RPGWatch Feature: Inside The Witcher, Part 1

So, you've read every preview and watched the trailers. Now we have the definitive hands-on preview of The Witcher after 20 hours of play on our own system. In Part 1, we take a look at the setting, exploration, dialogue, quests and the localisation.

Minor spoilers apply, but we've limited them to the scenarios already revealed by CD Projekt at E3. Here's a snip:

In the roughly 20 hours we’ve played so far, we’ve seen a mountain fortress, a small village, crypts, sewers, a swamp and the trade quarter of the city of Vizima - the range of environments looks to be diverse. Physically, The Witcher gameworld is divided into some 45 or so locations (see the nearby screenshot of a local map for an example), which each offer a moderately sized chunk to explore. Internal locations – buildings, caves, sewers – all require loading. The loading times can be annoying but hopefully further optimisation before shipping will see improvements – and at least the stylish, painted loading screens are nice. Given the convincing environments you’ll get to explore, it’s sometimes frustrating to be constrained by a low fence or uneven terrain that requires Geralt stick to the path.

Read it here.