The Witcher - On this day

On this day, exactly 14 years ago, the first game of the series called Wiedzmin or The Witcher was released. As you should already know, Witcher was derived from the literary template of Andrzej Sapkowski and was the first product with which CD Projekt RED entered the video game creation business. The rights to make the Witcher game was bought for a dime of nine and a half thousand dollars because Sapkowski did not believe the game would be a success.

Witcher has cast us in the role of Geralt, a mutant with fresh amnesia who embarks on a detective-revenge mission against a group called Salamander. Along the way, Geralt meets a bunch of interesting characters to whom he offers his services - two blades and one "sword".

The game was praised for its great story, and even better atmosphere and the objections went to a poor combat system and technical difficulties like crashes and long downloads. The combat system was based on timely mouse clicks and a dynamic change of the three fighting styles.

As an exclusive for the PC, Witcher could play complete with a mouse (without a keyboard), with a camera from a bird's eye view, which was a remnant of BioWare's Aurora launcher on which the game was based. Earlier, that engine was used for the Neverwinter Nights series. It was the first and last Witcher with that possibility. Later, Witcher went so far that he could be played with a controller

Significant mechanics in the game were alchemy, that is, collecting and mixing ingredients into drinks that Geralt consumed before the battle. The mechanics of collecting erotic cards for the various characters with whom Geralt had sexual intercourse were controversial.

The Witcher was supposed to get a console port called The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf a year later after the PC version. However, that game was canceled, and instead, PC players were given the Enhanced Edition with better optimization, a series of fixes, and two new adventures. Witcher’s even greater success followed with the arrival of the second part, and the rest is history you probably already know.

The first Witcher is often shared for free on GOG.com so if you haven’t played it yet, you can get it for free if you subscribe to the GOG newsletter.