
Neighbor has turned against neighbor as social tensions and score settling emerge into the open, compounded by the extractive demands of the occupiers on the populace. The village of White Orchard is under occupation, its populace simmering with resentment and fear as Nilfgaard keeps an uneasy peace over their new subjects with a watchful eye towards the local Griffin and surreptitious Temerian nationalism. Yet when Geralt awakens from his nightmare and the game begins properly, we’re quickly treated to a different perspective on war, one stripped of the grim grandeur of battle, or indeed heroism of any kind. As Yennefer rushes headlong through a battlefield in the opening cinematic, the forces of Nilfgaard and Temeria slaughter each other in pitched combat. With Foltest dead, Nilfgaard has invaded the Kingdom of Temeria and laid it to waste. The Witcher 3 begins with a ferocious battle.
