The Witcher 3

There’s a line from the recent Avengers movie going around: Hero: “You took everything from me!” Villain: “I don’t even know who you are”.

This reminded me I’d experienced a moment just like that when playing The Witcher 3.
It’s a moment which I think gives a good summary of what the overall experience of playing The Witcher 3 was like. (Not the ‘best’ moments, but overall anyway).

Some character ambushes you at some point as you enter some town, saying “there you are you traitor” or whatever.
But since you’re way over-levelled at this point, the fight lasts about as long as it takes you to notice the person.

I google searched the ambusher’s name, which led to the wiki page which described the earlier encounter with the character. (The ambusher was angry that I’d told the royal guards where their bandit hideout was, after the bandits let me go after they caught me in a trap when I was investigating some thing or other).

At best: it’s a neat encounter. It shows the game had some scripted cases where the consequences for the action play out way after you make the decision. (Which makes for a much more immersive role-playing experience). There’s also a rich world-building to the encounter: your actions matter and have consequences; it’s as if the characters exist and act outside of your interactions with them.
At worst: The Witcher 3’s broad appeal / accessible gameplay lends most of the game to a “follow the quest marker, do the thing” without paying much attention. And the game is so long that you’ll forget details here and there.

Though, I wouldn’t pick it as an interesting example of an interaction which was an important surprise, or one which made me think. But the Witcher 3 does have moments like.