The Witcher

When developers outline an idea to create a role playing game they usually follow in the footsteps of other well-to-do games. The formula that they follow consists of the main character starting out either young, poor, or inexperienced as a fighter. They then progress on to learn that they are part of an old legend telling of a rising hero who will smite an ever growing evil. The Witcher, however, has been created to phase out the old formula and create a new experience for the player. This experience will be one of mature social issues, engaging and deep new tales, and choosing the path that the player wants to create by presenting them with difficult decisions.

In The Witcher you play as Geralt, a mutant monster-slayer who is hired by different people and companies to do their dirty work. Because you are a mutant, however, you experience a certain amount of racism and discrimination. People look upon you as a monster yourself, and it is up to the decisions you make in the game that alters this perception of your character. People will either fear or admire you; they may fear you because of your expert swordsmanship or admire you because you saved the local orphanage from destruction.

In most RPGs that present the player with decisions we see that the only two choices are good and evil – but what about a decision that is both good and evil? The Witcher presents the player with such hard decisions as protecting a terrorist faction from an attack by the authorities or killing civilians to create a diversion. These choices are quite murky in their definition – in most cases you will come across a choice of whether you will choose a great evil act for a smaller good deed or a much lesser act of evil that will create an even smaller evil outcome. These decisions ultimately lead to one of three endings, which should increase The Witcher's replayability and interactivity.

The world of The Witcher is not open-ended – it is confined to a series of paths that reflect your decisions - but the places along those paths are big enough as it is. It has been said that more open-ended free roaming games do not attach the player to the storyline quite as well as a more straightforward game. While straightforward games can get boring and tedious, in The Witcher you have both open-ended environments and strict pathways. For example, you may have to travel to a town to find a particular person, but it is up to you to explore this town and talk to the people to find this person.

The Witcher prides itself on fast-paced combat and broad abilities. With over two hundred different skills and abilities available to the player over the course of the game, players can expect a large amount of tuning and customization of Geralt to suit their fighting style. There are six different schools of swordsmanship available to Geralt as well; these come under the two main categories of 'Silver' and 'Steel'. Available to each of the two sword types are three style specializations: 'Group', 'Strength', and 'Fast'. 'Steel-Group' players will find that they can defeat a large group of normal humans easily but need the style of 'Steel-Strong' to defeat massive monster bosses. Players will need to balance and adjust their fighting and magic styles to suit the situation they are facing.

Players are also treated to an easy-to-use but complex alchemy system used to create elixirs that boost Geralts abilities for short periods of time. This system requires ingredients gathered from the world around you or from markets or other NPCs. Different combinations of different ingredients create different potions. A potion for fire resistance may require an ingredient to be picked from areas where heat is plentiful or it may need to be picked at a particular time of the day. The range of potions that the player can create is near limitless, but with each elixir that you use there is a side effect. The negative aspect of the potion may alter your vision, your strength, or even your consciousness – this means that players will have to be cautious about using certain potions.

The world of The Witcher is promising to change the formula of the modern RPG to something that developers can be proud of. The Witcher has been confirmed for the PC and may hit our shores late this year. Many more details about the game will always be popping up on NZGamer.com, so stick around. Add The Witcher to your wish list and keep track of news, future previews and an epic full review of the game closer to release.