I want to look at the case of one of the early secondary quests of **
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt**, called **Wandering in The Dark**. I loved the environment design and immersive experience of this level, but I equally disliked the frequency of facing difficult enemies so early on in the game without any sort of preparation or warning. This post is not at all an expert view, rather just a bunch of personal notes about **facing difficulties in a game as a newcomer to the franchise**.
### Where are we in the game?
You completed all the side quests and points of interest (❔ on the map) in the **White Orchard**. You are now moving into another stage of Witcher's story which is in Velen, a war-torn swampland under Nilfgaardian occupation.
Experience-wise you are most likely on a **level 4 or 5**. In the Witcher world, it means that you might have gained some experience with fighting packs of wolves or wild dogs, angry bandits, out-of-nowhere spawning drowners, or a group of ghouls scattered over a battlefield. And that's about it.
### Level design & enemies
You realize quite quickly that this little hiccup on the road soon develops into long hours of you fighting, rolling, dodging, and using other tricks to defeat all the enemies lurking in the dark.
Just for the illustration and not necessarily in this particular order, you have to fight all these monsters:
+ bunch of **drowners**;
+ one or two **foglets** (this is the first time you meet them);
+ **rats** nests (because Keira, the powerful sorceress, is afraid of them...);
+ more **drowners**, plus **wraiths** on a toxic & explosive field of mushrooms;
#### References
[^1]: https://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-sales-were-up-554-thanks-to-the-netflix-show/