The Witcher is an Action RPG based on the fantasy world created by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, and is developed by CD Projekt. Nothing? Ok. The Witcher is an Action RPG published by Atari, running on the Aurora Engine (what BioWare used for Neverwinter Nights). Sounds a bit more enticing, no? And well it should.

Originally released one year ago, The Witcher received no less than four “RPG of the Year” awards. Unlike the mighty Squaresoft, which has fallen from grace over the last few years, the mere mention of “BioWare” in connection with “Role Playing Game,” no matter how tenuous the link, should be enough to send any RPG fan into a Pavlovian salivating frenzy.

Atari isn’t about to risk breaking our conditioned responses, so as you might expect, whether you caught  the game the first time around or not, the re-release of The Witcher is good. Very good. Not content to leave well enough alone, in the new Enhanced Edition CD Projekt has added nearly two hundred new animations, re-recorded much of the spoken dialogue, addressed several bugs, reduced overall load times and added two new adventures: Side Effects and The Price of Neutrality.

First, lets cover the basics. The Witcher is you, Geralt of Rivia, an otherwise normal person apart from some genetic mutations which give you greater strength, faster reflexes, the ability to see fairly well in the dark, sterility and a very pasty complexion. After being chased through the woods by a mysterious force in the opening sequences, you find yourself awake and among friends in a weathered old castle, completely unable to remember who you are. Soon the castle comes under siege, things are stolen, and someone close to you dies. Here ends the prologue and begins your lengthy 80+ hour quest to find out who you are, who the Salamandra are and why they attacked you.

Hit the jump and begin your own 80+ hour quest to read the rest of this review. (Just kidding. Or am I…?)

 
That blue glow is no glitch - its a special blade coating

Two of the most outstanding aspects of this game will be easily noticeable from the start, and those are the graphics and the sound. From the award winning CGI intro to fighting Salamandra on the castle ramparts, once you pass the prologue the graphics only improve. The first time you find yourself in a sewer you won’t want to leave, and the first time you set foot into a swamp you’ll want to crank all the sliders to high and just watch the light filter through the trees. Since the game supports both Vista with DirectX 10 and Windows XP with DX 9, the game is sure to look good even if your rig isn’t running alien technology. While you’re in the swamp I also highly recommend running around for no real reason other than to listen carefully to the different sound effects of each footfall as you move from watery to mushy terrain. The first time you hear the change you will be amazed, as it is a small detail that pulls you perfectly into the world, suddenly giving you an added sense of depth and realism. The cicadas and other ambient noises will also have you looking outside your window, or calling your neighbor and asking him if he got a new dog.

Scattered throughout this living, breathing world you will find all sorts of plants and ingredients which you can use to brew various sorts of potions. Reading certain botanical books will grant you knowledge on what herbs are used for what purposes, while reading still other books on various monsters will allow you to scavenge any useful body parts from your kills. Combining these elements in recipes bought or earned through quests will yield some fairly potent brews that can do anything from heal you to grant you extra talent points. The only downside to this is that as you imbibe more potions your toxicity level increases, which can have all sorts of negative side effects such as loss of stamina or life.

A prime opportunity for the group combat style

Relying heavily on action the combat interface is fairly straightforward, as attacking is done through a single mouse button. Click when the sword icon changes over your target and you will watch as Geralt performs increasingly complex (and deadly) combinations. This function seems simple enough, but what gives each fight some level of depth and strategy is that at any time you can change between your silver sword (to fight monsters) or your steel sword (better against humans). You can also select on the fly one of three different styles of fighting. Each of the three combat styles functions better versus certain opponents: using the strong style is often the only way to get through a heavy opponent’s thick armor, while the fast style is better suited against nimble fighters. When you are surrounded, the group combat style will make short work of weaker enemies around you, and should you ever feel overwhelmed a quick double tap of the direction keys will send Geralt tumbling and twirling away, giving you room to change weapons, drink a potion, or cast a quick defensive or offensive spell.

As far as controlling the rest of your character movements, your are given the option of using a mouse-only interface, or the standard mouse and keyboard (similar to a first person shooter setup). When choosing between the three camera modes you can easily see the influence of the Aurora engine when using either of the isometric views, but the default over-the-shoulder camera puts you right in the action and really seems to be the way The Witcher was intended to be played.

The isometric camera

All aspects of the combat work well for the most part, with the only really negative aspect being that at times it can be a little too easy to become overwhelmed and die. Typically the group technique will make quick work of enemies, but every now and then the enemies will score hits on you so suddenly that before you know it the screen will start to become gray, at which point there is very little you can do to save your life. Also, you will occasionally encounter an enemy who is much stronger than you and no matter what technique or strategy you employ it will seem like your only recourse is to avoid them entirely. Both of these instances aren’t necessarily a flaw in the game, but can be points of frustration for anyone expecting to be able to power through all combat encounters rather than just most of them.

