The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

(sorry for my bad english :)

Never gets old.

I still remember how excited I was when The Witcher came out. I bought its day 1 release, as well as the additional Extended Edition box set. It was a huge deal - so much so, even Vader recoded a single to promote the game. Today, all these years later, being more knowledgeable about gaming, I have to say, while it sure was a huge release, it's also one that didn't age very well. Don't get me wrong now - I liked, and still like the game, but it's long overshadowed by the second and third installments in the series. Especially the third, which turned the RPG world upside down for a long time. Gameplay feels clunky - not as much as in, let's say, TES: Morrowind, but it's far from being comfortable. For an RPG game, The Witcher also suffers from linearity problems - it's not just the story that pushes you in one particular direction, even maps themselves are constructed to be as limiting as possible. There's little to no room for exploration and freeroam, which can be a pretty big problem to those who enjoy having absolute freedom. What didn't age is the story - it's still very strong, and as a more mature player, I enjoyed it way more than my teenage self from all these years before. Characters are fleshed out, and do pretty good job introducing you to the game's setting. Sure, it's better if you know Sapkowski's works before you play, but it's by no means required. Do I recommend the game? Absolutely - for that price, come on, it'd be a shame not to give it a try. While dated, it's still a fun adventure, especially to someone who focuses on the story aspect. It was a humble beginning of The Witcher series, and a true piece of gaming history. It may not be as timeless as Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Gothic 2 or Diablo 2, but I can confidently recommend it to any fan of fantasy games. It may not be your cup of tea, and surely is not as accessible as its successors, but it's a game worth knowing.

To jest mój pierwszy RPG, w który grałem. Jestem zachwycony. Ciekawa historia, rozgrywka. Teraz czas na ciąg dalszy. :) -- This is my first RPG that I played. I'm delighted. Interesting story, gameplay. Now it's time to go on. :)

I don't often write reviews, but seeing some reviews about this game just saddened me. I first launched this game on the brink of my 17 years, and to be honest it was by accident.I always was a thinker, wondering about everything. In the begining, I had moral problems playing it, being young and naive, and not experienced in the ways of real life. This game opened it for me (at least it explained much- what is common in my mother land). I started to enjoy it - subtle truths hidden in every last aspect and details of the game. For me it was an art, philisophy, not something where everything was about shooting, or clicking, or grinding or whatever pc fans endorse these days. And those moral choices (and something which doesn't force you to adopt ethics or morality of modern world, because we all know human base nature is cruel and primitive), those points of view, those characterizations, turns of events, non linear story, feeling you aren't playing some great saviour hero everybody loves. In fact Geralt and witchers remind me of many proffesions of our world which aren't appreciated. We commonly look down on many of them. I could relate to my own people and culture. Hunting monsters reminded me of fairy tales told to our children (where we teach them how to become righteous heroes), yet in darker setting as if it was told to a mature listener, where there arent shiny knights, where there arent good/ evil, but there are shades of grey and greater and lesser evils. Diablo has minimal story/ RPG elements, played it but that's it, now can't even look at it. Yet this game, this "Witcher" ... shows potential even after all those years and I can have a good laugh or a good thinking time, when I don't want to spend my time just mashing buttons. P.S. I played this game before reading Sapkowski's books :D I loved how convenient developers made it Geralt lost his memory... by the time Geralt recovered it I managed to read through those books. That was legendary experience.