PAX 07: The Witcher hands-on impressions

At PAX 07, we got a chance to try out Atari's upcoming action RPG, The Witcher and came away impressed. The title has been under development by the Polish game development company CD Projekt for quite a few years now. Originally announced in early 2004, The Witcher has evolved quite a bit from what they originally showed. For example, check out this early screenshot showing the game as basically a reskinned Neverwinter Nights and then look at the screenshots throughout this article. Big difference, no?

While the game still uses the Aurora Engine from the first NWN, according to Larry Liberty, the Atari producer that was showing off the game at PAX, 80% of the engine has been replaced with massive overhauls to the lighting, texture, and animation systems -- and it definitely shows. Textures on the monsters and Geralt (main character) looked fantastic, there was tons of foliage in the level we played, and the water looked good enough to make us thirsty. It definitely doesn't look like a modded NWN anymore.

Neither does it play like one -- The Witcher is an action RPG through and through, with a combo based attack system, multiple combat stances and gory finishing moves. Each different stance has it's own benefit (strong, fast, and group attacks) and each get their own full animation set, which also then get modified by which weapon you're holding (silver or steel). So all combined, you have six full unique animation sets for your character depending on your stance and weapon. The result really made the combat feel pretty dynamic and helped lessen the repetitive combat you sometimes get in these kinds of games.

The story also looks to be much more interesting than you tend to get in Action RPGs, partially due to the rich and lengthy source material and partially due to CD Projekt's efforts at making a game that hits on relevant social issues of our day. According to Liberty, the game touches on mature topics such as environmental destruction and racism and forces the player to make difficult moral decisions. To make things even trickier on the player, the story will change depending on your decisions -- but sometimes it may take 10-15 hours until you find out what you changed. The developers really want to make you put serious consideration into how you play the game.

The Witcher is suppose to have a massive 120 hours of gameplay (counting sidequests and optional content) and will feature a storyline that continues to change and adapt as you play through as well as multiple different endings. It's kind of a sleeper title and coming out during this holiday season won't make things any easier on it, but if action RPGs with a satisfying combat system and a mature storyline are your thing, The Witcher is going to be your ultimate Christmas present.