The RPG elements of the game comes when you stop at any inn or campfire throughout the world and meditate, taking time to assign the various bronze, silver or gold talent medals you have earned through killing enemies and gaining experience. With over 250 skills and abilities to learn, talents can be assigned to any of several categories, increasing your baseline stats such as strength and dexterity, augmenting the potency of the spells you cast, or even improving your prowess in each combat style. Developing your spells will often grant additional abilities, such as giving the Igni sign the power to ignite your enemies, while maturing your combat skills will allow you to deal out additional pain and damage, letting you cripple the bad guys before finishing them off. Completionists will be happy to note that while this skill tree system limits which styles and talents you initially pursue, by the time you begin to earn silver talents you will have learned all the bronze abilities, and the same holds true for gold.

 
Meditate to learn new talents

With all the praises that can be sung for this game, there actually are aspects, not apparent at first, that ultimately keep it from perfection. The lines of re-recorded dialogue now make much more sense, having dropped most of the unnecessary “thee’s” and “thou’s,” but that doesn’t mean that the overarching storyline is any more cohesive. Believe it or not, what keeps this game from true glory is a lack of linearity and poor quest pacing. Often times when you begin a chapter you have one specific goal or task in mind, usually revolving around finding information to track down the elusive Salamandra. But what quickly happens is that you get sidetracked, as even trying to single-mindedly pursue only the main storyline can take you off on multiple diversions. For example, in order to proceed past the first chapter and enter the city of Vizima, you must gain the trust and approval of four different village leaders, each of which have their own secrets, motivations and twisting plot lines. Given the sheer number of things to do, from hunting wild dogs, picking rare herbs or playing dice poker, it is all too easy to get distracted and lose sight of your main goal.

The poor quest pacing is unfortunate, because nestled in amidst the standard RPG fetch and kill quests are some really inspirational and unique moments. At one point in the second chapter you are not simply tasked with figuring out who killed a certain person, you are given the goal of performing an autopsy to determine the cause of death and look for clues as to who the murderer might be. Not knowing anything about autopsies, you have to hunt down people who have more experience with such things and ask them questions, as well as purchase certain books on anatomy and poisons. Doing or not doing any part of this pre-autopsy investigation will determine exactly how much evidence you are later able to collect, and how well informed your subsequent decisions will be when determining who is guilty and who shall go free.

The Witcher is very much a dark game, with situations and decisions that aren’t really split between right and wrong, but are more often a choice of which evil you feel might be lesser. Nearly every female you encounter in the game, from barmaids to courtesans (and even a dryad, too) can be seduced, with no real consequence or perceivable benefit. This game does everything it possibly can to earn its Mature rating. Severed heads will fall to the ground after killing an enemy and conversations with seedy characters will be punctuated by every swear word under the sun (which can seem a bit out of place at times, but also serves to make the world seem that much darker and grittier). When faced with game changing decisions such as who is guilty and who is innocent, the “hero’s” motto is more often “I shouldn’t get involved,” rather than championing all that is right and good in the world.

 
Travel tip: when going abroad, if you see no toilets in a town, do not wade in nearby rivers

Hopefully given this laundry list of features you’ve realized that this is very much a game worth purchasing. But even if you’ve previously bought The Witcher, you can still go to the official website and download the two new adventures free of charge. If you haven’t, then the new Enhanced Edition is just too good a deal for any PC gamer to pass up. It comes with a map, a short story, a game guide (that outlines every quest and the outcomes of all possible choices), two music CDs (one soundtrack and one “music inspired by” disc), a “making of” DVD and the Djinni Adventure Editor, all for the low, low price of $40. All of that makes it very hard, even in this age of premium priced downloadable content, not to believe there is someone at the top of the ladder who still remembers what its like to be a gamer. So do yourself a favor and play this game. Otherwise, when your friends are all laughing at you for missing out on this gem not once, but twice, you’ll get no sympathy from me.

Final Score: B+

Comments (3)

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iFester said:

... Looks awesome! However there are too many games coming out. Although I looked up to see if there will be a console port and there might be one next year. Might hold out for that.

October 27, 2008

Daniel Marstaller said:

... I bought this game when it originally came out, and I think it's worth it for any person who really likes PC RPGs. It's the sort of this we don't tend to get very often in this country. Related to that, the reviewer mentioned that you could seduce women for no real reason. The non-US version has in-game nude collectible cards for each woman you seduce.

October 28, 2008

Patrick Cassin said:

... ah, thanks Dan. that makes much more sense now. nudity is a big no-no in the states, so I can see why that was pulled from the version I played. when you sleep with a character there is a portrait that comes up that is suggestive, but there's no nudity in it. I imagine they just modified the artwork to get the game past the ESRB.

October 29, 2008