About
The Witcher is a media franchise comprised of several books, short stories, and video games. The novels are written by Polish
novelist, Andrzej Sapkowski while the games are produced by game developer CD Projekt Red. A live action film adaptation is also in production with a 2017 release date and is planned to be the first in a series. They follow the exploits of Geralt of Rivia, a genetically modified monster hunter for hire. Both the books and games have been well received with the games being considered some of the best RPGs ever made.
Premise
The Witcher is set in a fantasy world filled with various races and monsters. The world’s geography can be divided into three main parts. The Northern Kingdoms, The Nilfgaardian Empire, and The Skellige Islands. Centuries before the events of the books and games an event know as the Conjunction of the Spheres occurred where the world of The Witcher intersected with another which let many of the monsters seen in the series into the world and is also thought to have brought humans into the world. Centuries after the Conjunction of the Spheres humans have replaced the Elder Races (Elves, Dwarfs, Halflings) as the dominate race of the world. To combat the many monsters that had infested the world humans invented a process know as the Trial of the Grasses which gave the children it was used on super human strength and reflexes and also reduced aging but had a very low success rate and left the ones who survived infertile. While the Witchers are humanities best way of exterminating monsters they are detested by many of the inhabitance of the world. The main protagonist of the series, Geralt is one of these Witchers.
History
The first entry in The Witcher was a collection of short stories published in 1990 simply known as “The Witcher”. It was followed by “Sword of Destiny” in 1992 and “The Last Wish” in 1993. After these short stories a series of full length novels began starting with “Blood of Elves” in 1994. It was followed by "Time of Contempt in 1995, “Baptism of Fire” in 1996, “The Swallow’s Tower” in 1997, and “Lady of the Lake” in 1999. In 2007 A video game based on the books simply titled “The Witcher” was released on October 26th 2007. It was developed by CD Projekt Red and takes place after the events of the books. A sequel titled “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” was released on May 17th 2011 and was also developed by CD Projekt Red. CD Projekt Red released the third game titled “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” was released on May 19th 2015. It has been announced that a live action film adaptation that will take themes from the two short stories “The Witcher” and “Lesser Evil” is in production with a 2017 release and is planned to be the first in a series.
Reception
The Witcher games have received critical acclaim. On the site Metacritic Assassins of Kings has a 88 average metascore and Wild Hunt has 92 average metascore. Wild Hunt also won every award it was nominated for in the 2015 Golden Joystick Awards. The games are often praised for their open world design, combat systems, voice acting, and story telling. The games have also been a financial success with Wild Hunt selling over 6 million copies in only 6 weeks.