The Witcher 3 review-in-progress: Our first week of adventures with The Wild Hunt

We've been looking forward to The Witcher 3 for such a long time that it would have been a shame to rush through it, especially as it's said to contain hundreds of hours worth of content.

Instead, we've decided to share some of our early impressions after a week slaying beasts, hunting missing persons, fighting drunks and generally admiring the huge open world.

In fact, there's really no better place to start than the world of The Witcher 3, which is perhaps the finest looking medieval fantasy land since Skyrim in 2011.

From the biggest cities to the tiniest villages and manors, The Witcher 3 sports some seriously stunning real estate that's jam-packed with personality.

Despite pumping tens of hours into the game so far, it feels like we've barely scratched the surface of what The Witcher 3 has to offer.

It's the little details that really bring the world to life and tell you everything you need to know about each and every settlement.

Children play in the mud, geese run by your feet and residents treat you with disdain in small, thatch-roofed villages, while Bards, merchants and guards patrol the streets of the game's richer cities.

You'll see bodies hanging from trees as you approach the castle of a temperamental baron, while monsters and spirits can be found roaming bloody battlegrounds.

Forget fist fighting, playing cards or racing horses, my favourite activity so far has been gently trotting through the countryside, discovering monster nests, bandit camps, hidden treasures, abandoned towers and chatting to random roadside peasants in need of Geralt's help.

We'd maybe argue that the game world could do with more city-style settlements, instead of so many small villages and manors, but if anything, that's actually a compliment rather than a criticism.

We say it purely because these city-style locations are so vast and impressive. Places like Oxenfurt and Novigrad actually feel like proper cities, instead of just glorified villages, which is a problem we've had with other fantasy games.

It's more than just the size that makes them stand out and feel so different to the game's other locations - although Novigrad, in particular, is ruddy massive - it's the way they're so clean and have their own distinct architecture. There's also a greater sense of law and order.

Personality is probably the best word to sum up the game's missions and characters, too. Missions involving little more than running back and forth delivering messages or redeeming items are far more interesting than perhaps they ought to be.

A simple fetch quest usually turns into something far more complicated, as you begin to unravel secrets and mysteries by using your Witcher senses to hunt for clues.

Nothing is free in the world of The Witcher 3, so if you want somebody's help, you'll typically have to do them a favour in return. Likewise, every action has a consequence.

Hunting for the whereabouts of Ciri, Geralt comes across a baron who recently gave her shelter. He won't help Geralt until you agree to find his wife and daughter, however, and so begins another hunt involving a motley crew of colourful characters, each of whom wants something from Geralt.

You'll have to slay huge beasts, visit the city of Oxenfurt, perform burial rites for an unborn baby, and even look for a runaway goat if you want to find out more about Ciri.

Of course, in a game his big there are invariably going to be a few rough edges. There are occasions where your medieval GPS gets confused and sends you in the wrong direction... We're also not totally convinced by the targeting system.

Unfortunately - in my case, at least - it was complicated by the fact that I killed a few of the baron's men earlier in the game. This meant that I had no choice but to fight my way through his soldiers to get to certain characters.

As irritating as it is to reload after multiple deaths, I like the way everything is linked together, and it taught me to take more care the next time I encounter any officials.

Of course, in a game his big there are invariably going to be a few rough edges. There are occasions where your medieval GPS gets confused and sends you in the wrong direction, and it doesn't help that your horse sometimes veers off path when you're on autopilot.

We're also not totally convinced by the targeting system - it doesn't always lock on - and there are times when attacks don't seem to connect even when it looks like they should have.

As highlighted in the opening tutorial with Geralt and a young Ciri, platforming isn't the game's strongest suit, especially when you're rushing around tighter areas.

That said, barring a bit of pop-in and the odd dip in the framerate, we're yet to witness any major bugs or glitches, which for a game this size is impressive.

Despite pumping tens of hours into the game so far, it feels like we've barely scratched the surface of what The Witcher 3 has to offer.

While we've been impressed by the game's colourful characters and branching missions, it's the stunning world that has really blown us away so far.

We're looking forward to further exploring this vast world and hunting down its secrets in the days and weeks to come.