"Action packed and bewitching (eugh) do not miss this brilliant RPG."

When I saw this game on offer for only £11 on steam I was a little wary of its cheapness as well as the review by "Yahtzee" however I bought it anyway I don't regret the purchase one bit. You play as Geralt a Witcher, basically a monster hunter, who has lost his memory, as he tries to regain his memory and take out the evil Salamandra organisation.

Storyline 7/10
The storyline is based on a Polish series of fantasy books, I am not personally familiar with it however. This game has a standard fantasy storyline I didn't pay much attention to frankly. However the storyline shapes itself around certain moral choices at different sections in the game, which for once actually change the storyline dramatically.

Graphics 7/10
I'm giving this a 7/10 considering today's standards, I ran this on full and it does look very nice. The animations are good, the characters look decent however the npc's look quite bad. The enemies are full of detail too, and the environments are varied and atmospheric. However there are graphical glitches which can ruin the immersion, for example when entering a house once I got a brief glimpse of the back of Geralt's eyes and teeth which was most displeasing.

Sound 10/10
The sounds in this game are excellent, monster noises and weapons clashing sound fantastic. It also has the option of 15 different languages for the voice acting, my favourite being Russian.

Music 5/10
The reason I am giving the music such a low score is that I can't remember hearing any music in game, I'm sure there is, but it really did not stand out at all.

Gameplay 8/10
The Witcher can be played in 3 views, over the shoulder and two isometric views. The isometric views give it the feel of a Baldur's Gate game. I however played it in over the shoulder as it puts the player closer to the action. You have five different spells you can level up and can carry 4 melee weapons, no ranged weapons though, luckily most enemies can only fight close range. You also have 3 weapon styles, strong, fast and group for fighting different types of enemies. The levelling up system is great, each level up you go to meditate and you can gain new skills from "talents" which are essentially skill points. There is also an in depth alchemy system and many quests to keep you entertained. The combat is very fast paced focusing on combos with your swords and stunning enemies with magic. The moral choices are also rather, difficult, one for example being whether you let a young girl remain a vampire prostitute or force her to marry some old geezer, tough choice.

Overall 8/10
This game is an excellent game if you have a lot of time to invest in it, however it begins rather slow and only picks up in the third chapter. The alchemy system can be tricky to get used to and it requires some time and patience. It's also rather linear at times although the different storyline branches make up for this.

Good points
-Great combat system
-In depth alchemy
-Great sound and voice acting
-Morality is not black and white

Bad points
-Little to no good music
-Overwhelming at times
-Storyline is hard to swallow

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/09

Game Release: The Witcher: Enhanced Edition (EU, 09/19/08)