When you’re playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you play as the famed witcher Geralt of Rivia for the majority of the game. However, you also get to play as Geralt and Yennefer’s surrogate daughter (and one of the main book characters) Ciri, for several chapters of the game.
She’s a very important character; the entire main storyline is about Geralt and Yennefer trying to find Ciri before the Wild Hunt gets to her. Luckily for players, they get to play Ciri for several chapters to learn what happened during her journey. In some ways, it’s more fun to play as Geralt, and in others, it’s better to play as Ciri. The following list examines compares and contrasts the two play styles.
10 Geralt: You Get To Have Roach By Your Side
Geralt gets to have his loyal horse and friend, Roach, by his side during the entirety of the game. Roach can come to you from anywhere in the game so you don’t even have to worry about keeping tabs on your four-legged pal.
When you play as Ciri, you won’t get to have a Roach of your own. Instead, you’re left to run around on foot. Roach is a great benefit in a game as massive as The Witcher 3. If you don’t like fast traveling, it still quickens your pace while exploring to ride on horseback.
9 Ciri: You Get To Play Her Perspective Instead Of Hearing About It
It would have been easy for a game like this one to simply tell you about what happened to Ciri while she was on the run from the Wild Hunt. Instead, the game gives you the opportunity to play through Ciri’s journey and experience it for yourself firsthand.
It adds to the player’s sense of immersion, as otherwise, we would simply hear retellings from various other characters. It’s nice to learn more about Ciri on your own terms rather than by hearsay.
8 Geralt: His Quests Involve More Exploration And Choice
One of the best parts of playing this particular game is the vast array of choices, quests, and expansive exploration you can partake in throughout your journey. Many of the quests you take, whether they’re main quests or side quests, involve choices of morality that can play out similar to a domino effect.
Something you do early on in the game with a character may influence the course of events later on in the game. When you’re playing as Ciri, there aren’t many choices since the events already happened and there’s only so much you can influence.
7 Ciri: She Has A Nifty Teleportation Ability
When you’re fighting and engaged in combat as Ciri, you get a nifty trick that you’ll sorely miss when you return back to playing as Geralt. Ciri is known as the Lady of Time and Space for a reason and you get to witness that first hand when you’re fighting as the young witcher.
Ciri has a teleportation ability that lets you dodge and move around the fighting space much faster than Geralt can. You won’t have to jump and roll to get out of the way of a hit and instead can just flit in and out of the space.
6 Geralt: You Have Way More Weapons To Choose From
This can be a drawback or a good thing, depending on your combat style. Geralt has a minimum of two swords equipped at all times, one steel and one silver. But you can also obviously pick up and craft a multitude of other swords while you’re playing. Ciri doesn’t have that option.
When you’re playing as Ciri, you’ll just have one sword that you use in combat and, as mentioned above, that might be nice or it might be a pain.
5 Ciri: Her Quests Are Much Simpler For Those Who Prefer Linear Storytelling
Even though the point of playing a roleplaying game is generally so you can have a chance to explore a large region, do a myriad of activities, and tackle side quests.
However, there are some people who can get overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the game and the vast amount of things you can do. When you’re playing as Ciri, the quests are much shorter and more straightforward. For some players, that can be a welcome change of pace.
4 Geralt: You Can Use Oils, Potions, And Other Items
Geralt has the ability to perform alchemy and therefore create potions, decoctions, and oils. You’ll likely use them a lot while you’re playing the game. You can make oils suited toward each type of creature found in the game, from necrophages to vampires and beyond.
Ciri can’t use oils and she won’t be able to drink witcher potions. That means you’re kind of on your own and only have your skillset to get by in each battle rather than a bunch of items that can make the fight easier.
3 Ciri: She Has A Completely Different Combat Style
As we’ve already mentioned above, Ciri has a very different fighting style from Geralt. That may or may not be helpful to you depending on how you like to fight and get involved in combat. Sometimes fighting as Ciri is a little smoother and cleaner since she moves in a much more agile fashion.
Her teleportation ability makes it easier for her to smoothly hop from one point to another without missing a beat. That said, some people prefer Geralt’s more grounded style, especially as you can customize his abilities, armor, and weapons.
2 Geralt: He Can Use Witcher Senses
Since one of the biggest parts of the game is about exploring the area and hunting down monsters, Geralt has witcher senses that allow him to see things that normal people can’t. There are a lot of quests and contracts that involve using your witcher senses to track down a suspect.
Ciri doesn’t have witcher senses the way Geralt does, but you also don’t really have to hunt things down or collect items when you’re playing as Ciri the same way you do when you’re playing as Geralt.
1 Ciri: It Gives You A New Perspective On Characters
Another nice thing about playing the game during Ciri’s chapters is that you get to see a different side of characters. You interact with people that you already interacted with as Geralt.
However, Geralt presents as an obvious witcher, he has a reputation. People act differently toward Geralt than they do with Ciri, and that includes some of the main characters in the game like Dandelion. It’s cool to see how people talk to Ciri, for better or for worse, rather than when you’re playing Geralt.
NEXT: The Witcher 3: 5 Reasons To Stick To The Main Story As Much As Possible (& 5 To Explore Every Side Quest)
