RE// The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf

Review Score// 4★
By// Nicole
System// Mac/Steam
Game by// 

So The Witcher isn't a new game by any means—the game was release in 2007 and the Enhanced Edition was released in 2008—but it was definitely new to me when I purchased it on Steam as part of their Winter Sale. It was bundled with Witcher 2 for $9.98—A STEAL. Fast-forward a few months and I wouldn't actually be able to play the Witcher 2 on my Mac, but that's a story for another article. What I can say is that the enjoyment I got out playing The Witcher on it's own was worth way more than $9.98 so it was still an amazing deal.


The Story

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The Witcher is based on a Polish book series by Andrzej Sapkowski. The protagonist of the game—and the books—is Geralt of Rivia, who is a witcher. Witchers are people who have been mutated by alchemical experiments until they have super-human abilities perfect for monster-slaying. They make their living as monster-slayers for hire.

The mythos behind 'witchers' is intriguing, and I found that it really added to the depth of the game more than anything else. When making decisions in the game, I found myself primarily considering the beliefs witchers have instead of my own feelings about the situation.

Specifically, part of the "witcher code" is neutrality—so I did my best to straddle the fence as long as possible, which becomes increasingly difficult has the story progresses. Secondly, this monster-slaying business is absolutely a business for a witcher, so my Geralt never did any charity monster killing. I'd fail a quest before I'd let Geralt get cheated out of his orens. Thirdly, witchers are monster-slayers and do not kill people or even monsters that are not inherently evil. I always did my best to avoid doing this in the game as much as possible.

The fact that I was able to immerse myself in the characters decision making in this way really enhanced the impact of the story as it progressed. Especially as your character was pushed to make decisions that may conflict with these rules no matter what.

The Gameplay

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This game is full of dialogue and decision making in a way that is very similar to a Bioware game—the game actually uses Bioware's Aurora Engine. The story is broken up into chapters and generally you are free to explore a specific area during that chapter—because of this it's pretty linear but feels open world enough. The environments have great atmosphere and the day-night cycle adds to the immersive feel.  There's a lot of side quests and almost all of the side quests are worth doing, aside from a few that are simply for money-making. There are some great mini stories and characters to be discovered.

The combat system is real time and feels a bit hack and slash, but it definitely requires a lot more attention and planning. Geralt has a silver sword for killing monsters and a steel sword for killing humans. You spend a lot of time switching between these two in the game because they don't work worth a damn on the wrong enemy type. If you don't learn to use potions and weapon enhancements effectively in the game you will die often. Unfortunately, I didn't really use the magical Sign powers at all until much later in the game. I regret that, because they're all really useful.

 Crafting is a big part of the game, so collecting flowers and monster guts is a big part of the game. There are plants everywhere but you can't collect them unless you have read about them in a book--the same goes for ingredients you'd collect off a monster... you just won't be able to loot it. Sadly, I was slow to learn this. Buy those books ASAP!

The Characters

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Geralt easily makes it into my list of all time favorite protagonists in a video game. He has his own history, motivations and internal struggle. He is very much an anti-hero—but the events of the story can mold him into a good guy, trying to do the right things for the right reasons. I feel like Geralt is a great middle ground between a protagonist with a very definitive personality and a protagonist with no discernible personality (the voiceless main characters of many RPGs). His voice is dry and expressionless, his demeanor is stony, his personality restrained and his humor is subtle and sharp-tongued. He has many nicknames: Witcher, White Wolf,  Gwynbleidd, The Butcher of Blaviken—all with their own stories that add depth to him. NPCs refer to Geralt by the name they prefer and they are all used often enough that you identify with all of them equally throughout the story.

Geralt has two best friends: Dandelion and Zoltan Chivay. Dandelion is a bard and a ladies man. Zolton is a dwarf who is about to get married and having doubts. These two added so much to my experience in this game. They are people that Geralt can trust and he will have their support unconditionally. They party with him, help him with quests, coach him through his lady problems, get him drunk and take him to the brothel. They all go way back, and you can feel it.

While there are many women who Geralt can become... involved with, there are only two who are truly 'romance-able'. They are Triss and Shani. Triss is a sorceress—her outfits are ridiculous, but her character is more involved in the story, and she has magical powers—which is obviously bad-ass. Shani is a healer, and while her outfit was much more tasteful, she went kind of bat-shit crazy over this kid Alvin, so I broke that off and started ignoring her. Geralt should probably watch his back.

Speaking of Alvin, he was an annoying and creepy central character in the game. Alvin was an orphaned child with some sort of supernatural powers that were integral to the story. He was always running off and disappearing and both love interests wanted to adopt him with you. This was all moving a little too fast for Geralt.

Controversy

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Before I even began playing the game I spent some time on the Steam forums reading people's thoughts on how sexist the game is. The game allows for Geralt to sleep with a good amount of women. When Geralt sleeps with a woman, a card appears on the screen and this card remains viewable next to the description of the character that Geralt had sex with. The implication is that Geralt is "collecting" women like you would collect a baseball card. That specific aspect of the game, I agree, is pretty tasteless... but you don't have to have sex with any of the characters in the game if you don't want to, so it's really your call if you want Geralt to be a man-whore or not.

I've never had a problem with sex in video games. If the argument is that these women are hypersexualized, then my only rebuttal is that it's really a part of the universe for women to want to have sex with witchers. Witchers have... a reputation. They are super-human, sterile and immune to disease—all very beneficial for a girl looking for a good time.  It may all be a ridiculous male fantasy written by the author, but at least it's canon.

I did have a problem with the way all the female characters are dressed—the ones that are dressed. Triss was the absolute worst in this regard... fishnet tights and fishnet sleeves? And the nighties! Ridiculous.

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For all my valiant efforts to do the right thing, I ended the game feeling like I had really fucked up people's lives, and that's the beautiful thing about The Witcher. There is really no definite right or wrong path—no choice, or character, that is completely good or bad. It's a game full of shades of grey. It has a great story, an immersive environment and solid gameplay mechanics—especially for being 6 years old. I'd recommend giving it a go if you're into that sort of thing.

Oh wait, there was one flaw that I happened to discover... and it's horrifying: