The Witcher is a paradox. There is so much that is beautiful and fresh and unique about it. Equally, there's so much that is irritating and tiresome and complicated. I don't know if I love it or hate it; but I can't stop playing it.

The story opens with Geralt (a monster-slaying Witcher who was presumed dead), turning up at the Witcher enclave of Kaer Morhen with no memory of his past. He's barely had time to catch his breath before Kaer Morhen is attacked by an army lead by a mysterious mage, who steals the Witcher's alchemical secrets and almost kills one the Geralt's many potential love interests, Triss Merigold. Cue a journey out into the big wide world to try and discover who attacked the Witchers, which leads Geralt straight into a conflict with Salamandra, the rulers of the shadowy underworld of Vizima.

In terms of the scope of the game, that's about it. You spend the majority of your time single-handedly solving all of Vizima's ills from inside the city's walls, with the occasional breath of fresh air in the form of a jaunt out to a swamp, or the aptly named village of Murky Waters. Coupled with Geralt, the stereotypically fantasy male (reticent, irresistible to women, a master with a sword), and you have to wonder what it is that raises the Witcher out of the mediocre RPG pit that so many games fall into.

Well, perhaps the fact that this game lets you take this rather cliched starting character and it allows you to give him a personality. Through the choices you make, you shape his destiny and the kind of person he is his morals, his attitudes, his likes and dislikes. This is something that has certainly been seen in games before (such as when you can choose between the light and dark sides of the Force in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, or when you can be a Paragon or Renegade in Mass Effect), but rarely with such subtly. The outcome of the game depends on whether you decide to ally yourself with the human-led Order of the Flaming Rose or the nonhuman Scoia'tael and there's no sense of right and wrong, no clear path that will guide you in your decision. There's no good and evil in The Witcher, only differing shades of grey, a fact that leads Geralt into much more realistic and much more interesting dilemmas. The tenuous thread of morality is almost impossible to follow and no matter what you choose, someone will end up getting hurt. Never in a computer game have I felt such a need to carefully consider the consequences of my actions.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Video game reviews: The Witcher (PC)?
We want to hear your view. Write now!