The Witcher

1001 Video Games

The Witcher appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Localization

In adapting the dialogue from the Polish to the English version, certain parts were censored. An example:

Original version: Smith: Why do pricks go in cunts? It's the natural order of things. Humans have always disliked dwarves and elves. Not for me to know why.

Edited version: Smith: Humans have always hated dwarves and elves.

These censored parts were later added back with full voice acting in Enhanced Edition.

References

• In line with the murky 'film noir' theme of good and evil largely depending on context and motivation, there is a tip of the hat to Raymond Chandler/Philip Marlowe as one of the pivotal characters is Detective Raymond Maarloeve, who speaks like a hard-boiled detective from any of Chandler's novels.
• In the second act when you enter the city walls, you can sometimes hear citizens whistle a Star Wars tune, more precisely the "Imperial March" track. But that isn't the only reference to movies or actors. There is a knight in third act called Patrick De Wayze which is an obvious gag on Patrick Swayze (in the Polish version of the game, the name is spelled Patrick z Weyze and sounds exactly like the name of an American actor).

Sales

In October 2008, one year after the release, the development studio CD Projekt RED Sp. z o.o. announced to have sold one million copies of the game (including the enhanced edition).

Sephirot

At one point, Geralt will have to gather 10 sephirot (also transliterated as "sephiroth") to enter a magical tower. The sephirot (Hebrew: ספירות) in question are actually the ten spheres of creation in the Jewish mystical teaching, kabbalah. All the translated names of the sephirot ("crown", "kingdom", etc.) are correct; however, the original Hebrew names, which also appear in the game, are messed up nearly beyond recognition.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • 2007 – #10 PC Game of the Year
  • 2007 – PC RPG of the Year
  • 2007 – Surprise of the Year
• GameStar (Germany)
  • March 28, 2008 - Best PC RPG in 2007 (Readers' voting) (The editors originally gave a score of 73%.)

Information also contributed by MAT, YID YANG and thud