The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

The Witcher series is still one of the best game trilogies out there. Choices at least have some carry through throughout the series allowing the story to flow better with your choices. Have replayed more than once and looking to do it again. Graphics may be a bit dated but do not let that fool you.

So, in this review I would like to address people like myself who may be wondering whether they should bother with the old Witcher games or just jump straight to the 3rd instalment of the series. I'm not too keen on fantasy, I haven't read the Witcher books, and I didn't find the Netflix show appealing. However, The Witcher 3 is meant to be a masterpiece by CDPR. Whilst I was told there's no need to play the first games to enjoy the 3rd, I thought I'd be best to learn some lore. The story starts where the books end. A criminal organisation raids the Witchers' base and steal their secrets. Your mission: chase them and recover the secrets. The plot thickens as you go along and it's really good. I wasn't too fond of the gameplay at first, but as you learn all the features you start to realise the depth of it. You can customise combat style, weapons, craft items; very complete and fun to experiment with. Moreover, you get to make your choices during the game and they come with consequences. There are a number of optional side quests that will give you extra hours of gameplay too. I've already finished the game and this is a solid 9/10. Now, while it does show its age, it was never a deterrent for me. The reason why I'm not giving it full marks is because of a few things I found annoying. Firstly, there were moments in the game where you wanted to make a choice, but it wasn't obvious. I had made up my mind about who was guilty in a certain case, but couldn't find the way to exonerate a suspect. Turns out I had to go to a party first, and the connection between the 2 just wasn't obvious. Secondly, there were a few crashes here and there, especially on chapters 4 & 5, so make sure you save regularly. Lastly, some dialogs are a bit clumsy and having to access your big inventory via character dialog is something I hope will be parted with in the second game, which I intend to play soon. All in all, a brilliant game with a few flaws.

The one flaw I can see about Witcher is that it was a bit hard to get into. In retrospect that is mostly because games nowadays are too stupid, and has made me too stupid. It took me 3 tries to get started for real, but when the ball started rolling there was no going back. The story is very good, and made perfect by the decisions and consequences you face afterwards. This is probably the main pull of the game. Other than that it has got a decent fighting system, a good crafting system for alchemy, the best mini-collectible game since the dawn of time (lady-conquest-cards I'm looking at you :D ) and just...too much to list. Do yourself a favor and buy this game. I will, for the second time in my life, on GoG. Thanks for a great game CD Project. You even made me preorder the sequel. I cant wait! :D

Honestly, I couldn't get enough of this game when I first bought it. It was dark, gritty - adult; which is something the games I was playing at the time weren't. It had a unique combat system, a fantastic magic system and the story, what a tale. If I hadn't lost my CDs (and access to a PC) I would still be playing this game. Yes, it's that good. Do yourself a favour, skip the slice of pizza at lunch and buy this game. It is exponentially more rewarding, and you will thank me and every other reviewer out there. Cheers, Chris

Though the The Witcher series has been on my backlog since I first heard of part 2 back in the 2009 I think, I only got to play it just recently. I am currently playing TW3 on PS4 and am about 40 hours in. Someone else wrote in their review ‘I feel I paid way to less for what I got’. I can only agree on that for all three games – especially TW3. The quantity and quality of the digital goodies you get when buying these Enhanced Editions on GOG is just admirable. I especially loved the soundtrack which I can still enjoy after the finishing the game. You really get to appreciate CD Projekt Red and their fantastic games. Also, I am absolutely excited for the development they made. You can see significant changes from one game to the next. Nothing feels copy-pasted and about all relevant areas have been worked on from the ground up in each game. Something that lacks in the COD franchise and Assassin’s Creed for example where entire mechanics or worlds have only been adjusted a little in some games. Sure, the combat in TW1 is something else. But that is exactly why I liked it in some twisted way. The different sword-styles for different types of enemies are a unique thing. Here is what I loved about this game from 2007 and why I will keep it in mind as a fantastic RPG: + overall feel / tone set through graphics and primarily through phenomenal score (best of all three games in my opinion) + mature and authentic presentation of the story and topics like racism + realistic moral grey area + choices you make and their impact (SPOILER: how blown away I was when the villagers in the first chapter turn on you after you helped them all these hours before END) + voice acting (excellent!) + skill trees (great design, they just absolutely fit in the game) Due to all these factors I'd simply recommend this game and both it's successors. Cheers!