With The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt coming upon us, I am salivating at every morsel of news to come out of the CD Projekt RED team. However, I am not too familiar with the series. Having never played any of the games and having only read The Last Witch, the first book in the series written by Andrzej Sapkowski, I realized that I should probably go back to the beginning and play The Witcher: Enhanced Edition.
For those that aren’t aware, the main character, Geralt, is a Witcher. Withcers are mutated humans who have unwillingly dedicated their lives to slaying monsters. Although Witchers are vital to the survival of many people, they are still shunned for their abilities and differences.
Being based on a series of successful novels, you would expect The Witcher’s story to be well written and paced. Thankfully the game succeeds in this department. Geralt’s world is fleshed out, well paced, and pushes our hero through numerous locations, settlements and territories.
However, there are a few issues with the story; or rather it’s presentation. My major qualm with The Witcher’s story is that it is handed out in large clumps, generally at the beginning and ending of quests. This makes the game fairly predictable while trying to pull apart plot lines. By the end of the quest, you are well aware of where the story is progressing. It is a minor annoyance, but one nonetheless. Similarly, most of the major plot details are told in two lengthy, but awesome, cinematics. One at the beginning of the game and one towards the end.
Being a professional monster hunter, you’d be right to think that Geralt has a badass arsenal at his disposal. He wields swords better than anyone else in the game, and his magical prowess is nothing to scoff at. However, the combat is based around the classic point and click method and although it is a functional method to attacking enemies, it is rather boring and easy to master. A twitch style, click when prompted, mechanic is added to combat and while it adds beautiful combat animations to the rather standard affair of fighting, it is also fairly easy to predict.
There are two distinct camera angles that will affect the way that you control Geralt. One is the over-the-shoulder method, which was my preferred method, and the isometric view that allows you to strategize the battlefield better. Although it doesn’t change the gameplay overall, it really alters the way that you tackle various enemies. The isometric, I found, worked best when you are surrounded by enemies (since you can see 360 degrees around Geralt), whereas the OTS method is perfect for those one-on-one fights that you want to get up close and personal with.
In addition to being a masterful magic wielder and sword slayer, Geralt is also capable of making bombs and potions. Although bomb making is rather ho-hum and needless, the potion crafting aspect of The Witcher is fantastic. You can obviously make potions to heal Geralt, but there are some spectacular potions that you can only master by pursuing the alchemical upgrade system. The better the potion, the higher degree of ingredients you will need, however it isn’t that difficult to find them. Ingredients will come fairly regularly once you make a small amount of progress in the main game.
Meanwhile, weapon and armor upgrades are a vital part of every RPG and yet there are some developers that tend to neglect this area of the game. CD Projekt RED unfortunately falls into this category. There are a few changes that are allowed here and there, but overall you will pretty much use the same weapons and armor for the majority of the game.
Although the above issues are rather annoying, they hardly take away from the amazing presentation of the game. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is a glorious title that still holds up reasonably well by today’s standards. From it’s beautifully brutal battle animations, in game and rendered cutscenes, to the various locations that you can explore, The Witcher is one of the most detailed worlds you will ever enter.
My journey through The Witcher was a pretty spectacular one. Yes there are problems, but when a game is good; it transcends all of the small issues that are prevalent. And don’t get me wrong, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is a really good game. CD Projekt RED has gone on statement as saying that players don’t need to play the previous entries to enjoy The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I am sure that players will be quite able to pick up the series with the third entry and enjoy it, but for those individuals that want to learn more about the lore and backstory to Geralt, there is no better place than the first game. Plus, for those interested, there are various sections where you learn some key details about the Wild Hunt and why it is important to the series.
Now that I have finished The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, I guess it is only right to continue Geralt’s adventures in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. I can only imagine that CD Projekt RED will continue to weave a masterful story and I look forward to getting my hands on it.
Be sure to stay tuned for any new information on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as we progress closer to its February 24, 2015 release date.
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition was originally released for PC on September 16, 2008.
