Atari have announced the PC demo for their RPG, The Witcher. I’ve heard really good things about this game, so I’m interested in checking out this demo. Anyone played this?
Atari Announces the Launch of the European Playable Demo for CD Projekt’s Acclaimed PC Role-Playing Opus, Downloadable via www.TheWitcher.com
LYON, FRANCE – 14 December 2007 – Atari today announced the launch of the playable demo for The Witcher, the acclaimed first game from Polish development studio CD Projekt RED and a PC role-playing masterwork which delivers an engrossing story and thrilling tactical combat, all set in a mature and compelling original fantasy universe. The demo can be downloaded via the official website at www.thewitcher.com or via www.atari.com.
Giving players a tantalizing taste of the world of The Witcher, the demo begins with the first part of the prologue in which the seeds of the story are sown and the white haired witcher Geralt learns the rudiments of combat. The prologue is followed by the entirety of Act 1, during which Geralt of Rivia will see the first threads of the story weave their web around him and be called upon to slay man and beast to stay alive and earn his keep.
In The Witcher players take the role of Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer who exists on the fringes of a complex society afflicted by the kind of problems more commonly found on the front pages of newspapers than in a fantasy universe. Taken as a child, mutated, and trained in the arcane ways of the witchers, Geralt is a reluctant hero, who nonetheless finds himself all too frequently in the heat of battles that are not his own. His is a path he might not choose to walk, but walk it he must, guided by his head, heart, and only faithful companion – his sword.
Based on the fictional world created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher is set in a unique fantasy universe where real-life issues dominate a troubled society. In this world there is no right or wrong, only decisions and consequences.
The Witcher is available now at retailers across Europe as a standard game pack and as a Limited Edition containing a wealth of exclusive content. For more information about The Witcher visit www.thewitcher.com and for more details about Atari’s entire product line up visit www.atari.com.
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
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Great news!
By the way Cuppy, the Witcher links is not working.
Cheers
Fixed the link, thanks =)
This game is sweet. I have quite enjoyed it. I think they could have spent some more time and money on the voice actors but other then that I have no gripes about the game.
Each time you have sex with a girl you collect a “I hit it” card with her picture on it! 5/5!
Aside from the loading times (said to be decreased in a patch before the end of the year), The Witcher makes my list for the best all-around computer role-playing games of all time, and that’s saying a lot.
I don’t know what Tom is talking about with regards to the voice actors. There are high-quality Scottish, Irish, and thick British accents in the game plus a Celtic-inspired soundtrack.
Don’t bother with the demo. Just get the game.
10/10 base. 8/10 due to lengthy loading times, dialogue editing, and a lack of love for the US edition. According to the table on Wikipedia, the US edition comes with just the manual while the Polish and Czech Collector’s Editions come with an assortment of other goodies. Even the regular Polish and Czech editions come with more stuff.
I agree with Morgan. An awesome game. The load times can be a little annoying when you are in a part of the story where you move between zones a lot, but I think it’s worth coping with it.
I love the world painted by the game. A kind of darker fantasy without going too far. (I think “high” fantasy and the dark-horror-goth fantasy are really just the two sides of a coin, both full of cliches.) I like that every NPC really has its own agenda, not just doing things because they are “good” or “eeeevil”. Don’t trust anyone