Bewitched by The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

With the popularity of World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, and Lord of the Rings: Online, finding PC games that offer a traditional, solitary RPG experience is becoming increasingly difficult. We cherish our time spent with in the Ultima, Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Universes, knowing that such experiences are no longer the prevalent trend. So what’s an old-school Dungeons and Dragons player to do?

The Witcher’s narrative stems from a number of short stories from eastern European author Andrej Sapkowski; for those not up on their Polish pop culture, think Tolkien, only darker. Players control Geralt, a monster-hunter for hire with supernatural powers and a bad case on amnesia. Unlike many RPG’s which push the player down a linear plotline, the Witcher presents the gamer with morally ambiguous choices.  Transcending the conventional good or evil choice, Geralt will often be presented with two equally dark paths, with no clear-cut indication of possible consequences. Choices affect the narrative later in the game, so that characters you killed early in the game will affect how others treat you later. Those looking for an Oblivion-like experience should look elsewhere; there is no myriad of weapon and armor choice for the player to fiddle with. The emphasis here is on the story, the killing, and the ‘romance’ of the ladies- stat geeks will be underwhelmed.

The game uses an enhanced Bioware Aurora engine, most notable used in Neverwinter Nights. Graphically, the game’s lush, varied landscapes avoid the tile-based trappings of the other Aurora-based titles. On our mid-range system the game ran remarkably well, with a speedy framerate that bested Oblivion’s. The game is much more optimized that previous versions- load times were quicker, but the game’s initial load is still a bit off-putting.

The game uses three viewpoints- two top-down perspectives and a third person perspective. While the over-the shoulder option looks the best, overall visibility is compromised. We preferred the top down view, with is mouse-centric control scheme, which was reminiscent of Baldur’s Gate. Players can choose from one of three styles to dispatch enemies: a quick style for light attacks, which is useful for speedy enemies, a heavy style for powerful attacks at the cost of a lower chance of contact, and a group style for when the player is surrounded. With good exact timing, the player can use combos to effectively wipe out groups of baddies.

Owners of the original game get all the enhancements of this edition via a free patch: 200 new character animations, revised NPC art, voice acting and subtitles in eight languages. It was refreshing to play the game in native Polish with English subtitles; although the English voice-overs have been improved greatly. The new enhanced edition also ships with a ‘making-of’ DVD, a soundtrack CD, a addition CD of ‘inspired-by’ music, a short story by Sapkowski, a paper map and strategy guide. At the current street price of less than forty dollars, the complete package is quite a deal for PC gamers.

Overall, the game is one of the best single-player RPG’s current available for PC gamers. Anyone remotely interested in the game, should immediately seek out a copy. Our only concern was the prudent censoring of the game’s conquest cards; for a game who dialogue is as course as the Witcher’s, we see no reason to cover hint’s of nudity.