Echoing a game review for the other blog I manage and write for. I wrote this one last year though.
The Witcher
No, this isn’t an educational game review. For a change, this one’s just a game review for an RPG I’ve been playing for several months now.:)
The Witcher is a PC-based adult / mature RPG that was developed nearly a year ago by CD Projekt Red Studio and available in Singapore from Atari. The game backstory, lore and characters are based on a series of fantasy short stories by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, parts of which have apparently even been made into a movie.
Outside the large virtual world MMORPGs, there hasn’t been very many good single-player RPGs for the PC, or even console-based systems for that matter. There’s been the Neverwinter Night and Elder Scrolls series, so The Witcher is a first installment with hopefully more episodes to come in the series.
What’s so special about the game? Well, several things. The game’s specifically for mature and adult computer gamers. Not just in the adult situations one faces, but also in its graphical representation of gore and violence, and language in the game. The story is thick and replete with key decision-making points that will determine how races and factions view and treat you, and the final outcome at the end will be determined by these story points.
Making decisions at these story points are pretty tricky too, which is the fortunate result of very clever writing on the part of the story writers in the game development. It’s not just the usual "nothing is ever what it seems" creed, but the factions and characters that you’ll encounter are often not entirely morally just, honorable or correct in their actions. But you’re required to make decisions on account of their individual back stories and motivations and to accept the consequences of your choices regardless. This is, in other words, one game where you’ll be saving at every major plot point and then reloading to see what would happen if you’d made that decision some other way. And some of those reloads will be pretty far down in the game, as a decision you make now may only produce consequences several dozen hours of gameplay later.
Visually the game’s a treat too. I included a couple of short videos of character animation in The Witcher during last year’s Introduction to Computer Games lessons, and for at least a couple of GET students already jaded on great animation work in so many console-based games at that point, they were nonetheless still quite impressed. The Witcher’s developers engaged professional swordsmen and fencing specialists at the Polish Stunt Academy for its compact sequences. The result of their collaboration certainly shows onscreen in the fluidity of the sword fighting moves in the game.
Game mechanics isn’t simply a matter of clicking as fast as you can too, as is typically the case for several popular action-RPGs. In The Witcher, your combat sequences are timed, so you’ll have to click at the appropriate time to start the next step in a sequence. Depending on the game difficulty you’re at, visual cues appear onscreen to assist you in this.
Alchemy is also an important part of the game. You’ll be gathering ingredients and components to produce a variety of assists. The potions can run from night vision, stat regeneration and temporary modification, to combat effects. In order to counter players from simply gulping down as many potions pre-boss battles, The Witcher also, cleverly, has a toxicity game mechanic. Each potion is rated on a toxicity level. Quaff down too many of those drinks and you could find yourself poisoned and ‘enjoying’ some side-effects. Trying to determine which potion to gulp down in game situations and not get overdosed is a fun challenge in itself.
Fans who enjoy developing their characters in RPGs will find a lot to like in The Witcher too. There’s a spell and skill-based progression ladder similar to what one finds in other RPGs, with enough variety so that replaying the game just to develop your character in a different way is actually enjoyable in at least this respect.
There’s also a very nice amount of content in the game. Players can expect up to 80 hours of gameplay time out of the box, and still at least half that even if you mouse-click / fast-forward through the thousands of lines of dialog. Skipping through the dialog will also mean though you’re missing out on the well-spoken and emotive dialog in the game, if not the multi-textured and actually interesting story.
Finally, CD Projekt Red Studio has to be credited for its support of its fanbase. The most current version of the game is The Witcher: Enhanced Edition that was released just a few weeks ago. However, players who bought the game a year ago can download a large patch file that will update their game to this Enhanced Edition at no cost. That’s great support from a game studio.
Put together, this has been one of the few RPGs that I’ve played through more than once, and counts easily as one of the best games I’ve played this year on any platform. Highly recommended for fans of RPGs, and for those who’re not, there’s nonetheless a demo you can download and try out even then.:)
– Dr. Foo CY, 2 Oct 2008
Recent comments