Editorials
Hands-On With ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’
Until about a week ago, I had spent maybe an hour total with the Witcher series. It’s not that the games didn’t look appealing to me, they simply fell into the always-growing list of intriguing games I never get around to playing. This changed when I was invited by CD Projekt Red to spend some time with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in a bar in San Francisco.
This trip, by the way, was made possible by the developer. They paid to get me there, offered me a place to stay, and I even got a swag bag, the contents of which I’ll be handing out to some of you in the near future.
I had only a very superficial understanding of what this series was about, and even that knowledge was limited to “this game is going to be pretty,” and “it’ll likely have boobs.” Five minutes into the demo and both had already proven true.
The Witcher 3 is currently slated for a May release, but even that’s not set in stone. CD Projekt Red has already proven willing to push the game back should they deem it necessary, and they seem open to doing it again if they have to.
After spending just over three hours with it, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. It’s still very much a work in progress, but it’s far enough along that I can’t see them moving its release date again unless something bad happens.
Have I mentioned that this is a stunning game, because it is. Unless their initials spell GTA, open-world games of this size tend to make sacrifices in their visuals. If The Witcher 3 did this, I didn’t notice. It’s pretty.
The game follows Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher and cat-eyed anti-hero from the first two games, who has been tasked with finding his apprentice, Ciri. Something about a prophecy that claims this Witcheress is the one who can stop the Wild Hunt — essentially a gang of all-powerful, human-hating war gods — from enslaving humanity.
Or maybe they want to eradicate humanity? It’s one of the two, I’m sure.
I only briefly got acquainted with the Wild Hunt when they descended from the heavens on a massive flying ghost ship (no joke), but they were sufficiently intimidating. The guy with the skull helmet was a real dick, too, in case you were wondering.
I have to say I was not at all prepared for how willfully incompetent this game would make me feel. It’s not that complicated, but each fight does require a certain amount of strategy — more than say, Dragon Age or The Elder Scrolls might require of you — and there’s a number of complex systems that demanded I get familiar with them right away.
The thing I had the most trouble getting comfortable with was Geralt’s arsenal of magical abilities that can be used to set enemies ablaze, slow them down, or deploy a protective shield around Geralt, if you’re feeling defensive.
If that doesn’t sound complicated, it’s because it isn’t. It’s only when you combine it with the rest of Geralt’s arsenal, which includes a number of consumables (bombs and whatnot) as well as his basic abilities, such as counter attacks, guarding, etc.
Creatures behave realistically, even intelligently. Larger enemies tend to use their size to try and overpower Geralt, while smaller enemies, which I usually found in packs, would often try and flank Geralt in an effort to surround him. Their unpredictable movements combined with how deadly they can be even for a veteran player makes every fight a challenge.
It would’ve been terrifying for a novice like me had I not been controlling Geralt, Monster Slayer Extraordinaire.
As I mentioned earlier, I only spent a little over three hours with The Witcher 3, and that’s nothing when you’re talking about a game that promises over a 100 hours worth of things to do. The world is massive and brimming with content, events, and places to explore.
I tried to do a little of everything before my time was up, partly because I wanted to glean as much info about this game as I could for this preview, but also because I was hooked.
Eventually, I had to set down the controller, but not before I had accomplished a fair amount.
I played a couple rounds of a Dwarven card game called Gwent, I brought an arsonist to justice, I felt bad when the arsonist was executed for a drunken mistake, I aided a man in his search for his missing brother, and I even killed a Griffon.
I also helped an elderly woman reclaim her lost cookware. I’m not above good deeds, however small they may be.
I was only able to bludgeon a few of the many critters who roam the world of The Witcher 3. I would’ve slayed more, but I have this problem when I play open-world games where I get distracted so unbelievably easy, so I often got sidetracked by mysterious markers on my map. I couldn’t not investigate, because doing so would let the Wild Hunt win, and no one wants that.
When I wasn’t investigating its stunning world, I would spend my time taking on packs of rabid dogs, mowing down creatures that scour charred battlefields for corpses to eat — I think they were called Ghouls — and clearing out nests of Drowners, which may or may not be the distant cousins of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
I knew this series had epic fights, and my hunt for the Griffon did not disappoint. It was my primary objective, aside from finding a young woman named Yennefer, and it was so much more involved than finding the creature’s nest so I could murder it in front of any offspring it might have. This fight took preparation, I had to get to know my prey before I could engage in fisticuffs with it, and that made bringing it down exponentially more satisfying.
This game has sold me on The Witcher. I almost feel obligated to try the second game so I can go into Wild Hunt with a better understanding of this rich world that CD Projekt Red has created. It’s a beautiful game with a rewarding combat system, an engrossing story and some truly fantastic writing. Even the option side quests were well-written and interesting. That’s important.
If you’re new to this series, it’s about time you acquaint yourself with it. That’s what I’ll be doing.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is slated to release on May 19 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
A new month means a new guide as titles are added (and dropped) from streaming services. Let’s unpack the most exciting titles that are available to watch on Tubi in July 2026.
New to Tubi July Horror Films
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
- Premise: Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the prey as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.
