The Witcher

To say that I've spent all my spare time gaming and writing would be a bare faced lie, so I apologise for my laziness. To apologise, here is my review on the epic RPG, The Witcher

“Choice... it's all about choice isn't it?”, murmurs Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Reloaded, and it really is. So many new games are released with the boast “endless choice” (read “goddamit Peter Molyneux will you stop promising the world”), but so few actually deliver. Or at least deliver with choices that seem to matter. Deus Ex: Invisible War claimed that players would have separate playing experiences, but essentially you have two storylines that aren't really that different to each other, instead of helping Blue, you're helping Red and you don't really feel anything aside from, “fuck yeah... Blue!”.

The Witcher on the other hand gives you choices that make you sit in your chair and say, “well fuck son, this is a horrible situation to be in.”. Things that seem like their obviously moral high ground decisions can result in horrific consequences later on in the game. I decided to play the game in a way that attempted neutrality for as long as possible, but the I realised that by allowing the hate crimes and racism to go without being unanswered so I finally stepped in... and then later on in the game, I ended up regretting stepping in at all, or at least stepping in and backing the other side. Or was it? I have rarely played a game that has made me sit there and question my own motives and wonder about the consequences of my actions.

At one point in the later stages of the game, my decisions and the events that they created and I was appalled at myself. At the time I thought I was genuinely thought I was doing what was morally right, alas, nothing but death, destruction and despair followed in my wake.

Unfortunately nothing is perfect and The Witcher is no exception. Combat is easy and repetitive; just click when the sword icon is yellow. Another point is that you spend so much time going from A to B it's unreal, the game could have greatly benefited from a quick-travel option like in Oblivion.

However, with it's flaws, The Witcher is a great game, with an immersive world full of interesting and compelling characters that offers no illusions of good and evil. Everyone has their own agenda and it's your job, as the player, to try and make the decision that hurts the least amount of people, or that advances your own personal agenda. No one is a white knight in shining armour in this RPG.

The Witcher - 87%