanise anyone the way so many games do. The storylines that tackle oppression do so with empathy rather than righteousness. Even its adolescent sauciness has a kind of honesty: this is a video game in which sex is messy and fun and, well, sexy, as opposed to the calculating negotiation it is in BioWare's games (or the pervy sideshow it is everywhere else).
