The Witcher: Photo and text review
The world is being torn apart by war, racial hatred and despair. Monsters and demons ravage the land and the Elves and Dwarves have receded into small reclusive minorities. Humans, renowned for their arrogance and greed need protection from the evil beasts that roam the land and so hire a race of unnaturally gifted monster hunters — the Witchers.
Set in a world heavily inspired by the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher is an RPG game for the PC in the style of NeverWinter Nights in which the the player takes on the role of charismatic protagonist Geralt. Having lost his memory and his life he is recruited into an elite group: the Witchers, that maintains a shaky order in a world on the edge of the abyss but where money speaks louder than morals. But the group of witchers has its own dark secrets…
There are three camera modes in The Witcher. Two Top-down perspective views in which the mouse controls everything and an over the shoulder mode which gives a flavour of the fight scenes but is of little practical use as it restricts visibility so much. In all modes controls can be customised.
The combat system is quite innovative. Players can choose one of three fighting styles:
- Quick: faster, less damage, greater chance of hitting faster enemies
- Heavy: more damage, slow attack speed, lower chance of hitting faster enemies
- Group: sweeping attacks, best choice if the player is surrounded
Weapons have style implications too. Geralt’s steel swords are used to hunt humans and other flesh-and-blood beings while his silver sword is better against supernatural monsters and beasts against which steel has no effect.
Alchemy is ubiquitous in The Witcher. You can concoct potions that increase health or endurance, allow Geralt to see in the dark or gain other special abilities. Scrolls are required to learn these abilities and once the player creates an unknown potion they risk being poisoned if the alchemy fails to work.
Players can also make oils and bombs to enhance the damage meted out by Geralt’s weapons or they can be used as weapons in their own right.
I don’t want to spoil any of the interesting cause and effect plot elements in the game but suffice to say that players will have to learn to think carefully as their decisions can have long-reaching consequences sometimes up to ten to fifteen hours later. Because of the long time span of these cause-effect phenomena the usual save-reload approach to risk reduction in gameplay does not work. It also makes the game highly replayable.
The Witcher is a great game with innovative gameplay system, epic game design, great soundtrack and although the item/potions system can be a little cumbersome at times you will want to play it again and again and again!
