When people think of The Witcher they usually think of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and for good reason. The RPG was not only the first in the series to be pushed into the mainstream, but it also changed the genre for the better. However, what players may not know is that they would not have The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt without the game that started it all in The Witcher. The first game in the series wasn't as huge as the other games in the series, but it set the standards for RPGs at that point. Which in turn, has made the series a force in the RPG genre.
This is a great time for players both new and old to get into the world of The Witcher due to its 20th anniversary. Since The Witcher came out in 2007, the game has certainly aged in many ways, and players should note that they won't get current gen gaming when playing it. However, a lot of things in the game as aged well, this list gives players a good idea of where the game stands in the current year.
5 Setting
Now the setting is one of the main things about all The Witcher games because it shows the scope of the world, especially in the third game. It shows how the world is alive and character on its own. But games back then weren't as big, because the technology limited them, so making big worlds was much harder. The first Witcher game pulled it off quite well because at that time it had the most fleshed-out setting in gaming. In the present, this stays true because now as more open-world games lean into making the setting a character as well just like The Witcher did.
Since technology limitations aren't the same as they used to be, game makers can make the settings just as compelling, in the same regard as what CD Projekt Red did. Which is a huge reason, why the setting and the world in The Witcher still stand well. On top of making the setting believable, it helped players get the feeling of how grand the world was, a concept that is now normalized today. Because of that formula, it has made other games in the series even bigger and more amazing.
4 RPG Mechanics
As gaming grows, so do the complexities of the games. The Witcher showcased that with its RPG mechanics which were and still are rather deep than most other games. In today's age of gaming, The Witcher's RPG mechanics are still very much relevant because many games like Assassin's Creed have certainly beefed up their RPG mechanics in the same spirit as The Witcher. Many games during the time of the first game had quite simple mechanics, players would get level, then they'd use to upgrade a skill or buy one.
In The Witcher, players will need bronze, silver, and gold XP points to level up fully, this makes them play more and do more side missions, which in turn makes the first game surprisingly long. This is something that modern RPGs do where they either require more than one XP point to level up or buy a skill, and games like The Witcher help pave the way to make that way of playing less repetitive.
3 Geralt's Growth
Many players who have played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will say that the main character, Geralt has a very interesting moral code. However, players who have played the entire series can see exactly how he got there. Geralt's growth from all three games is still compelling because as Witchers, they feel nothing, their only job is to hunt monsters. But in Geralt's case, it's rather different because he does feel a lot, which makes sense based on the supporting cast the games have. But his consistency is what helps players have a better connection.
While they don't see Geralt in his iconic moments until much later in the series, the first game shows how he's different, which stands today. The way Geralt grows has become one of the staples in many modern games, especially if the game employs some sort of order like The Witcher. Many games around that time didn't approach a character's growth the same way Geralt did, which was a lot more realistic based on his consequences. This all makes him as a character much more compelling, in the modern age.
2 Non-Playable Characters
Many RPGs are usually littered with thousands of these NPCs, with many that can interact with the character. However, in The Witcher, it's a little deeper in the way how they impact the player's story and what they're doing. Because The Witcher has features that give the game replayability, like multiple different endings depending on the player's actions. This makes the game as a whole a lot more immersive and has become a staple in many modern RPG games.
The Witcher makes the NPC just as important as the characters in the game because they help also shape the story, a lot more than any modern RPG who are just there to fill up space. While in The Witcher, they help Geralt figure out his world, and the best part is that since the game will feel different every playthrough, many NPCs won't appear in the same spot or at all. This makes the NPCs feel like they're alive as well, and just like the setting, they are a character in their own regard.
1 Choice Based Dialogue
This was ahead of its time when it was done back in the 2000s, not many games used this for unknown reasons. However, when games had choice-based dialogue, it added another element of storytelling to the game. In The Witcher it lets players create their own adventure, which in turn lets them explore the deep lore of the world of the game . As mentioned before, this offered replayability to the game.
Since not many games during that time had this feature, they felt more linear and felt like they would hold the player's hands a lot more. Because of that freedom, The Witcher's choice-based dialogue has been one of the things to impact current gaming, now many games have this feature. Because of the choices the player makes, the course of the game will be different, which allows them to dig into the same game, but told in a very different way.
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is available now on PC.