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Have you played The Witcher? Not the massively popular third party, mind you, but the CD Projekt 2008 series starter. He’s a little uglier, a little more eccentric, and Geralt’s face doesn’t look quite as elegant. But now it’s also free for anyone who downloads the GOG Galaxy client, allowing you to step back into Geralt’s boots for not a crown.
I have no idea how it is played these days. But at least, it’s a clear glimpse into the studio’s history ahead of Cyberpunk 2077’s release next week.
Relaunched last year as something of a library for all of its other game libraries, GOG Galaxy is giving away the studio’s 2008 RPG for those who download (or update) the latest version of the client. You can claim it by going to the Galaxy “recent” tab and clicking the banner, and the game will appear in your library “after a while”.
According to this promotion page, you will need to accept email updates and offers. It’s a hassle, but I have to imagine that you are free to unsubscribe once Geralt has been installed in your collection.
The version you are getting here is the Enhanced Edition, which added some new missions, fixed a large number of bugs, and changed the unreliable localization of the original version. It’s also the version our old Keiron reviewed back in the day for Eurogamer, praising the game for being a great PC RPG at a dark time for those games, while even then noting that his take on the genre was a bit, well. , Ordinary.
“The creators of the game have a tendency not to understand that while you set a game in a sexist world (as in, the characters really are terrible bastards) it is fine and is really praiseworthy, adding sexist mechanics (as in, you get a card collectible of them posing for you) undermines any serious intentions you may have had. “
The years have not been too kind to Witcher The First, of course. But it’s an interesting origin for the series, and it dived into the nitty-gritty of being “a warlock” in ways that would be simplified in later games. Plus, as Brendy discovered a few years ago, Geralt’s gaming debut could have been a lot worse.
