I agree. I also think 2 of the 3 endings to B&W are sort of terrible, which soured me on it a little. And the one ending I liked is kind of hidden and obnoxious to get.

B&W was like a nice vacation as Geralt headed into retirement. Pretty landscapes and some fun new skills to play with (loved that you could finally make a crossbow build work).

HoS was just pure, spooky, tragic Witcher goodness. And like you say, the fact that it's shorter and more focused lead to the writing being tighter and the storytelling working much better.