[The Witcher 3] Add difficulty options to adjust nerfed Death March

I finished almost everything I planned for 2025. And I managed to finish a couple of extras too. The only game I haven’t finished is Half-Life 2 so I’ll leave it for 2026 to write about. I had a solid plan to finish every game by the end of the year and then a certain show about hockey took over my life starting from Christmas and I was moving out in January. Can’t believe I almost missed the deadline again. 2025 was a great gaming year for me. I played zero new games. I decided to splurge for once and I got ps premium for the whole year on Black Friday sale so I’m excited to play some newer games in 2026. I’ve got big plans so I’ll see how they turn out. As usual, I put highest difficulty of the game in italics (hardcore doesn’t always means the hardest). Completion is for achievements, I’ve finished playing every game at least once. You might wanna sit down and get a drink because this is gonna be long. Let’s go! My previous reviews: [https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/comments/1i3r0t0/20\_games\_ive\_played\_in\_my\_second\_year\_of\_patient/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/comments/1i3r0t0/20_games_ive_played_in_my_second_year_of_patient/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) [https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/comments/19d0zr0/10\_games\_ive\_played\_in\_my\_first\_year\_of\_patient/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/comments/19d0zr0/10_games_ive_played_in_my_first_year_of_patient/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) 1. **Ori and the Blind Forest (2016, PC)** **Score: 9/10** **Completion: 56%** ***A platformer where we follow Ori, a white spirit, in the journey to restore balance to the magic forest.*** It’s a gorgeous looking game about love and compassion. I didn’t expect the story to move me so much. There are three really hard parts where you are kind of thrown into a deep end – you don’t have a map, you just need to instinctively figure out where to go. Very satisfying to finish each of them. I really liked the ending. Very fun game to play although definitely not the easiest. The game encourages backtracking because with new abilities you can unlock previously locked areas. It’s interesting but I can see how that might be annoying for some people too. Music was incredible too. Excited to play the sequel. **2. Doom (2016 remake, PS5)** **Score: 9/10** **Completion: 22%** ***Woken up from a coma your job is to kill demons and close portals to Hell.*** Look, if you just want a game where you shoot stuff there’s nothing better than this. There is a little bit of story but most of the time you run around with bigger and bigger weapons and shoot everything you see while listening to some of the best soundtrack I’ve heard in a game (heavy metal isn’t usually my vibe but oh damn this was my favourite genre when playing Doom). And it’s exactly as adrenaline pumping and satisfying as it sounds. The glory system is really cool and also really interesting to me because it goes against everything that I usually do playing a shooting game. A glory kill is when enemy is low on health and you charge to him to finish him off with a melee attack to gain health. My main usual strategy when playing? Trying to hide and not die. So to go out in the open is risky but also rewarding. I also appreciate that after a stressful section of clearing yet another portal you get a bit of a break where you get to explore and relax for a moment. Main character doesn’t say a word the whole game and I still consider him to be one of the best protagonists in a game ever. I’ve never played original Doom but this seems like a great modern remake. 1. **3. Witcher 3 (2015, PC)** **Score: 10/10** **Completion: 100% of the main game** ***Open world fantasy rpg game where Geralt, a famous witcher, goes on a journey to find Ciri who is chased by a Wild Hunt.*** I’ve read the books so perhaps that’s why this was quite emotional for me (and why I pick Yennefer over Triss). The prologue alone made me tear up a little, and not only that. It’s a great, huge open world game doing a good job between balancing emotional scenes and humour. I knew from the start that there was a lot of dialogue so I wasn’t bothered by it. I actually liked the combat, something I’ve seen a lot of people complain about. Glad to see both parry and dodge (that actually doesn’t suck unlike in Witcher 2) and signs, potions and oils were a lot more intuitive to use. Even without ray tracing (my PC couldn’t handle it) the game still looks amazing and music is very immersive. I was invested more in Geralt’s journey this time because it was personal, not political like first two games. But have to say, I’m Polish and after playing with Polish voice acting and English, Polish is 100% better. In some cases I found English VA to be just disappointing. Also I discovered some funny