The problem is, the styling of fantasy so often takes precedence over the point of fantasy. RPG gamers and game developers are both guilty of looking for the orcs and elves first. Got goblins? Get in. Thats the wrong approach.
Fantasy is at its best when it acts as allegory, when it uses the mystical to illustrate the real. Frankenstein isnt a book about a zombie with a headache: its about man over-reaching himself at the dawn of the industrial age. Games, it seems, can find this difficult to
"We are afraid of America," said Michal Madej, chief designer for developer, CD Projekt's latest role-playing game, The Witcher and we understand his concerns. Those unfamiliar with Polish author, Andrzej Sapkowski's fantastical tales of Geralt - a mutant monster-slayer - won't be dying to find out what happened to the famous killer for hire after the end of the short stories on which the game is based.
It's true that many English speaking gamers' will be unfamiliar with Sapkowski's world, and
We find ourselves with The Witcher on-screen before us and almost immediately the withering vines of hope have begun to flourish. We instantly think of Oblivion, but also of the immediacy of Guild Wars (theres no multiplayer, before you ask) - even the multitudinous flavors of White Wolfs World of Darkness universe, in the sense that youre plunged into a fantasy world that at once seems familiar, yet also not quite right.
There are quaint cottages and rolling hills, but nothing is quite as
Let's face it: fantasy RPGs have been in a rut. We get it, already: Elves are slender and noble, Dwarves are boozed-up walking beards, and Good must triumph against the forces of Evil. Enter the works of Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the best-selling Polish stories The Witcher is based upon. Though largely unknown to Western audiences, Sapkowski takes Tolkien's seminal fantasy archetypes, and amps up their relevance by injecting potent modern themes like terrorism, racism, substance abuse, and
Last month at E3, we took an early look at The Witcher, a title that stabs the role-playing genre right in its evil, exposed jugular - crappy writing. Based on the epic and beloved writings of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher possesses a deep, sweeping fantasy backstory of ancient prophecy, monstrous invasion and a mysterious order.
The central focus of Sapowski's books is the anti-hero Geralt, a white-haired mutant called a witcher, trained from birth to fight all manner of
