There is probably only one bad thing I can say about this game: the loading times between areas are awfully long. If you can live with that, and you love classic RPGs, you're going to enjoy The Witcher. The game is one of the very few ever that touches subjects considered "uncomfortable" in the popular culture: racism, fanaticism, resorting to violence to defend one's freedom (and whether terrorism and guerilla fighting which hurts civilians is acceptable) - this is very far from the fairy tale D&D. Choices you get to make may have unforeseen consequences and it's not just about being a "good" or a "bad" guy. The character himself seems to be lost - he is a dieing breed - a human mutated in his childhood for the sole purpose of slaying all kinds of monster that threaten the mankind. He is good at his craft, but all too often he is helpless in the reality where the greatest monsters in the world are humans themselves. To paraphrase one of the characters: "progress is like a pack of pigs - lots of good things coming from it - ham, roasted meat and suchlike - so it's no wonder there's so much sh*t everywhere". The game is full of dark, bitter, sometimes cynical sense of humor. This is obviously a product for mature players. It is in many ways even more sinister than Planescape:Torment, but is in no way demoralising or oozing with mindless violence, sex or dirty language - all these things are there, but only in the moments where they are appropriate and in moderate doses. As for the technical side of the game - the graphics are superb, hard to believe it's the ancient Aurora behind this game. Sounds and music are excellent. The combat system is quite interesting - it does require a lot of clicking, but it's not a click-fest - you have to time your clicks to make chain blows into combos. The gameplay is quite linear, though it does fit the structure and the story of the game superbly. It is more or less as linear as Planescape:Torment used to be, though some of the younger players who enjoy go-wherever-and-do-whatever games like Oblivion may feel disappointed. I don't - I prefer good, immersing story to a free roam and nice views and The Witcher beats everything I have seen for a long time when it comes to story building (the last time I got so immersed was when playing KOTOR II, and earlier Fallout II). The bottom line is: if you like cRPGs and you are not a free-roam fanatic, you want to get this game.
Bad points : - The load times are pretty excessive, but that only gets annoying if you have to hop into and out off a lot of houses. The game just drops everything outside from memory when you go inside. I just read a ... Read Full Review
This was one that sunk under the radar. I usually watch out for most RPGs, MMOs etc. but I only caught this as it was released. I was pleasantly surprised to read the intro from the game devs in the manual. They claim to... Read Full Review
