So, for a while I have been wanting to play The Witcher 2. However, I refuse to delve into the world of the Witcher until I have actually played through the original. After hearing so many good things I decided to fire it up and begin my playthrough.

Even for its age The Witcher is still a pretty attractive game. The opening “tutorial” mission is structured, and paced well enough that you don’t feel spoon fed, like many modern games do, but its not to much to take on at once. The level design at the start guides you rather well through the stronghold. It was a shame, that for such a big RPG there was very few things for me to explore, it was a very straight path. Although at one point I did get to make a decision at one point in the game to fight a rather large monster, called a frigtener, or proceed to protect the Witchers labs. I opted to fight the frightener, at this point however I am unsure as to any consequences this may hold.

So far the story seems slow to develop. Upon arrival into the game I am greeted to Geralt (our hero) running through some forests and collapsing. He is very soon recovered by fellow Witchers and returned to the stronghold. The stronghold comes under attack from bandits, a professor and a wizard. Its not clear what they are looking for, or what Geralt was running from. Naturally he has lost most of his memory, so I imagine most of the game I will be uncovering Geralts past, and to be honest I don’t mind that.

The combat mechanics as it stands do not seem to deep. I am provided with a variety of combat and control options. I can either play with a close or far isometric camera view, or a 3rd person over the shoulder action few. After playing around with both I have favored the good ol’ WASD control scheme with the 3rd person camera. I love isometric games such as Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale and Fallout 2, however, that style of play just did not fit the combat in this game for me.

My initial impressions thus far are rather neutral. I don’t feel a massive lure to progress deeper into the game, however I can accept that I am not to far into it as it stands, so I will push on and see how the story and gameplay unfolds. I have been promised its a very deep RPG.

Also, check out how beautiful it is for a  4 year old RPG game, it certainly ranks in there with Oblivion.