It might be showing it's age, especially with the combat, yet despite it's flaws, it's still extremely enjoyable. Plenty of mods to make the experience better, or at the very least less frustrating.

A flawed but ambitious relic whose reputation has been retroactively enhanced by its superior sequels. Worth experiencing as a historical artifact of game narrative development, but expect to fight against dated mechanics while the ghost of what could have been haunts every play session. The real monster Geralt should have hunted was the game's original quality assurance team.

The Witcher is clearly a passion project by Polish developer CD Projekt Red. Based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, which tell the stories of Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, this game takes place in the same universe, inserting itself after the stories written by the author. Geralt is a grumpy but experienced fighter, and Witchers – alchemically mutated humans immune to sickness and diseases, but also sterile – are known in the world as monster hunters and alchemists. Believed dead, Geralt is brought back to Kaer Morhen wounded and amnesiac; not even fully healed he already has to face his next adventure. A sorcerer named Azar Javed steals the secrets of alchemy from the Witchers of Kaer Morhen and it is Geralt’s job to retrieve them. On this journey he meets some old friends (like the sorceress Triss Marigold or the bard Dandelion) and new faces (like a young boy named Alvin and a rival Witcher named Berengar). Hints lead Geralt to the city of Vizima, where a group named Salamandra are making life difficult for humans and non-humans alike; this will suck Geralt into a story of political and social intrigue not unlike others he had faced before. The story is filled with deep topics and themes of dark fantasy, which give it a unique twist. But while the plot is great, the pacing is unfortunately terrible, and after a good start in Chapter I it completely plummets in Chapter II and III. Chapter IV and V recover the pacing somehow, even if the endgame is more luring by then than the game itself. The gameplay is okay; exploration is satisfying, but fights require a deep understanding of the combat system which is based on magic, alchemy and different styles of swordplay. It is, unfortunately, rather cumbersome. While the rest of the levelling systems are good, the game takes a long time to actually feel the part of a proper RPG. Choices exist and consequences come in due time, but characters and setting have a hard time to engage, well designed monsters aside. The visuals, while dated, successfully depict the grim fantasy setting home to Geralt of Rivia and the soundtrack is quite amazing; also, all character dialogues are dubbed! The Witcher – Enhanced Edition is an overall good game with some obvious flaws; still, it tells a nice story of glory and infamy of humans and non-humans alike and presents a likable grumpy protagonist that is rather unique in the genre.