easter eggs in Polish version, like some lines random characters say are references to old Polish comedies. Little things like that just make the game better. After I played it on normal I decided I want to try to 100% the main game it and I took one more run to do it. The only problem? I had to complete the game on *Death March*, the hardest difficulty in the game, where enemies have more health and they hit you harder. So it should be super hard right? Well actually no, it was super easy, barely an inconvenience. Turns out *Death March* got nerfed in the next gen update so it felt barely harder than normal. Sure I actually used oils this time but even without them it didn’t look that hard. And I turned the option that all enemies have the same level as me for added challenge. Gwent on easy though – while I found it very fun I struggled with winning early games while not having strong cards. Since it took me about 1,5 months to finish this I decided I’m gonna leave DLCs for next year and rate them seperately. **4. X-com – Enemy Unknown (2012, PC)** **Score: 8/10** **Completion: 50%** ***Turn based game where you lead a team of soldiers tasked with investigating and eradicating aliens invading the Earth.*** You could say that turn based games are alien to me. But I grew to actually really like this game so much I’ve played it 4 or 5 times. I enjoyed having the time to think about my moves. But gotta say, in the first three games I didn’t realize you are supposed to manually save. I started on normal and decided to wing it. Bad idea. My ranked soldiers died and I couldn’t do harder missions with rookies. So after three attempts I put the game down, frustrated. But eventually decided to come back. So I watched a video with some tips and started saving before every mission and then 2-3 times during it as well. Well, what do you know, this game is actually not impossible if you’re able to promote your soldiers and they get more abilities. The building and researching side was also pretty fun but also really stressful – I never felt like I had enough time or money to do everything. I eventually finished the game on classic and did most of the achievements in the main game. The story really really surprised me and went into a direction I wasn’t expecting but in a good way for sure. Really cinematic ending. 100% this game looks absolutely crazy (finishing a game on classic and Ironman mode? I want to go outside sometime this year no thanks.) I decided to play DLC next year too, and I managed to score X-com 2 for free on Amazon so I might play both. **5. Flower (2019, PC)** **Score: 6/10** **Completion: 21%** ***Short little adventure game where you bloom flowers to restore power to the city.*** Bought this in a bundle with Journey. Pretty cute game but ultimately nothing to really write home about. It’s very simple and looks pretty. Somewhat disappointed that most of the game doesn’t have any music. I feel like some ambient wind noises would go a long way at least. It was pretty fun to play though. **6. Assasin’s Creed (2007, PC)** **Score: 6/10** **Completion: no achievements on steam** ***You work as an assassin and have to take out a couple of high priority targets to restore your reputation.*** Can you believe I had actually no idea this game is a simulation? Cue my surprise. For all I’ve heard about this series, I just had no clue. I really put the ‘ass’ in the assassin here because I got constantly discovered which is probably not what you are supposed to do. Pretty fun to play although it took me a while to get used to the controls but the weird camera (I had to download a mod to even play the game) and kind of repetitive gameplay make it less fun. Last section was different which was interesting and the final boss was actually somewhat challenging. Voice acting was ehh fine I guess? Music was okay but the only bit I really remember is the combat music. Also, the weird bug that freezes the game every two minutes. Eventually the solution I found was to just play the game offline. I’ve heard really good things about the sequel so I’ll give it a try next year. **7. Batman: Arkham City (2012, PC)** **Score: 8/10** **Completion: 100%** ***After kidnapped by sick Joker and infused with his blood Batman needs to find a cure while also trying to stop mysterious Protocol 10.