The Witcher (Windows)

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Description

Based on the books by the Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher is an addition to the RPG genre from Europe, starring the main character from the books - Geralt of Rivia, who is a "witcher" - a professional monster-slayer.

The story begins when Geralt is found unconscious by his fellow witchers. He has lost most of his memories of the past, and joins other witchers when their fortress, Kaer Morhen, is attacked by members of a mysterious organization known as the Salamandra. Most of the enemies are defeated by the witchers, but the two most dangerous ones - a criminal nicknamed "Professor" and the sorcerer Azar Javed - escape after having gained access to the witchers' laboratories. The witchers part ways, and Geralt heads to the capital city Vizima, hoping to find more information about the assailants.

The Witcher is a dark game with a dark world. War, murder, poverty, genocide, discrimination, torture, fanaticism - are just a few words that describe this setting. This is the world that the humans try to rule, and non-humans like elves and dwarves are subjected to suspicion and sometimes cruel treatment. Will Geralt be a victim to a few sentimental moments of kindness, or will he survive as a cynical bitter murderer? These are the choices that you'll have to make.

Using a heavily modified engine of Neverwinter Nights, the game implements an original combat system, which requires the player to click on the enemy at the right moment in order to help Geralt execute combo attacks. In order to defeat the enemies efficiently, the player must observe the movements of the combatants, and choose the right combat style: "quick", which is recommended to use against fast enemies, "heavy", with lower precision, but more damage output, and "group", which is effective when Geralt is surrounded. In addition, Geralt often has to switch between his two basic weapons: the steel sword, which is used against regular enemies, and the silver sword, which is more helpful against supernatural creatures.

Character growth is handled by allocating experience points into skills, teaching Geralt fighting styles as well as learning and improving his abilities. Alchemy is a skill that Geralt learns, allowing him to create his own potions, for healing purposes as well as for enhancing his witcher senses. Geralt can also learn and cast offensive and defensive magical spells.

The Witcher requires the player to make ethical decisions for Geralt, which often have "delayed consequences" - for example, sparing a character's life early in the game will eventually trigger a scene much later, in which said character appears and helps Geralt in return for his kindness. As the game's plot advances, the player learns more about the social and political life of its world, and is able to choose his/her own path and alliances to different organizations and ideologies.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "巫師" -- Taiwanese spelling
• "巫师" -- Chinese spellinge (simplified)
• "Ведьмак" -- Russian spelling
• "Zaklínač" -- Czech title
• "Wushi" -- Chinese title
• "Wiedźmin" -- Polish title

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: Aurora
• Fantasy Creatures: Dwarves
• Fantasy Creatures: Elves
• Gameplay feature: Alchemy
• Gameplay feature: Brothels
• Gameplay feature: Character development - Skill distribution
• Gameplay feature: Dating / Romance
• Gameplay feature: Day / Night cycle
• Gameplay feature: Gambling
• Gameplay feature: Hunting
• Gameplay feature: Journal
• Gameplay feature: Multiple endings
• Inspiration: Literature
• Scripting language: Lua
• Theme: Amnesia
• The Witcher licensees
• The Witcher series
• User / fan contributed content

User Reviews

A grain of truth	St. Martyne (3655)
Possibly the finest RPG I've ever played	Jeanne (76515)
From Poland with love	Oleg Roschin (181727)
Every man wants to be like Geralt, every game wants to be like The Witcher	Melody (119)
[v1.1] Legendary as a story-driven adventure game; Dull as an RPG	Indra was here (20930)

Critic Reviews

AceGamez	Nov, 2007	10 out of 10	100
GamePro (US)	Dec 04, 2007	4.5 out of 5	90
Elkander	2008	8.5 out of 10	85
GameSpot	Nov 06, 2007	8.5 out of 10	85
PC Arena - Game Arena	Mar 17, 2008	8.33 out of 10	83
PC Games (Germany)	Nov 28, 2007	83 out of 100	83
TotalVideoGames (TVG)	Oct 29, 2007	8 out of 10	80
TTGamer	Jan 17, 2008	8 out of 10	80
GameStar (Germany)	Nov 28, 2007	77 out of 100	77
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Oct 26, 2007	7 out of 10	70

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
What do I do with spare copper talents?	6	Cavalary (10388) Jul 22, 2015
In this thread, you sell this to me	9	Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze (589) Jun 06, 2011
Heads Up	1	Indra was here (20930) May 29, 2011
I want to make sweet love to a Dryad.	36	Indra was here (20930) Oct 03, 2010
Damn you Sigfried!	26	Indra was here (20930) Dec 26, 2008
Thge Witcher Enhaced	7	vedder (40606) Sep 01, 2008
Questions...[Warning Spoiler Alert]	5	Indra was here (20930) May 10, 2008
Yahtzee hates the Witcher.	83	NatsFan (139) Mar 22, 2008
F****ng barricade!!!! Please help!!	12	Indra was here (20930) Mar 19, 2008
Enhanced version coming in May	3	Oleg Roschin (181727) Mar 18, 2008

Trivia

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

Related Web Sites

• D'jinni Wiki (The Wiki about the D'jinni module editor. Includes all the "how to" information you need with screenshots.)
• GameFAQs: The Witcher (Strategy and solution guides from various contributors for The Witcher)
• The Witcher (The Official Website)
• The Witcher @ GameBanshee (Walkthrough and loads of information about the game)
• The Witcher Game Guide (This game guide on gamepressure.com can be printed on-line or downloaded for free in Adobe PDF file format.)
• The Witcher (video game) (article about the game on the Wikipedia open encyclopedia)
• The Witcher (video game) - Wikipedia (An article in the open encyclopedia about the game.)
• The Witcher World (A fan site dedicated to The Witcher)
• UHS - The Witcher walkthrough (Not your ordinary walkthrough, this Universal Hints page provides clues for solving quests on your own before giving the final solutions.)
• Witcher Wiki (Witcher Wiki is a community that aims to create the best resource for witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher game and other adaptations.)