The Witcher

Way back in the dinosaur ages, also known as 2007, a little game from Poland based on a series of beloved books called The Witcher came out.  It didn't make much of a splash back then, except for a bit of controversy with its rather adult themes and the ability to collect "sex cards", which are essentially nude paintings given to you by the women you sleep with.  Even with the controversy it barely made a blip on my radar, but the sequel came out just recently to great acclaim and in a handy sale I decided to pick it up and see the original before I darted into the next one.  And oh boy am I glad I did.

The story revolves around Geralt of Rivia, a witcher (a not-quite-human monster slayer) who mysteriously loses his memory after successfully, but at great cost, curing the king's daughter of a curse that made her transform into a beast.  Years after he is found and brought to the witcher compound of Kaer Morhen, meeting several others of his kind along with the sorceress and former lover Triss Merigold.  Soon enough the castle is attacked, and Geralt has to quickly relearn how to fight and deal with the incursion of a powerful sorcerer named Azar Javed and his slinky sidekick The Professor.  Unfortunately the two slip into the castle and grab the witchers' most prized possessions: the recipes for their mutagenic potions, which grant the witchers amazing abilities.  Before Geralt can stop them, Javed opens a teleport and they're gone.  From then on it's an epic journey in five acts to reclaim the witchers' secrets, stop Javed and the Professor, and do what every witcher does best: kill monsters.

You also quickly become embroiled in a conflict between the religious/tyrannical Order of the Flaming Rose and the non-human (ie. elves and dwarves) Scoia'tael who are fighting for their freedom.  You can side with one or the other, as well as try to remain neutral, and the game plays out differently depending on the path you choose.  Both sides have their positives as well as their negatives, and which side you choose really does depend on your own judgement, as well as the kind of morals you want Geralt to have.  You can make him a more methodical witcher who only slays monsters, or you can give him a moral compass and have him make decisions about whether some humans can be monsters as well.  It's a fascinating, and surprisingly political, system that I found greatly rewarding.

While The Witcher's story and all its many nuances throughout the five acts set it apart from the pack, possibly its most distinguishing feature is its combat.  First of all, this is not a hack-and-slasher, though at first it appears to be.  In fact it more rewards patience and tactical fighting, especially with the basic attack system.  Instead of each click being an attack, one click starts you into a series of combos which can be lengthened by clicking at the right time, and each successive combo deals more and more damage (to a point).  You have two swords to choose from (as well as a myriad of lesser weapons you will never use), a normal steel sword for humans and a silver sword for monsters.  You also have three stances: heavy, fast, and group.  Heavy lets you deal major damage, but you miss quicker opponents, fast lets you deal less damage but hit consistently, and group helps you clear out mobs that surround you.  You also have 5 magic "signs" at your disposal, which are learned by finding stones imbued with their element.  Your first sign is a wind attack that stuns and knocks down opponents, another sets them on fire, another traps them in place, another shields you until you attack, and the last even temporarily turns opponents to allies.  Then on top of that, there is a "meditation" system whereby you level up, heal, and create potions that enhance your stats.  However, each potion is slightly toxic, so if you drink enough of them without meditating you will be poisoned.  Throw all that together and you get a fairly complex system that adds a lot of variety to each enemy encounter.  I played on normal difficulty where alchemy isn't expected of you, so when I mastered potions I essentially just became a wrecking ball with a sword, but I still appreciated the depth of options offered.  And this is all not to mention that you can craft bombs and oils to enhance your swords as well.

The leveling system is at first intimidating, because you can level up your attributes (strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence), each of your 5 signs, the 3 styles for your steel sword, and the 3 styles for your silver sword.  So not only do you have a large variety to choose from when leveling, but each of the above also has a subset of stat boosts and abilities within them you can choose from.  The lower-tier abilities require bronze talents, mid-tier silver, and top-tier gold.  Thankfully the speed at which you level is mirrored perfectly in both how many talents and which kind of talents you are given.  I never felt too underpowered or overpowered because of the leveling (only felt overpowered at the end because of alchemy).  It's also a nice, new way of getting to decide the type of fighter you're creating.  By the end my swords and stats were practically maxed, but my signs had lagged behind simply because I didn't use them that much.

I feel like it's been quite a while since I have played such an interesting and well fleshed-out RPG.  It's possible I like it so much simply because it is so very different.  The characters, combat, and story all merge together to create a unique experience that while at first seems a bit too different/intimidating, rewards those who stick with it and discover its depth.  It's one of those rare games where you can really see all the effort and heart that went into making it, and I for one applaud their success.  Any gripes I had were so minor they were quickly forgotten.  That being said, I don't know if this game is really for everyone.  I for one totally enjoyed what many would probably consider a rather threadbare overarching quest line, simply because the world and the characters in it were so interesting and there was a whole lot more happening on the side that made it enjoyable.  Basically if you consider yourself an RPG fan, and are looking for something a little different than what we're used to in the states, give The Witcher a shot.  And since it's retailing for only like $10 and you can easily get 40 hours out of it, I'd say it's more than worth it.

The Witcher gets a 10/10.