(Heed my words for there comes the age of sword and ax, the age of wolfish storm.
There comes the Time of White Cold and White Light,
the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt, Tedd Deiradh, the Time of Ending.
And the world will die in frost, frozen in ice and covered with snow…)
The prophecy of Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien
It is a time of darkness and frost as the prophetic words of the elven seeress begin to unfold in stark reality. The lands of the Northern Realms have entered a long and desolate winter and are plagued by struggles, both internal and external. Left weakened from their conflict with the elves and the Southern Empire of Nilfgaard, the Northern Realms now face other, possibly more urgent, threats to their security. The long winters have ravaged the countryside and creatures of shadow and darkness, monstrosities that feed on the fallen citizens of the land, roam freely across the countryside. Rising in response to the rumors of deliberate necromancy and the prophetic words of Ithlinne, an sect of monk-knights known as the Order of the Burning Rose has emerged to preach liberation through the purification of fire.
Thus the stage is set for the coming of Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher known as the White Wolf, as he returns from an extended absence to Kaer Morhen. A legend among the Witchers, a brotherhood of warrior hunters who have been bred and trained to hunt down and slay the supernatural monstrosities of the land, Geralt arrives home to find it besieged by unknown mercenaries. Assisting the few remaining Witchers within the stronghold, Geralt is catapulted into the struggles of the Northern Realms in his attempts to locate those responsible for the assault on Kaer Morhen. What he discovers could either be the key to the salvation of the entire world or its demise.
The Witcher is an RPG that is based on the writings of the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, with the story itself being set shortly after the events found in the books. Many of the places and locations within the game will still be familiar to readers of Sapkowski’s works and several characters that have appeared in his stories, such as Dandelion and Triss, will appear throughout Geralt’s journeys. In fact, Geralt himself is the protagonist of Sapkowski’s stories. Developed by CD Projekt Red, the game’s story was written by Jacek Komuda and Maciej Jurewicz, two Polish writers known for creating another pen and paper RPG game called ‘˜The Wild Plains.’
The Aurora-powered graphics bring the world of The Witcher to life and enhance an intricate, multi-layered story. While the game itself does possess the standard hack-n-slash encounters, it also possesses the qualities that have made some of the most popular RPG games successful. Namely, it allows the player to realistically interact with other characters and NPCs within the game and explore the many different tasks and quests with a variety of approaches. By accomplishing these quests, The Witcher can increase his skills and abilities without having to rely solely on vanquishing enemies. A fundamental aspect of the game is how the character’s actions and the choices the player makes will influence and directly impact the outcome of the game. In fact, dependent upon which choices are made throughout the length of play, there are three different endings possible. Experience points achieved through the completion of quests can be applied to the character’s statistics, abilities, and skills at the whim of the player. The result is the creation of a unique character that is crafted to the tastes of the individual player. Even the choice of weapons and gear will alter the appearance of the character in the game. To further enhance the player’s ability to tailor the character to his or her wishes, combat has been broken up into three main combat styles balanced, offensive, and defensive. The player is free to pursue whichever path he or she desires.
The Witcher’s single-player game is divided into five acts, with each successive act giving the player the opportunity to explore beautifully and vividly designed locations including Kaer Morhen, the Old Castle of the Temerian Kings, and numerous cities within the Northern Realms. Each act brings new visuals and quests to the game and furthers the plot of the story by exploring areas unavailable in previous acts. The result is a stunning environment that has been intricately designed to enhance the flavor and mood of the game and provide the player with a comfortable and eye-catching world in which to play.
The combat system is also creatively applied. Designed in a way similar to Baldur’s Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, players can pause the game in mid-combat to coordinate special moves and attacks without having to worry about keeping pace with the game’s AI-controlled opponents. The ability to customize the character’s fighting style should give players a bountiful amount of options to choose from in battle.
The in-game and toolset rendering was achieved through DirectX9 and the game engine is based off of the BioWare Aurora Engineâ„¢, which was used in the development of Neverwinter Nights. However, there have been significant modifications. With The Witcher, the world is designed without the use of a tile-based system and all of the environments were created in 3D Studio Max 6.0. The remarkable result of this is a set of visuals that are unique and richly layered to give a fluid and seamless flow during gameplay, reminiscent of such games as Myst and its sequels. Additional modifications to BioWare’s Aurora EngineTM are as follows:
- The version used in The Witcher supports lightmaps, which perform better and allow the shadows within the game to appear more realistic.
- The enhanced engine uses a special tool called texture paint that allows the developers to paint the game’s environment with custom textures to give the game a more natural feel than traditional mapping tools.
- New skybox and water effects have been added to the engine in order to expand the realism of the environment’s background, thus making the game world appear larger than it actually is.
Additional modifications include motion-captured animation, a new combat system, and added game features and graphical effects, such as portals and dynamic shadows.
Overall, The Witcher looks to be shaping up to provide a unique blend of the horror and fantasy genres that are played out in a world teetering on the brink of annihilation. Many of the races and creatures that are standard stock in horror and fantasy genres such as elves, dwarves, werewolves, and undead, can all be found in The Witcher. However, the developers are putting an interesting twist on each one in order to differentiate from the usual approach in an attempt to elevate the unique flavor of the game.
The lack of any sort of multiplayer or online capacity could possibly alienate some prospective fans, but those looking for a solid single player experience should have plenty to be excited about. The great care that was obviously put into the production of the game and the potential for fans of Sapkowski’s stories should certainly help offset the drawback of no online capabilities. While no specific release date has been given yet, everything we’ve seen and read so far definitely puts this game on our watch list and it should be on yours, too.
