I've had the Witcher 3 GOTY Edition for about 3 years without touching it. Recently I picked it up and started playing it and am about 26 hours into the game. That's not really that far into the game considering Witcher 3 probably has 80-100 hours of game play time available to it. My current opinion, based on what I've played is yes, it's an amazing game. In fact, I wouldn't classify any review stating such as being "hype" at all. The review above only stated it was an 8/10, in fact. It's a well constructed game with amazing side quests and fun exploration. I think it's frequently available for $8-10 on sale which is a damn steal for the game. I can see why it won GOTY from multiple people.