So, there you have it - a full evaluation of whether or not both major Witcher expansions are worth the dough from a bona fide Witcher diehard who knows everything there is to know about this wonderful universe.
Once that’s done, though? Absolutely worth it. This DLC is specifically designed to do exactly that, and so I’d recommend avoiding Toussaint until you’ve finished the main narrative. That last point is important, as given that we have no news of The Witcher 4 - which will hopefully give Ciri a starring role - wrapping up Geralt’s saga with a nice little bow is about as much closure as any Witcher fans can get right now. Blood & Wine will ideally be completed after having taken down Eredin and getting Ciri’s ending, as Toussaint is a very high-leveled region and the conclusion of Blood & Wine is widely regarded as the perfect end to Geralt’s story.It introduces new characters like Anna Henrietta, Dettlaff, and a beloved vampire from the books, whose name I won’t mention here to avoid spoilers - if you’ve read Sapkowski’s novels and think you know, then yes, it’s him.On top of the main story, there is an enormous amount of side content that will take you hours to fully exhaust and understand.It’s around 15-20 hours long, meaning that it’s very good value for money, especially when you consider that time frame in an RPG of this caliber.It takes place in Toussaint, a brand new region packed with all kinds of new characters, quests, monsters, and more.Here’s everything you need to know going into Blood & Wine. It never manages to reach the narrative heights of Hearts of Stone, mind, but it’s essential for its own reasons - The Warble of a Smitten Knight is one of the best quests in the game, Dettlaff is an incredible boss fight, and the all new Skellige Gwent deck revamps everyone’s favourite card game in an exciting and innovative way. It transpires in a whole new region, Touissant - which is based on France - and clocks in at around 15-20 hours, making it quite a bit longer than its predecessor. Blood & Wine is very different to Hearts of Stone.