*** In June and July I was saving Arkham City over and over again. I have to say, I think I actually liked Arkham Asylum more. Before you get your pitchforks out let me explain why. I liked the simple story in Arkham Asylum, Joker gets out and you need to stop him. In Arkham City there is too much going on, too many villains. There is a great Scarecrow section in Asylum which I really liked. In City there is a section that I think is supposed to be a similar ‘break’ from the main game but for me it didn’t work as well – the challenge was nonsensical and really hard before I got the hang of what I was actually supposed to do. I don’t know if I got really good at Batman games or are bosses actually supposed to feel that easy but I got most of them done on first try, even on *new game+*. The only fight that was really challenging was Mr Freeze – and only because I messed up the order of takedowns a lot which makes it close to impossible to finish him off. Poison Ivy has much smaller role here and her fight was much easier than in Asylum – perhaps because some people thought her fight in Asylum was too hard. Also, the ending really surprised me and I’m still not sure how to feel about it. But from what I heard, it doesn’t even matter? So I’m even more confused what to think about it. Now, what I liked. The addition of Catwoman. Look, I am a woman but I love how she is designed in the game. Is she sexualised with her unzipped tight costume? I mean yeah but I absolutely loved playing as her. She’s quicker than Batman and her style of combat is really fun. Of course since she’s a burglar you get a mission where you steal something from the vault. Simple thing but so fun! I liked all her sections. New moves make the combat more dynamic and fun and new enemy types make it more challenging. Although most of boss fights are gimmicks I thought they were all really cool and fun. Between Asylum and City I actually managed to watch the whole Batman: Animated Series on Netflix so recognising some iconic Batman villains felt really rewarding. Great voice acting as usual. The bit that really got me was Batman’s VA in the DLC – while he usually sounds calm and collected in DLC he sounded just dead inside. Absolutely haunting. Now, the 100% was a lot harder than Asylum but I was determined. I could’ve just done all challenges as Batman and new game+ and call it a day but nah. So I did DLC as well and challenges as three more characters. Was that a bit of a grind? I mean yeah but it was also really fun to play as different characters who all have different gadgets and strengths (the fact that Catwoman is the only character who can run up to the enemy and do a Silent Takedown from behind will never stop being funny to me. Batman is supposed to be a master of stealth but even he can’t pull that off). I managed to do maybe 370 riddles (out of 440!) on my own before I gave up and used a guide. Riddler is the biggest villain in the game for making me go through all this. If the 100% required me to do the riddles on ng+ again I probably would just give up. Ngl some of those were really fun to figure out but some took way too long. I could’ve stopped there but decided to play the game on Chaos too (difficulty mod). Surprised that some of the bosses were pretty easy but the Funhouse Brawl stomped me *for 8 hours*. Completely overtuned fight. Still, a fun challlenge. 1. **8. Resident Evil 3 remake (2020, PS5)** **Score: 7/10** **Completion: 100%** ***Jill gets hunted by Nemesis and with the help of Carlos tries to escape Racoon City infested with zombies.*** It felt really similar to Resident Evil 2 remake with the addition of dodge. I had a lot of fun playing this game but definitely felt that it was shorter and there weren’t as many puzzles which is kind of a trademark for Resident Evil games. Nemesis chases were the least favourite part of the game and absolute nightmare on Inferno. I really tried to get S rank on Inferno (finish the game under 2 hours with 5 saves or less) without any bonus items but the chases just ended me. After trying and trying I just gave up and used infinite assault rifle and some defense items and rocket launcher on the chases and on the last boss. I’m sure I would eventually get it without bonus items but I didn’t want to spend the rest of the year trying to get it. Great voice acting and music though. I liked both Jill and Carlos. Carlos has two sections and I thought both are kinda great. You get to come back to RPD which actually gives some backstory to Resident Evil 2 remake and the hospital section ends with a siege where you have to fight waves of zombies. Panic levels were through the roof every time. So long, RC. **9. Inside (2016, PC)** **Score: 8/10** **Completion: 35%** ***Little boy is trying to get inside a secret facility.*** Look, I’ve played the game and I watched a video and I’m still not sure what the game is actually about. It goes into a really weird direction at the end but I kinda dig it. It’s a mix between platformer and adventure game but also a puzzle game? I got stuck a few times but overall it wasn’t too hard. Game has that kind of a spooky atmosphere because a lot of times you are chased and need to hide. So, definitely my kind of game. **10. Mass Effect 2 Legendary edition (2021, PS5)** **Score: 8/10** **Completion: 100%** ***Commander Shephard assembles a team to stop mysterious Collectors from kidnapping entire human colonies and to prepare for the fight against the Reapers.