Is the First ‘Witcher’ Game Worth Playing? – Three and Out

by Flora Merigold · Published February 3, 2020 · Updated March 19, 2020

When I got hooked by Netflix’s adaptation of the Witcher series, I was initially inclined to skip the first two games and dive into the universally acclaimed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Against my intuition, our own Ben Vollmer gifted me The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, which guilt tripped me into at least giving the first Witcher game a try. I figured it’d be a 6-10 hour trial run through an archaic game that I could skip through the cutscene-movie of. But after nearly 50 hours of dedicated playtime, weaving through some of the most conflictingly positive hours I have ever spent with a game, I can safely say that The Witcher still holds water despite its many faults. It’s a game that features some of the best writing and characterization I have ever seen in a game, as well as some of the most broken and frustratingly janky combat and mission structure that fall apart especially towards the end of the experience.

Having expected to hate the original Witcher game, or at least give up on it, my expectations could not have been lower. Snagged at $1.50, I booted up the game only to be met with frustration by a lack of controller support and graphics that looked like they came out of the stone age. But as soon as I cranked everything up to ultra, The Witcher suddenly popped like a benchmark-setting title for the current console generation. In my experience, the worst thing about The Witcher for me is how often it breaks the illusion of being a modern day polished game, as well as when cutscenes and combat fail to follow the otherwise logical presentation of the game and its story.

As many times as The Witcher flops, the game itself is always respectable at a macro level. From the outset, the game’s characters and motivations are extremely well defined. The game offers you uniquely believable choices between factions that directly contribute to the way the game’s plot develops – a feat which many games even 13 years later struggle to match in terms of their branching and depth. The way Geralt can weave between the Scoia’tael or the Order of the Flaming Rose, for instance, is a fork in the road that cannot be avoided; the game deliberately puts Geralt and the player into dilemmas where the lesser of two evils cannot be fully determined. Thus, every choice is meaningful. I don’t think my impression of this game’s writing quality is just a case of low expectations, but high developer ambition to live up to the complex universe reflected in Andrzej Sapkowski’s series of books. As someone who often argues for the valuable overlap between books, films, and games, I cannot yet express my full appreciation for how well written, how well designed, and how well executed much of The Witcher was for someone jumping on the bandwagon after the Netflix show.

Fun

Is the Game Fun?

The Witcher features impressive branching narratives throughout its story that satisfyingly pay off later in the game. However, so much of the time spent playing between those satisfying story beats is spent either running around redundantly between locations or grinding through clumsy combat. This game fails to fully capture the essence of “fun,” even when enjoyable.

Performance

Does the Game Perform Well?

I wanted to advocate for this game’s performance for the first 40 hours of my playthrough, excepting the four crashes I experienced throughout. Yet something about the game’s final act – towards the end of Chapter 5 and the beginning of the Epilogue – completely destroyed the expectations I had held for the game thus far. Frame rates, AI patterns, combat, and cutscenes started to break apart in unforgivable ways.

Art

Does the Game Have a Fitting Art Style?

Once I cranked up the settings to ultra, The Witcher engaged my 2080ti like a nearly modern title and could blow many contemporary games away. The game’s main characters look stellar for the time, and the environments emanate a kind of care that most similarly fantasy RPG style games fail to capture. The art in this game is great, but isn’t often exceptional enough to warrant the full point.

Story

Does the Game Have A Unique Story or Premise?

The Witcher begins and ends with a bang. As aforementioned, this game features some of the best writing, storytelling, and character development that any plot-centric game has ever featured. Sometimes the story can peter out into side quests without direct impact on the primary storyline, but never did a single mission in The Witcher feel out of place or tacked on.

Lasting Power

Does the Game Have Replayability or Lasting Power?

Without this first game, The Witcher series as we know it today might not exist – and if so, certainly not in its current capacity. As someone who loved the show before the games or the books, who loves the games and books now, I can wholeheartedly recommend the importance of this first Witcher game to anyone interested in the series. Has it aged? Certainly. But the things that haven’t aged are what keeps this game a holy grail of thoughtful game writing, and what will preserve this game as a necessary text for generations of games writers to come.

Verdict

The Witcher is a must play for anyone like me who is hooked by either the Netflix show or the books. If you’re yearning for good story and character building, not to mention irrefutably articulate writing, then this game will deliver in spades, never veering from its satisfying core themes of morality, destiny, and choice. If you’re concerned about frenetic gameplay and engaging environmental interactions, then you might look elsewhere.

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