VARIOUS - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Celkové hodnocení alba: 71% Rok vydání: 2015 Žánr: soundtrack Celkový čas: 81:05 Skladby

Review:

The Wither 3: Wild Hunt is an action role-playing video game set in an open world environment developed by CD Projekt RED. This is the third game in The Witcher franchise. The games are based on a number of fantasy novels of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. There was a Polish film made from that same book series in 1997 called Wiedzmin. In Witcher 3 you continue the story of the witcher Geralt Of Rivia and it’s a direct sequel to the previous two games so the story continues just after The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings ended. The two previous games have set a very high standards and critics and fans alike have praised the earlier games and early reviews of The Witcher 3 seems just as positive. In the original The Witcher, the score was composed by Adam Skorupa and Pawel Blaszczak. The sequel was scored by Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz. This game is scored by Marcin Przybylowicz (who scored a few cues for the second game) and Mikolai Stroinski who you might know from The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter who had a pretty good score. Percival has done some additional scoring.

Marcin Przybylowicz is starting with ‘The Trail’, a cue that opens quite surprising with a vocal performance before the music starts. The music is having a medieval sound to it, guitar, percussion and strings. It’s the various voices though which drives the music. I like it, I like it a lot, but I don’t think I love it. ‘Geralt Of Rivia’ is the protagonists theme. I am not familiar with the scores of the previous games so I can’t tell if anything sounds familiar. The theme is good though, starting quite calm, but builds up to being big and powerful near the end. The music sounds militaristic. I can see the music work for our hero. ‘Wake Up, Ciri’ is Mikolai Stroinski’s first cue. It’s a calm cue, strong solo violin, but otherwise nothing that stands out. Good opening cue for him though. The next few cues like ‘Aen Seidhe’, ‘Commanding The Fury’ and ‘Emhyr Var Emreis’ qualifies as “filler” cues for me. They don’t rally have anything special about them. The “hai!” shouting in ‘Commanding The Fury’ might be the only thing I remember from it. ‘King Bran’s Final Voyage’ has something about it though, it’s a calm cue, quite serious and a bit emotional too which is always great.

The first cue Percival is credited on is ‘Silver For Monsters…’ co-created by Marcin Przybylowicz. It’s a nice mix of a more traditional “bard” type of music and dramatic fantasy scoring with vocals and percussion. I like the energy and sound of the cue. ‘Whispers Of Oxenfurt’ is a vocal cue, and the best one I’ve heard so far. It has a great motif. The music works well with the voice and it doesn’t sound out of place, in fact it sounds just right for Geralt’s universe. Percival’s first solo cue is called ‘The Nightingale’ and it is the most “authentic” music I’ve heard so far. It sounds like it’s medieval in origin but mixed with a modern style. ‘Kaer Morhen’ is another great track I’d like to mention. I seem to enjoy the more quiet ones the most. This is just relaxing time. Love the flute, even though it sounds harsh compared the gorgeous underscoring. I think this is the most beautiful moment on the score for me. ‘Farewell, Old Friend’ is another favourite. The string instrument sounds Chinese and easily stand out. The motif is fleeting, nothing really to remember it by, but that’s one of the reason I love it too. It’s just an anonymous piece of music that sounds really zen and beautiful. The best cue on the score is ‘The Fields Of Ard Skellig’ by Marcin Przybylowicz which is a stunning dark cello theme accompanied by some beautiful singing.

What attracted me most to this score was a perceived idea I had. I was expecting the kind of music I heard on Elder Scrolls Online or Dragon Age: Inquisition, and when I didn’t, it kind of put me off. Eventually I got to enjoy it, but the action music wasn’t great to me. It was good sure, but not great. The music that appealed to me was the calmer cues and that’s where the themes got a chance to shine, like the Geralt theme. So I would say I came out of this a bit disappointed, but when I look at the nice list of highlights, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this score because I did. What do you think of The Witcher 3?