- Why Watch It? Let’s be frank: Director Renny Harlin has made some absolute dogs in the last few years (the less said about The Strangers trilogy the better, though this year’s Deep Water was actually ok). Deep Blue Sea remains one of the Finnish director’s best contemporary efforts, though. Between the great cast (Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Stellan Skarsgård, Michael Rapaport, LL Cool J, Thomas Jane, and Jane’s sleeveless wetsuit), the ridiculous premise, and that damn/dumb song (“My hat is like a shark’s fin”), you basically can’t go wrong with Deep Blue Sea. It’s one of two great shark films gliding onto Tubi this month, so why not stay out of the water and watch this instead?
- Streaming: July 1
Exorcist II: Heretic (1977)
- Premise: Reagan (Linda Blair), a girl once possessed by a demon, finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, Father Lamont (Richard Burton) investigates the death of the priest who performed her exorcism.
- Why Watch It? August sees the release of documentary Boorman and the Devil, which is about the troubled production of this sequel. The notoriety surrounding Heretic has undoubtedly kept plenty of horror fans away from the sequel, but this truly is a “seeing is believing” kind of film. Real talk: it’s undeniably a disaster, but the John Boorman film has also become a minor cult film. Don’t you want to see it to make up your own mind?
- Streaming: July 1
Hostel: Part III (2011)
- Premise: Four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas fall prey to the Elite Hunting Club, who are hosting a gruesome game show of torture.
- Why Watch It? What does Hostel look like without Eli Roth? Part III kinda answers the question. Technically Roth is still a writer, but he hands over the directorial reins to Scott Spiegel (best known for acting in Evil Dead films). The result is a film with a terrible pedigree; it’s also the first (and last) entry to skip theatres before the franchise was permanently shelved (until that TV show with Paul Giamatti shows up?). For some horror fans, however, there’s something exciting about a bad low-budget sequel. Just bear in mind that the Hostel: Part III‘s biggest star is Kip Pardue…so adjust your expectations accordingly before hitting play.
- Streaming: July 1
Insidious 1-3 (2010/2013/2015)
- Premise: A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
- Why Watch It? It’s hard to believe that the sixth (!) Insidious movie is coming out in a month and a half, but James Wan and Leigh Whannell‘s other horror franchise has been steadily chugging along for sixteen years. It’s a shame that Tubi doesn’t have all five films available to watch, but in terms of quality, you can do far worse than the original trio. The first film is iconic, and the second is basically an extended coda (with some admittedly problematic stuff going on). I’ll go to bat for Whannell’s 2015 directorial debut, though: there’s a few banger sequences in that film that people slept on.
- Streaming: July 1
Man Finds Tape (2025)
- Premise: After finding mysterious video clips, siblings investigate the strange recordings and uncover a disturbing secret spreading through their Texas town.
- Why Watch It? Writer/directors Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall‘s well-received found footage film did an extensive tour of the festival circuit, so now is a great time to check out one of the most contemporary titles debuting on Tubi this month. Surely a title that hails from producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring and The Endless) is worth a free look?
- Streaming: July 2
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
- Premise: A depressed musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) reunites with his lover Eve (Tilda Swinton). However, their romance, which has already endured several centuries, is disrupted by the arrival of her uncontrollable younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska).
- Why Watch It? This beautiful, melancholy vampire film is courtesy of writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who doesn’t often dabble in genre fare. As always, some will quibble if this artsy drama qualifies as horror, but the existential ennui of an eternal life certainly qualifies (bonus: there’s also something inherently sexy about watching Hiddleston and Swinton just lay about). Plus: if Leviticus has you hankering for more Wasikowska, this is an under the radar pick.
- Streaming: July 1
The Shallows (2016)
- Premise:A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
- Why Watch It? What better time to watch a shark movie than July? The temperatures are soaring and the idea of escaping into the water is so tantalizing. This tight, contained thriller features a great performance by Lively (and that damn seagull!), but it’s the direction from genre fave Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan; the House of Wax remake) that keeps the movie clicking along like clockwork. At 86 minutes, this is a perfect summer flick.
- Streaming: July 1
Vacancy (2007)
- Premise: Stranded in an isolated motel, a couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) become the unsuspecting subjects of a snuff film.
- Why Watch It? I’m not going to pretend that this Nimród Antal-directed home invasion film is high art, but it is a good time. You’ll likely wish there were deeper characterizations for Wilson and Beckinsale’s David and Amy in Mark L. Smith‘s screenplay, but this mid-aughts thriller is tense, exciting, and just the right amount of grimy. Plus: another short runtime, clocking in at an expeditious 85 minutes!
- Streaming: July 1
July Tubi Originals
The One Next Door (2026)
- Premise: When a mysterious stranger moves in next door to Robert and Tabitha, boundaries are tested, loyalty is questioned, and danger comes for all.
- Streaming: July 10
I Know Where You Live (2026)
- Premise: Sarah thinks she’s found “the one” until his flaws emerge. When she pulls away, chilling threats suggest he’s watching her from inside her own home.
- Streaming: July 24
What’s your favorite from the list above? Will you check out the new Original? Sound off in the comments below
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