Saturday, September 08, 2007
The Witcher (PC)
 | Andy Ling - Calling Angels (System XM82) |
Fall 2007 Preview
Synopsis: The Witcher combines spectacular and visually stunning action with deep and intriguing storyline. The game is set in a world created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The world shares many common features with other fantasy lands, but there are also some distinguishing elements setting it apart from others.
My Take: When I first saw this game a couple years ago, I devoured every image and story I could find on it. As time passed, I completely forgot about it and was happy in my state of ignorance. Then one day SoulBlade (from #videogames) brought the game up, and here we are talking about it in the Fall Preview.
The Witcher is an old-school RPG with a few twists. While you can change the controls to support WASD, the preferred method is to move the character through mouse clicks Fallout style. The action, however, is real time, using timed mouse clicking sequences to produce chained combos with your sword(s). The latest gameplay trailer is absolutely amazing, and makes this look like a serious contender for RPG of the year.
The main story in The Witcher unfolds over nearly 30 hours of gameplay. For those who don't want it to end, there's an additional 50 hours worth of side quests, bringing the game up to 80 hours total of Mountain Dew and Taco Bell fueled gaming. Moral decisions abound, but according to CD Projekt (the developer), they will be more vague than the status quo supervillain or angel motif most games use. It's so cliche to end articles like this, but this is one game I really can't wait to play.
