Welcome to My World
The Witcher is powered by BioWare's Aurora 2007 engine, a heavily modified version of the engine behind Neverwinter Nights — and it really is heavily modified, to the point where if the BioWare logo wasn't present on the box, you likely wouldn't make the connection. Initially launched in late October 2007, The Witcher is set in a dark, violent world perched on the brink of destruction. Your job, naturally, is to take the role of the Geralt, the White Wolf (from The Witcher books — now apparently resurrected without much of his memory) and set things right.
 It's good to be the king |
How you happen to define "right" will affect certain aspects of the game; as the box says, "There is no good, no evil — only decisions and consequences." If you read the marketing material, you'll find information about how you have to make tough decisions that have world changing consequences. Depending on the choices you make, the game will branch down different paths with three supposedly unique endings. I'm also a big fan of the Fallout games, so perhaps I got my hopes up a little too much. Suffice it to say, while there are a few major decisions to make throughout the game, the actual impact on the game world appears to be extremely small, mostly determining whom you have to fight and which characters "like" you. The three "unique" endings are achieved by deciding to side with the bad guys, the other bad guys, or by refusing to choose a side and remaining neutral — and you get to fight both parties of "bad" guys.
 The ice age cometh |
Okay, so perhaps it's not quite that simplistic, but if you're looking for an ending where everything turns out okay, prepare to be disappointed. This is not to say that the ending is bad, but this isn't a story put together by your typical Hollywood think-tank, and Walt Disney definitely wouldn't approve. This is a mature game with mature themes, and like the real world rarely do things and "happily ever after". That said, the ending was satisfying, even if it does leave the door open for future titles.
 American dryads have long hair and wear thongs; European dryads are less inhibited |
One final item worth mentioning before we get into the heart of the review is that this really is a mature game, in every sense of the word. The Witcher definitely earns its 17+ ESRB rating, with the following content: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Violence. Yes, that's correct: your in-game avatar can actually participate in sex during the game, with a variety of women. Before any of you get too excited, the reality is that the sexual content doesn't even match what you're likely to see on primetime television or soap operas, basically giving you a fade to black with a picture of a woman in a revealing pose. Of course, if you're capable of reading this article, you're more than capable of finding much worse material in a matter of seconds. [Note: The non-US version is apparently less prudish, featuring actual nudity at parts. The European version would qualify as an R-rated movie, in computer game form.]
If you enjoy listening to the Jack Thompsons of the world, games like this are contributing to the downfall of society and turn people into raging sociopaths. Apparently, The Witcher doesn't have a large enough following as yet to warrant his attention, and I have managed to stave off the urge to kill anyone or go looking for a prostitute. Still, if any of the last two paragraphs offend you, definitely give The Witcher a wide berth. [Ed: There goes another three readers….] Okay, with that out of the way, let's get into the nitty-gritty details of The Witcher.
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haplo602 - Friday, January 25, 2008 - link
Nice review, I skipped the garbage at the beginning :) but rest is fine.I was quite interested in the game until the problems page. My old PC won't handle this game it seems (1GB ram, x1650XT, athlon 64).
Anyway I read some of the Witcher books and I can only highly recommend them. If the story in the game is only half as good, it's a great game.
sjaxkingpin - Friday, January 25, 2008 - link
Nice to see a review of one of the best games in a long time. Seems like the Eastern Block is responsible for alot of good games recently, with Crytek, Stalker and now the witcher. Too much corporate influence over here, I suppose.BTW, to the earlier poster who linked to the Zero Punctuation stuff, I'd never seen em before and I think I watched every one back to back... HILARIOUS!!!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/edit...">http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/edit...
saiga6360 - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Bar none.WorldMus - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
this game is total garbage. A grindfest centered around collecting nuke cards. Oblivion makes this look like trash, not to mention the horrible interface, ridiculous bugs and loading times, and the overall boring storyline and poor npc coding. Two thumbs downstick to hardware jarred - you don't know gaming
hekuball - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Couldn't agree more - this game is total garbage. I have never seen so many cut scenes in my entire life!Every single tiny scrap of dialogue is done via lengthy cut scenes. Basically it gores something like this....
Walk to top of stairs, meet npc (cutscene dialogue), go through door (loading time), walk through for 5 yards (another 30 second cut scene telling you what you have to do for next 60 seconds), engage bad guys in short pointless combat involving choice of stance followed by repeated left clicking with a modicum of basic timing that a 2 year old could master, thrown in.
Kill enemies, cut scene, followed by another cutscene carrying on from the last one, run for 5 seconds til go through door (long load time), followed by cutscene...aaarrrggghhhhhhhh!
I got so fed up after a few hours, I rebooted and swore never to touch this amateurish excuse for a linear piece of crap rpg again.
JarredWalton - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
There are plenty of "cut scenes" at the beginning, presumably to introduce you to the game world. All of them can be skipped by pressing ESC. I guess you played the first part of the Prologue and called it quits. Me, I enjoyed the background information, dialog, etc. To call all conversations "cut scenes" is ludicrous, though. I guess we're having a cut scene right now?To the earlier poster, having played RPGs since I was under the age of 10. Akalabeth, Wizardry, Ultima, Might and Magic, SSI's Gold Box D&D games... I remember playing all of those as a kid. Granted, it wasn't until around the time of Bard's Tale III that I began *finishing* games, but I'm quite sure I've spent more than enough time with computer games to know what I like and what I don't like.
Now, to the point of whether or not this game is "garbage": As evidenced by the comments (and other reviews around the net), there are MANY people that really enjoy(ed) this game. Obviously, not everyone is going to like it. Lots of people hated Baldur's Gate (and Dungeons & Dragons games in general); if you don't like PC RPGs, I'm *sure* you won't like this game. Even if you do enjoy games like Oblivion, there's no guarantee you'll like The Witcher. I'd wager that with the latest patch, however, most people that like RPG-ish games will enjoy The Witcher.
kilkennycat - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Er, I am enjoying The Witcher. Best story-based PC RPG since VTM:B (with Werner's patches, of course...). Great fun. And the V1.2 patch has significantly improved the load times. The Witcher also happens to have the most-polished (and story-relevant ) introduction of all the PC games in my collection. That short sample should be very tempting to any movie producer... The fact that The Witcher is based on an excellent story-line should make it even more tempting. If drek like movies based on Doom, Resident Evil, AvP can command an audience, what about a monster-movie based on a powerful core character and a great story-line?karioskasra - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Portrayed as food, unintelligent creatures, and cannon fodder, the animals in most RPGs are mere objects; treated reprehensibly and, even worse, ignored most times, by all their games' characters, including the main protagonist. The underlying theme of these games is the slaying of innocent helpless creatures for a pittance of experience points and "Raw Hide", clearly shown by its market value at your nearest vendor. RPGs' objectification of animals is sickening.Jarred, as an owner of a kitten, do you find this aspect of RPGs offensive? I demand that somebody call PETA post-haste.
strikeback03 - Friday, January 25, 2008 - link
bwahaha!Foxy1 - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Portrayed as vile temptresses, witches and whores, the women in this game are mere objects; treated reprehensibly by all the game’s male characters, including Geralt. The underlying theme of the game is the sexual conquest of women, clearly shown by the pin-up cards given as rewards. The Witcher’s objectification of women is sickening.Jarred, as a father of a young daughter, did you find this aspect of the game offensive?