*** I think it’s a big improvement from the previous game – there’s more variety in missions and optional stuff is far and between, new characters are interesting and the story was really good. Main missions have good writing and atmosphere and music adds to the tension. Glad to see the overheating mechanic from the first game gone. Shooting still felt a little weird though. Big plus for making switching weapons and installing upgrades more streamlined though – I feel like this stuff in ME1 took me a couple of hours alone. Seeing all the characters from ME1 was really nice too even if some of them you only see briefly. Joker was a nice permanent addition. But not gonna lie – I was really disappointed in the romance aspect. Perhaps because I didn’t really think through on how it would play out in a sequel. I was really excited to continue romance with Kaidan from the first game – only to find out that he doesn’t trust you and doesn’t talk to you except for one cutscene. And, like, I get it, it makes sense for his character to not trust me and yet, that just sucked. I also played the game again with male Shephard and continued relationship with Liara – which turns out doesn’t count for the achievement ‘start or rekindle a relationship in ME1 and ME2’ which I had no way of possibly knowing, so I had to start another playthrough just for this one achievement. Okay I’ll admit romance with Miranda was actually fun. I ended up doing another playthrough to romance Garrus which I liked as well. Also, I feel like other than different dialogue Paragon and Renegade playthroughs are pretty much the same – the only thing you can really change is one member of the team and that choice doesn’t even make sense for Renegade either. I never picked her. Cool last mission and the ending. Looking forward toseeing Kaidan againhow the story ends. **11. Halo 3 in Master Chief Collection (2020, original from 2007, PC)** **Score: 8/10** **Completion: 20% maybe** ***Master Chief teams up with the Arbitor to stop the Covenant from activating Halos and destroying the galaxy.*** The game shows its age but I still really enjoyed it. It feels good to be back and play as Master Chief again. I liked the story, and playing as Arbitor was a nice change of pace. Iconic Halo music strikes again. I’ve heard a lot how Cortana is the hardest level but I think it ended up being my favourite level in the game (my opinion might change once I play the game on *legendary).* There’s just something about it. Some fun new weapons to play with (gravity axe!). All the levels where you drive a vehicle were surprisingly fun. And you finish the game with some classic Warthog driving section. Also, the music is great as usual. **12. Bioshock 2** **Score: 8/10** **Completion: 100%** ***Playing as a Big Daddy you fight your way to find a very special Little Sister that you feel connection to.*** Not gonna lie, this wasn’t as good as the first game. But a little worse than original Bioshock is still a very good game. I didn’t find the story as interesting or immersive as the first game. I couldn’t help but feel like the connection between the Big Daddy and Elizabeth was a little forced: I was told I’m supposed to care about her but I didn’t really feel it. Some new elements were added: Big Daddy carries Little Sister and is supposed to protect her during drinking the magic juice which was a challenging section that required careful planning (until you get a few passive powers that turn it into a breeze). New camera was more fun to use for sure. Also, being able to use powers and shoot at the same time? Genius. Wish first game had that. Big Sister provided a very good challenge and I liked their design a lot; while you are powerful but slow they are equally as powerful and quick. I actually thought the story in Minevra’s Den was better than in the actual game: it had that plot twist that caught me completely off guard and emotionally I was just more invested. Whoever was raving about it in my last year’s post was right, it really is that good. There’s also a fun little DLC with Little Sister challenges where you need to protect her from enemies while she drinks the magic juice. Really creative and a blast of a challenge. I was a little afraid of playing the game on hard for 100% and while the beginning was really hard it actually got easier as the time went on because I had more health and more powers. I absolutely breezed though the last chapter. **13. Marvel’s Spiderman (2018 with remaster from 2022, ps5)** **Score: 10/10** **Completion: 100% (with all DLCs)** ***Spiderman duties get intertwined with his personal life and he needs to stop villains from destroying the city.