You've likely heard it all at this point. The Witcher 3 is an open-world RPG filled with countless hours worth of content. It has a massive map to explore. It has stunning graphics. Great gameplay. Captivating characters. Blah, blah, blah.
But it also has the best feature we've ever seen in a video game: dynamic beard growth.
If you've seen the various trailers and promotional images from the game, you've likely noticed The Witcher 3 stars Geralt, a professional monster slayer with white hair. You might have also noticed Geralt's well-maintained white beard. Majestic is probably the best way to describe Geralt's facial hair.
What you might not know is that his beard grows in real time.
At the start of the game, Geralt is given a clean shave prior to his meeting with a king. From then on, Geralt's beard will continue to grow with each passing day in-game. What begins as stubble slowly but surely grows into a full grown beard, one that the players can trim or shave off to their liking.
Or not. You could just let the beard keep growing over the course of the game and see how long it is at the end. Presumably Geralt's beard can't grow any further after a certain point (otherwise he would look like Gandalf), but the very idea that players can shave, grow out a beard, trim it and then grow it out again is a small, yet phenomenal, way of making the Witcher 3's world feel even more realistic.
Take this image for example. In it, Geralt's beard is just starting to blossom like a beautiful flower.
And in the image below, it is much more grown out. As it should be.
Those are just two examples from the official Witcher 3 site. Those reviewing the game have also documented the progress of Geralt's beard by using the screenshot sharing functionality of the PS4 and Xbox One.
There are also numerous hair styles to choose from, armor to wear, weapons to find and skills to level up, but all of that pales in comparison to growing a virtual beard. Finally, men and women alike can live out their beard-growing fantasies. If that isn't next-gen, I don't know what is.
For more Witcher 3, check out how the size of the game's world compares to that of Skyrim and GTA V, or read up on the setting and characters that populate CD Projekt Red's dark fantasy RPG.
Witcher 3 releases on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on May 19.
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