Two of the most popular and iconic open world adventure RPGs of the 2010s.

Which do you think was the better game, and why?

Witcher 3 by a country mile.

Now don't get me wrong, I loved Skyrim. But Witcher 3 has a much stronger narrative to really draw you into the world. Even the side content in Witcher 3 is much more fleshed out and diverse. Sure Skyrim has more freedom and character options, but while the lore and world may be a vast ocean, the central plot and narrative that is supposed to pull you in is a deep as a puddle.

However this could easily go either way. From a gameplay perspective, both have their ups and downs. On one hand Skyrim is much more consistent while on the other Witcher 3 make a much harder effort at telling a story.  Something like this will obviously boil down to personal preference.

Skyrim, the fast travel from only a few points in witcher made me grind my gears, also scalest better with expansions then witcher

Witcher 3. Better story and better combat.

I haven't played Skyrim yet so I didn't vote on this poll, but imo I found the Witcher 3 to be overrated. There's little to no actual gameplay in the Witcher outside of combat and running around a set path and running around from place to place just to watch a cutscene or explore with your witcher senses is boring and tedious. It really just feels like an interactive movie, and I regret spending 60$ on essentially a movie ticket.

Witcher 3 by a landslide.
Skyrim is enjoyable for what it is, but Witcher 3 had much better combat, story/lore, world design and characters.

Kinda tough question for me honestly given the fact that I played these two games during much different times during my gaming life. Its a question I always ask myself but never seem to gather an answer. I was 14 when I first played Skyrim and it was just mindblowing to me at the moment. The world was breathtaking and the game screamed immersion. I was hooked from the get go however I must admit during the time all I played was COD Modern Warfare 3 and black ops at the time without having much experience in RPGs, so it didnt take much to impress me. Then came along Witcher 3 when I was 18 with far more experience in gaming especially in RPGs but I felt the epicness of the game since the first dialogue exchange with Vesimer. Witcher 3 felt more of a journey rather than a mindless adventure like Skyrim and didnt offer the same level of exploration and player expression but the dialogue, narrative, side quests and choices and consequence system as well as graphics is the best gaming has to offer. For some reason I didnt fully appreciate Witcher until after I beat the game and realized no game offers what the Witcher does whereas in Skyrim i appreciated every moment even its clunkyness. I prefer judging a game based on the experience gained after completing such game rather than judging individual traits. Having said that both Skyrim and Witcher 3 are phenomenal games that provided the best experiences in gaming. I cant decide which is better

The gameplay of Witcher 3 was mediocre. Skyrim had amazing gameplay. However, the story of Witcher 3 was much much better. If you like story-based games over gameplay-based ones then Witcher 3 is better. I am a gameplay first kind of guy so Skyrim will always be my WRPG of the past decade.

Skyrim: While I enjoy The Witcher 3 especially with the combat being better as well as a lot of other aspects... the Witcher 3 released way later than Skyrim.

The better comparison is probably Skyrim VS Witcher 2 since they released the same year. Skyrim set the standards for the open world genre, The Witcher 3 although impressive, already had a lot of other open world games to take notes from as well as the advantages of being on a new generation of hardware.

Witcher 3 obviously, Elder scrolls went mainstream after morrowind, Oblivion was still good though. Then Skyrim came along and was made for the casuals, such a basic game.