*** Amazing game. Spectacular. The ultimate Spider-man game. Okay, I’ll stop now. I don’t know why I was putting it this game off for so long because it’s a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I instantly got completely obsessed. This actually ended up being my favourite game I’ve played this year. The combat and some sections are clearly inspiredripped offfrom Batman games but because we’re playing as Spiderman it feels distinctively different, mostly because of gadgets and aerial combat (yes you can punch enemies in the air and it is as cool as it sounds). I feel like the game absolutely nails vibe of the movies and Spiderman himself. His voice acting is genuinely one of my favourites I’ve heard this year. It’s that upbeat but also very sarcastic tone that feels like Spiderman and carries the whole game. It felt like I was watching a Spiderman movie at times. I only know the lore from the movies (I’ve seen all modern adaptations) but it was fun to watch all the villains I know and fight them. All bosses have kind of a similar gimmick where you need to stun them before you can hit them but still, all fights were really cool. I feel like after first 20h or so when I discovered all things you can do in the game the novelty definitely wears off but thanks to the variety of things to do it never gets boring. As I liked to call ‘Twitter’ in the game is a great fun addition that I spent way too much time reading. It comments on stuff you do in the game but also on the outfits you wear. I also liked that we don’t only play as Spiderman but as Peter and even MJ with her little stealth sections that were a nice break from more action packed Spiderman sections (apparently people hate these). Also nice that we saw Peter/Spiderman and MJ’s relationship – I thought it was really cute. The ending of the game totally broke me though, what the f- Anyways, DLS were a fun little adventures too. Glad to see Black CatCatwomana little more. I hope we see her again in the sequel? No spoilers please. Platinum was a little bit grindy due to a number of crimes you have to stop but since I chose to do it I can’t really complain too much. You have to swing around the city doing various things but on the other hand, I get to swing around the city a bit more which is great. Also, screw Screwball. The verdict who I hate more: her or The Riddler is still not decided. Her challenges were fun though, although I hate her. Okay, I actually love to hate her. Perfect voice acting for such an annoying character. She’s gonna be back in the next game, right? 1. **14. Outlast 2** **Score: 8/10** **Completion: 100% (the most painful one)** ***Blake assists his wife Lynn who is a journalist to a place where a young pregnant woman was murdered. After their helicopter crashes Blake tries to find his wife and gets caught up between two groups of religious cults and witnesses some horrific events.*** If I thought the story in Inside was confusing I was not prepared for Outlast 2. I had to watch a lore video to even make sense of it. But once you get it what actually happened, it’s just haunting. The game absolutely terrified me first time I played it. It nails the horror atmosphere (music definitely helps, Martha’s theme is so scary), there are several chase sequences that come a bit of nowhere (and I appreciate a bit of quiet exploration right after otherwise I would have a heart attack) and random enemy placement keeps you on edge. This ended up being one of the most difficult platinums I’ve done this year. I was determined to get it done but the achievement where you need to complete the game on *Insane* without changing the camera battery which lets you see in the dark is insanely hard. It took me about 30 attempts to finally get it right (mind you, the whole game is about 2,5h long). Funny thing is, I was scared of the mines which is the final area of the game but on my first and only attempt when I actually got there I finished the game. I might have cried a little from relief. *Insane* demands almost absolute perfection (I made one big mistake but managed to recover) and knowledge of the game and 0.5% of the platinum only confirms that. **15. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (2009, PC)** **Score: 6/10** **Completion: no achievements on Steam** ***After getting out of two year detention Faith returns to the city to stop an evil corporation.*** Honestly, taking the gameplay and premise from the first game and making it worse in the sequel is kind of impressive. I didn’t find the story to be very interesting. I feel like ‘the big bad is an evil corporation’ just doesn’t cut it for a story, even in 2009.. Voice acting was more flat. The game is absolutely flooded with side missions that just bored me. Which is a shame because I feel like this could be great. The only reason this is 6/10 is because the gameplay was still very fun. Last section where you have to climb a building that’s falling apart? Pretty cool. Combat was fun and the gimmick where enemies learn to expect your moves (was that in the first game?) was an added challenge. Game also looks miles better than the original but also I preferred the white city look in the first game. didn’t really mind the talent tree either. Two words to describe Catalyst: wasted potential. **16. Stray (2022, ps5 on ps premium)** **Score: 9/10** **Completion: 36%** ***A stray cat accidentaly falls down to the bottom of the city and helps robots who inhabit the city to open it.