The Witcher (game)

The Witcher is a computer role-playing game for the PC by CD Projekt. Based on the book series of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, the game utilizes BioWare's proprietary Aurora Engine and was released in October 2007.

The Witcher follows the story of Geralt, a man who becomes a "witcher" — a travelling monster hunter for hire gifted with unnatural powers. Taking place in a medieval world, the game implements detailed visuals. The natural light during various phases of the day is realistically altered, and the day and night transitions serve to enrich the game's ambience. The weather can dynamically change from a light drizzle to a dark, stormy downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning.

Storyline
Disclaimer: I have not yet finished the game!

The game is centered around Geralt the witcher, who at the beginning of the game suffers from amnesia. He gradually learns that he was a very renowned witcher, and that he had friends and enemies almost everywhere who remember him but whom he does not remember. Through the player's actions, he will redefine those relationships and choose his path in the political intrigue that surrounds him.

Geralt starts his adventure in the citadel of Kaer Morhen where bandits attack lead by two shady characters, The Professor and a mysterious mage. The player eventually learns that they are part of a criminal organization called the Salamandra, and that they are after some special potions which were developed to genetically alter witchers to give them their powers. What they want with those potions is unclear.

The chapter ends as the Professor and the mage teleport out of Kaer Morhen with the potions. The remaining witchers and allied characters decide to split up and search for information about the Salamandra to eventually stop them.

The first chapter has Geralt exploring the Outskirts of Vizima, where a beast is harassing the townspeople. There he meets Shani, who will be present for the following chapters. (...)

Note that Geralt no longer has access to Kaer Morhen in this chapter, but he gains access to the Outskirts of Vizima.

Geralt now has access to the Vizima Temple Quarter, where he will have to solve a mystery. Who is involved with the Salamandra? Several influential people in the city are suspects, and Geralt has the help of the private investigator to help him sort the clues and follow up on them. (...)

Note that Geralt not longer has access to the Outskirts in this chapter, but he gains access to the Vizima Temple Quarter, part of the Vizima Sewers, the Vizima Dike and the Swamp.

(...)

Note that Geralt still has access to the areas he had access to in the second chapter, and he additionally gains access to the Vizima Trade Quarter as well as new areas of the Vizima Sewers.

Story Motivations
The developers have often said that their main goal with the game's storyline was to give choices to the player where there was no clear good or evil, and where the player would have to choose the lesser of two (or more) evils.

Gameplay
The game can be played from either an over the shoulder (OTS) or isometric perspective.

(...)

Game Engine
The Witcher is powered by a new version of the BioWare Aurora Engine, modified for a single-player experience. A number of changes have been introduced to the original BioWare Aurora Engine, and some of them are described below.

World visualization
One of the most important of which is modification to the world-visualization method. In BioWare's Aurora Engine, the world is designed exactly as it was envisioned rather than utilizing a tile-based system. Because of this, the visuals are claimed to be unique and rich in detail. All the environments are created in 3D Studio Max and then exported into the game engine.
 * Light maps
 * The CD Projekt's version of the engine supports lightmaps, generated in 3D Studio Max. Shadows generated this way are claimed to look more realistic and are better performance-wise.


 * Texture paint
 * This is a special tool that enables to paint the environment using custom textures, with purpose of saving the time and promising more natural look than ordinary mapping.


 * Skybox and water effects
 * New realistic skybox and water effects were added to the engine.

Rendering
All the in game and tool set rendering is done using DirectX9, and the engine now supports many different shaders (water effect, bump mapping, environment mapping, etc). Additionally the whole rendering system has been unified and a new light manager was added.

Other changes
Other important changes include the following: motion-captured animation, physics effects, new mechanics and combat system. There are also many other modifications, like introduction of portals, additional graphical effects (glows, advanced dynamic shadows, blurs)