The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

A marvel. The story puts current AAA games to a shame. Sadly, the interface has not aged so gracefully, and combats and movements feel raggedy in its original form.

Beautiful colors, art, music... this is how actually the witcher world looks like, this is how Geralt actaully looks like - unusual face but not exactly a macho type. Played it first time in march 2020. It goes very well with Hungarian voice acting and English subtitles, gives it a further plus. I recommended it sincerily, just make sure you carefuly study the controls for the sword (3 styles for 3 various sort of enemies), otherwise might be frustrating. You also struck only when the pointer becomes illuminated (orange).

You can clearly see the potential in this game. The atmosphere is amazing thanks to strong art direction, fantastic soundtrack and an ambitious story. The choices that you must consider are also very compelling and ambiguous which I really enjoyed. However there too many flaws, clearly the victim of inexperience and low budget, that keep the game from achieving greatness. Mediocre voice acting, repeated models even for important characters and buggy boss battles like the Queen Kikimore fight were distracting and took away from my immersion. The story had some genuinely fascinating parts like the Outskirts and Murky Waters storylines, as well as the conflict between the Order and the Elves. On the other hand It also suffered from some very weak aspects, like the baffling investigation and backtracking in chapters 2 and 3 or the laughably cartoonish villains. The gameplay is an aspect of this game which left the sourest taste. Completely uninspired point and click combat, that requires zero skill even on the Hard difficulty and what made it infinitely worse were the gazzilion number of enemies, which the developers insisted on throwing at you. The worst part is all the backtracking, makes the enemies respawn, which leads to you engaging even more in the boring combat. At least you have some simple magic spells and a pretty robust alchemy system, that can spice up things a little. 5/10 - Couldn't collect all the sex cards.

CD Projekt Red took a bold leap by adapting Andrzej Sapkowski's novels. The Witcher is far from perfect, but it's an ambitious debut notable for atmosphere, choices, and worldbuilding. The start is rough: clumsy introductions, stiff cutscenes, awkwardly written characters. Combat is rhythm-based with timed clicks and multiple styles, but quickly becomes repetitive. The introduction of characters like Alvin in Chapter 1 is so bizarre and poorly integrated that it likely turned many players off. I often wonder that this series got the oppurtunity to grow and it is a harsh failing in more ways than one. Yet, if you look past the flaws, the game lays the foundation for one of the most acclaimed RPG franchises. A clever choice is Geralt returning with amnesia, letting players explore the world without prior lore knowledge. Decisions matter: choices in early chapters echo later, often forcing morally grey decisions where truth is elusive. One early choice support a witch or a suspicious mob perfectly illustrates the game's approach to moral ambiguity. What the game does best is atmosphere. The world doesn't revolve around Geralt and townsfolk have their own worries. Locations like Vizima feel detailed and lived in, with NPCs performing routines that make the world feel real. Visually, the game is ambitious: character models show their age, but environments are crafted with care. The story improves over time, though Chapters 4 and 5 feel rushed and some plot points are confusing. Major book characters like Yennefer or Ciri are largely unmentioned, a noticeable omission. Despite its flaws, The Witcher is a passionate, impressive debut. CD Projekt Red stretched their limited resources to create a world with scope, soul, and ambition. It laid the shaky foundation for later masterpieces, and its story and writing already hint at the talent that would define the series. Playing it isn't essential before The Witcher III, but it's still worth it.

It's good, but it crashes a ot on PC