5 Reasons You Should Play The Witcher

2. The Story And Gameplay Are Superb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEXDs8ZSow8 What good is a brilliant game world if the motivation to explore and advance isn't there? Thankfully, The Witcher delivers this in abundance. For those of you who aren't familiar with these games at all, what separates them from other choice-driven RPGs is the near-constant moral ambiguity of the game's narrative elements. Your decisions, more often that not, feel like choices between the lesser of two evils, and given how wildly the game changes depending on these choices, it brings a certain drama to the proceedings that feels unique among other RPGs that offer player choice. While The Witcher 2 works similarly in a more streamlined, compact way, The Witcher feels like a more epic game. Part of this may have to do with the game's length, as you can easily spend upwards of 80 hours in The Witcher, getting to know your surroundings and its inhabitants in a way that really isn't possible in the more immediately-paced sequel. The side quests, like the main story, remain consistently well-written and thought out from the beginning to end. The game takes its time, but it never feels like it's wasting yours. It is mature, gripping stuff, and isn't something that you'll soon forget once you're done. The Witcher's gameplay is as well-designed as its story and environments. The player is given the option of utilizing either a third-person perspective controlled by the keyboard and mouse, or a more isometric mouse-only control scheme. Both work perfectly well, though I preferred the mouse/keyboard combination for its third person view, which brings the player much closer to the game world and makes the experience feel more immersive overall. The combat mechanics, while very simple to learn, are actually quite deep. Using timely mouse clicks to chain together various sword combinations, you will also have to adjust between different combat stances that have different speed/power/range ratios, pick different swords to fight different types of enemies, and shuffle through different magic types that fluidly fall in with the swordplay (see the video of combat above). It's a very enjoyable combat system that is not only satisfying, but looks great in motion too. Inventory and skill tree systems are a bit more daunting at first, but are easily overcome after a brief learning curve. The alchemy system is also a lot of fun, as the search for ingredients adds a hunting and gathering objective to the game, and potion consumption requires you to monitor your blood's toxicity levels. The Witcher is lovingly-crafted, lengthy, involving, and most importantly, an extremely fun game.