Review of The Witcher

The tagline for The Witcher is; “There is no good, no evil- only decisions and consequences.”

Never before has there been a truer tagline for a PC game. That tagline sums up The Witcher to a T. Based on the book series of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, the game really don’t have a good or evil side for you to choose.

Unlike say some worlds which all characters are good or all characters are more or less evil, the world in The Witcher is grayer. You see good people doing evil things (in the name of the greater good of course), and he can ally with evil men (because it’s in their interest to help you). If you are one of those guys who like your world in black and white; this is not the game for you. There are scales of gray in almost everyone.

The game tells the story of Geralt, the White Wolf. A white-hair witcher, you suffer at the beginning of the game that most common of diseases…amnesia. You quickly learn that Geralt is a renowned witcher. Witchers are professional monster-hunters who receive special training and have their bodies modified at an early age to provide them with supernatural abilities like quick reflexes and magic. They are paid to kill extremely dangerous monsters which more common monster-hunters cannot survive against. The problem with Geralt is that he has had friends and enemies almost everywhere who remember him but whom he does not remember. Your actions as Geralt will define those relationships and choose his path in the political intrigue of the world of The Witcher.

The game’s story is very good. As it is based on a series of books, there are twists and turns in the plot that exactly means something. Your actions can really change some stuff in the world. In fact, it seems to me that many of the plot's points are triggered by the decisions I’ve made earlier in the game. This gave me a sense that my actions exactly means something, which is something I love. An example is a werewolf you will meet in the game. As a monster-hunter, it’s your job to kill the werewolf, but it’s your choice and it will affect you later on. If you kill the werewolf, his men will come for you later in the game; but if you let him go, later on he and his men will help you against your enemies.

This is but one small part of how your decisions can have consequences in the game. A decision you make in chapter 2 can have consequences in chapter 4, which is about 20 hours playtime later. So make your decisions wisely when you play this game.

The combat system is also a different from most games. You have three fighting styles. The quick style allows for fast attacks with a greater chance of hitting faster enemies; the heavy style deals more damage in exchange for a slow attack speed, and the group style, which features sweeping attacks you can use if you are surrounded by many enemies. This gives some variety to the normal hack/slash action where style and timing are more important than button mashing.

One thing I must say: This game is not for kids. As witchers can’t have kids, the game allows Geralt to have “conquests”. Yes, you can have in game sex with a lot of women in this game. After the act, a female portrait card will show up in your journal for your “memory”. Don’t worry, all the cards are censored and no exact act was shown in the game. Still it must be said: Women, wine and killing! What’s there not to like?

Still there are a few problems in the game. For one thing, the loading time is very, very long. Save before you go into a new map because the loading can be amazing long. Also some parts of the game might not be to your liking. An example is a king you will have to ally with. The king was engaged in an incestuous relation with own sister who born him his only daughter. However he loves his people very much and will do almost anything for them. Outside that little ‘mistake’, he is a generally good king who is respected by his people. Even his enemies will give him a benefit of the doubt. I don’t know about you but I had a hard time not remembering the part of an incestuous relation with his own sister.

The Witcher is a different game than most. Like I said earlier, the nature of the options you faced when playing the game DO NOT fall into the typical black-and-white morality present in most regular computer RPGs. Do you ally with the racist human knights who kill elves and dwarves civilians in the name of keeping order, or do you ally with the elven terrorists who kill human civilians for freedom? Which is the lesser of two evils for you?

For giving you this choice, I say this is one game you should be playing.