What the hell is a “Witcher”?

That’s something I’ve heard a lot since I’ve been telling people I’ve been playing this game. While I’m still somewhat unclear about the exact details it seems that in the world of this game a “Witcher” is a profession, not entirely unlike “Fry Guy” at McDonald’s just based more on a mage and a witch instead of hot grease and potatoes. The character you play, Geralt, is a witcher, one with a bit of a memory problem.

I’ve been spending some time with the game and while I haven’t even come close to finishing it I still wanted to give you lovely readers a taste of what the experience has been like in case you might want to check it out soon instead of waiting on me to finish it at some unknown point in the future.

Almost a full year after the initial release of CD Projekt’s RPG based on the works of Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski comes this “Enchanced Edition” that upgrades almost the entire experience for players and adds about ten hours of new content to what was already a 60-90 hour game. It’s a really nice package that comes with 5 discs: 2 gameplay DVDs, 1 Behind-The-Scenes DVD, and 2 CD soundtracks. It also comes with a full game guide, an excerpt of writer’s Andrzej Sapkowski work and a map. Personally I think that it blows the doors off of most “Special Edition” packages that come with new games especially when you consider that you get all this for a measly $39.95. Owners of the original release of The Witcher can download a patch of all the important game content and fixes for free. Suck on that consoles! Viva la PC!

During the intro cut scene you see Geralt fighting and then curing the daughter of a king who has turned into a mean-looking beast. Soon after an unknown amount of time has passed we see Geralt on a cart being taken to witcher haven Kaer Morhen where we soon realize he has lost his memory. At my current point in the game (the middle of Chapter I) I’m still trying to uncover what exactly happened to me. Since there are five total chapters (and a prologue) I still have plenty of time to find out.

The game can be played in a couple of different camera angles that each have their own advantages. One is a top-down style that gives you a good view of your surroundings. I’ve been playing in the over-the-shoulder view since it brings you closer to the action. You can also choose to play the game with mouse-only controls or a combo of mouse and keyboard. So far the game’s controls make sense and can be picked up easily.

The combat has a slight bit of simplicity to it but is still involved. You pick your swinging style based on the type of enemy you’re fighting, be it slow, quick or a mob, for example and use timed left-clicks to attack. Of course, since you’re a Witcher you also have spell attacks that will be learned throughout the course of the game.

The game has a number of dialogue options when you have conversations and it has been said that your decision highly effect the outcome of the game as you progress. So far the most choice I’ve seen is whether or not to help someone. I guess if I’m dick it could come back to haunt (or help?) me later on. It’s not along the same lines of what we’re used to with BioWare, with their dialogue trees and obvious good/bad choices, but the game is built on a modified version of BioWare’s Aurora engine.

The game has a distinct sort of Oblivion flavor to it with the main story quest lines and a bazillion side quests. Luckily the menu system helps you organize your objectives very nicely and track particular ones of your choosing on the map. Also like Oblivion the game’s world is fun to explore since you don’t have to run around for too long before coming across another small village or pack of enemies. Of course with all my running around helping people I missed my date with the village slut at the mill after sundown. Grrr.

If you’re a PC gamer or you happen to have a PC that can run it I can so far highly suggest checking this game out. This is one of those games that flew under the radar for a lot of gamers, especially the console folk, but if you’re a fan of the “Western style” RPG like I am you’ll be very pleased with what you find. I definitely will try to finish this one off before Wrath Of The Lich King comes out and stop back in with a full review. Until then I’ve got some more Witching to do.