When they talk about the best quests from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, they almost always mention a quest with a bloody baron. It cannot be denied that the story of Philip Stenger, bathing in shades of gray, is so multifaceted – in the sense that it affects many complex topics, often described as a taboo – and so much affects the player’s emotions that it is simply impossible "To unravel" her and move on. The fate of the Baron and his family remains with us for a long time after the completion of The Witcher 3 game.
In fairness, it is worth noting that "Red" showed a large ingenuity, placing this storyline almost at the very beginning of the game – that is, assuming that we will follow the order proposed by the developers, that is, Velen, Novigrad, Skelliga. In the end, having survived such a strong plot in the first few hours of adventure, it is difficult not to ignite the appetite for more, is it so?
But first it was necessary to write a story about the bloody baron. And do not forget that this is not one quest, but a few – moreover, very interconnected and closely intertwined with the main plot of the third "Witcher".
If you ever wondered what the authors of this story had in mind and where the inspiration came from, your curiosity was satisfied by Pavel Sasco, the chief designer of the quests in The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, who was asked about this in a recent interview.
Perhaps, answering this question, I will mention another story, which, oddly enough, no one ever asks. This is a story about a collector of spoons from "Blood and wine". Geralt, removing the curse, is forced to sit with her at the table. At that time I read a lot and next to me was a man suffering from a disorder of food behavior. And this quest is dedicated to it. When it comes to The Witcher 3 and the Blood Baron, this quest talks about post -traumatic stress disorder and domestic violence – these were topics that I thought about. Always, when we think about stories, we tend to look at those things that are relevant for us as people. And we try to find an interesting, corresponding "legend" History. For example, I know the person who survived the tragedy – she had a miscarriage. For her, such a piquant experience was the moment when it turned out that the Baron’s wife had lost the child, and the whole part of this journey, this pilgrimage, when he brings the embryo to the threshold of the house to turn him into tradition. Through such stories, we return to things that are universal human experience, it is through them that people can feel something. They feel that the game is for them, that the game is what touches them, drives them, and exactly, in my opinion, it is best to draw inspiration, looking at life. Our world is incredibly divided. We have so many conflicts and thereby for conversation. This is an impassable field. When we developed a chain of a bloody baron – it was the year 2012 when I wrote a story – something like this did not exist in games, it is obvious that it has changed over time".
We, gamers, met him only in May 2015 – at a time when the developers became more bolder and ambitious in their approach to creating the plot (not to mention the fact that Rockstar at that time worked on Red Dead Redemption 2). Nevertheless, it is this story – like The Witcher 3 as a whole – has proved that games can reveal complex topics in an adult way, no worse than books or films.