*** As someone who loves cats, this game is just perfect. You play as a cat and can do cat things, like meow, take naps and jump on things. 10/10 gameplay, no notes. The story was pretty interesting and fun albeit you have to suspense your belief a lot (I still don’t understand how was cat able to understand the little robot). Best vibes in a game I played in 2025, maybe except Spiderman. The ending broke my heart a little. The only complaint I have is that Stray is too short. I would love to play the game for another 10 hours at least. **17. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024, PC on Amazon Luna)** **Score: 9/10** **Completion: no way to track achievements on Luna** ***Indiana Jones goes on a classic Indiana Jones adventure to investigate a mystery of a Great Circle.*** I started playing it in December after it’s been a year since the game came out. And what a blast this game is. Loved the gameplay, the story, Gina, travelling all over the world and some classic Indiana Jones music to accompany you. For the price it definitely feels a little short but since I played it for free I have nothing to complain about really. Great graphics too of course. **18. Resident Evil: Code Veronica (2001, ps5)** **Score: 7/10** **Completion: 46%** ***Claire gets captured by Umbrella while looking for her brother Chris and gets escorted to prison located on an island where she teams with another convict, Steve, to survive the zombie infestation and escape.*** Not gonna like, the only reason I gave it 7/10 is because of Steve. I heard that people don’t like him and now I know why. Actually the most annoying voice I’ve ever heard a character have and his personality doesn’t do him any favours either. Why couldn’t Claire just team up with Chris instead? The story was ok and I’m definitely getting better at remembering how to play with tank controls. There is only one difficulty which is interesting. Game is both too hard and too easy, depending on how you look at it. All the bosses look hard but are actually easy to defeat once you have the right weapons. Before I played this game I thought the worst enemy in RE games were monkeys in RE0 but after encountering Nosferatu I stand corrected. This guy is so ridiculously hard to kill and not because he has a lot of health or anything like that, no, it’s because you have to dodge three attacks in a row and 3-4 seconds after that is the only window where you can damage him. If we’re getting a remake of this game I’m begging devs to change how this works. I’m definitely planning to get 100% in this game although A rank looks astonishingly hard: you have only one save for 4,5 hours and can only use one certain type of heals. The only saving grace is that after playing the game once it will certainly be a lot easier to play it again, except for the Nosferatu fight. There are also additional challenges called Battle Modes which are timed and fun fact: opening doors in the game takes about 10 seconds. Guess how many doors you have to open in every Battle Game? 7 or 8. I can already feel the fun I’m gonna have trying to beat the timer. **What else I played:** I’m about halfway through **Half-Life 2**, I honestly just run out of time. I also put about 10h into **Alien: Isolation** and I’ll probably finish both of them in 2026. I played some more **Slay the Spire** and finally finished the game with all characters and actually managed to slay the Spire. Once. For how much I’ve played this game I still absolutely suck at it. I got really into **Vampire Survivors** again in January where I unlocked a bunch of achievements and them promptly forgot the game existed for the rest of the year. ***My best of the best in 2025:*** **Best story: Witcher 3/Spiderman** **Best music: Witcher 3** **Best voice acting: Polish cast in Witcher 3** **Best gameplay: Spiderman** **Best shooting: Doom 2016** **Favourite mission/level: No Place Like Home in Witcher 3** **Best graphics: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle** **Made me cry the hardest: Ori and the Blind Forest, ending of Spiderman, Witcher 3** **Favourite gameplay: Doom 2016** **Favourite ending: Witcher 3 (you know which one)** **Favourite cutscene: finding Ciri in Witcher 3/ song about Yen and Geralt (it just hits different in Polish)** **Hardest achievement: finishing the game on Insane in Outlast 2** And finally, what I’m planning to play in 2026: 1. **Half-Life 2** 2. **OG Resident Evil 4** 3. **Resident Evil 5** 4. **Mass Effect 3** 5. **Witcher 3 DLCs** 6. **Halo ODST** 7. **Elden Ring (pray for me, I’m gonna need it)** 8. **Batman Origins** 9. **X-com the Enemy Within DLC** 10. **Outer Wilds** 11. **Assasin’s Creed 2** 12. **Ori and the Will of the Wisps** 13. **Spiderman: Miles Morales** 14. **Uncharted** 15. **Skyrim** If you made it this far, happy gaming in 2026!