Each visual medium contains a fantasy adaptation that, surprisingly, is more popular than the original print form. A very recent and strong example for television is HBO’s Game of Thrones. Pulled from material first found in George R.R. Martin’s still continuing epic A Song of Ice of Fire, Game of Thrones is easily one of the most critically praised and well known programs on television. The novels are obviously excellent, predating the show by 15 years, but their popularity spiked exponentially in 2011with the show’s premiere and have continued to rise. The best example in film is The Lord of the Rings, though this is admittedly a stretch since the trilogy is one of the best-selling novels in history. However, the film franchise reopened the stories to a much different group of fans and became a record breaking award winner. Nowadays most people would rather watch Peter Jackson’s masterpieces than dive into the thick works of J.R.R. Tolkien. It also helps that these books were previously believed to be unfilmable.
Video games are no exception. Back in 1986, a short story called Wiedźmin (The Witcher) was published in a Polish magazine called Fantastyka. It generated enough interest for more stories, and eventually spawned two short story collections, a handful of novels, comic books, and a film. These all mostly stayed in Poland however. It wasn’t until 2007 that the rest of the world got in on the fun when a Polish company named CD Projekt RED developed a game adaptation as their very first product. This game was appropriately titled The Witcher, and it was a massive success. The Witcher brand has since grown to an international hit. On May 18th, CD Projekt RED released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to immense critical acclaim. Already it looks to be one of the best reviewed games of 2015. Quite a sizable jump from stories only being featured in one language! 
Fantasy games, especially action adventures, are a dime a dozen by this point. You really need to get creative for your particular game to stand out. That’s what The Witcher did seven years ago. The combat is easily what helped it make its mark. Instead of like other games where the protagonist ruthlessly attacks until their enemy is vanquished, The Witcher featured three distinct combat styles with their own strengths and weaknesses. There were weak but quick attacks for fast enemies, strong but slow attacks for larger foes, and a general area group attack where everything was hit at once. The weapons themselves have different uses too, to the point where the sword you use to fight monsters is completely ineffective against humans, and vice versa. Outside of combat, alchemy plays a major role in your journey, and you learn a variety of magical spells. By featuring enough familiar elements with welcomed changes, The Witcher was able to be one of the more dynamic games out on the market.
The Witcher also became popular thanks to its malleable story. Player character Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher (genetically enhanced human), is a free roaming warrior who does what he can to stop the spread of evil. The ideal stance you can take is one of complete neutrality. A Witcher is supposed to stay objective to the outside issues in their region. You can easily not make that the case though. Through every decision you make, Geralt can slowly take a side in world events. The consequences of your actions are very rarely felt immediately, and most of the time you’re forced to pick the lesser of two evils. This means that the game’s narrative is almost completely crafted by the player, leading up to different endings based on individual actions.
As The Witcher grew more popular, leading to two more games, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the series evolved with advancing technology. The Witcher 2, five years separated from its predecessor, was a massive step forward in every sense of the word. The already unique combat was given even more depth with the inclusion of traps, and everything moved at a much quicker pace compared to the original. Your actions also continued to completely alter the narrative to your whim. The Witcher 3 expanded on everything to an even greater extent too, aptly using the current generation of consoles to create an adventure that is described as 30 times larger than the previous two.
Back in 2011, The Witcher received a very unique form of publicity. President Barack Obama himself name dropped The Witcher 2 during his visit to Poland on a tour of Europe. He got a hold of it because it was actually sent as a gift by the European country’s Prime Minister. Obama heralded the series as an excellent example of how Poland is now a big part of the global economy. It’s an interesting statement to make, especially when everyone knows this series is filled with blood, gore, violence, and sex, but it also contains a very distinct truth. The Witcher is an exceptionally popular export from a country that isn’t typically a major player in the industry. Japan and the United States are obviously the two largest creators, though other countries do feature hugely popular developers, like France with Ubisoft. Poland? Not so much. CD Projekt is probably the most recognizable, and to date they’ve only made Witcher games. In a way, The Witcher is Poland’s flagship series
From the very beginning, The Witcher has been primarily a PC and Mac game. This is where the series has thrived and where it continues to grow, regardless of how it has made the move to consoles. It’s for this reason why I’ve only recently, as in last year, began to experience this hugely popular series. The Witcher: Director’s Cut was available on Steam for only a few bucks during one of their much beloved sales periods. I don’t have a dedicated gaming computer, but my laptop isn’t a flimsy device, so I had no issue dropping my spare change on a game that is apparently one you “must play before you die.” My technological limitations cause the game to lag fairly often and the graphics are as low as they can be, and yet it’s still a fun experience. I’m moving through the comprehensive game at a decent pace and really enjoy what I’ve done so far. When I inevitably buy a current gen console I will probably get The Witcher 3 with it.
In their original print form, The Witcher stories were very popular throughout Poland. Companies tried previously to turn these into video games, but it wasn’t until CD Projekt RED that this became a reality. Now as a video game series, The Witcher is heralded as one of the finest fantasy games out on the market. The games are all exceptionally detailed epics that feature plenty of morally gray areas and completely original combat mechanics. Geralt’s story may have wrapped up with The Witcher 3, but there’s no way that a brand this popular will fade into obscurity. Poland’s government probably wouldn’t allow it anyway.
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Luke Kalamar is Pop-Break.com’s television editor. Every Saturday afternoon you can read his retro video game column, Remembering the Classics. He covers Game of Thrones, Saturday Night Live and The Walking Dead (amongst others) every week. As for as his career and literary standing goes — take the best parts of Spider-man, Captain America and Luke Skywalker and you will fully understand his origin story.
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