From the Netflix Series to the Video Game - The Witcher

Today I will be specifically reviewing the most recent game of the series, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year Edition. Now for those of you jumping in for the first time, worry not, because much like the show, you can jump right into the story and learn along the way. Surprisingly, the game’s story isn’t overwhelmingly complicated to understand. However, unlike the show, the transitions from past, present, and future are expressed in a much more obvious fashion. The game's storyline is independent of the show and the book series, but provides a sense of continuation as we see Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer facing conflict throughout the Continent.

As mentioned, you will delve into character exposition, Lore, revolving around the various Witcher institutions, and evolve a narrative around what becomes of Ciri’s unknown powers.

The game does a great job of providing you with constant action and story-like elements whilst keeping you engaged in a world revolving around Geralt. Transitioning from the show, It is hard to forget who the protagonist of this story is due to the nature of the questing system.

Most quests rely on Geralt’s (you the player's) active involvement to complete. However, this can lead to an exploitation of the system. One that allows you, the player, to pause a quest in the middle of peak action to go off and complete another side quest or Witcher Contract. Essentially you will never catch yourself in a dull moment.

The game has the show to thank for its recent spike in player activity. Let’s be honest, the only reason you’re seeing this review now is due to the surge in popularity of the game in-part to the show’s release. Which is incredible, might I add. Within the first week of the show being aired, the game was seeing a consecutive player count of over 100,000 players. The game was seeing an average of about 28,000 players on steam the week before release, but it soon skyrocketed.

Its surge in popularity isn’t solely in its playerbase. Its following on Twitch, Youtube, and other content creating platforms has been revived due to the heavily inflated new playerbase. Creators who were once booming in the games early release days are seeing revivals to their channels as the content has begun to be re-released.

All in all, if you fell in love with the show, chances are you’re going to fall in love with the game. I highly recommend a playthrough on whatever device you have available to you, BUT with the PC version you have access to very special features I will now describe to you.

---

Mods to help transition from Show to Game:

If you’re like many other fans of the recent Netflix series, The Witcher, then you were probably left craving a little more post-finale of the first season. No worries, this article is going to help you satisfy all your Geralt-wanting needs by combining the best of both worlds between the show and the latest installment of the Witcher game series, Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

A heavy and grizzled voice, a dry and merciless form of sarcastic humor, and brief-but-pungent one-line styled writing. That’s the best way to describe Henry Cavill’s extremely well done rendition of the character, Geralt. With strikingly similar features, these PC mods will allow you to fully immerse yourself into the role of Geralt of Rivia, but with stylistic hybridizations of the popular Netflix series.

Installing the Witcher 3 Nexus Mod Manager

Download link for the Mod Manager

The beauty of open-source modding comes from the ability to create almost anything and everything. The goal is to bring elements of creative freedom to the playerbase. To do this, you will need to install the following mod manager, which essentially acts as the umbrella foundation for any future mods that you wish to add or remove from your game. It’s a means of consolidating all your mods into a specific location on your computer for greater ease-of-use.

The Netflix Soundtrack

Download link for the Netflix Soundtrack

With a beautiful composition by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli, it is no surprise that this was one of the first mods that followed the release of the series.

The mod allows you to replace the in-game soundtrack with that of the show’s. However, as of late they aren’t added to the original line-up, but they replace the current game’s soundtrack.

So keep that in mind when deciding whether you want to give your first playthrough the traditional listening or whether you want the continuation of the show’s score.

The Traditional Netflix Witcher Armor

Download link for the Netflix Witcher Armor

If you’re anything like me, I was greatly anticipating to see how Henry Cavill would take on the role of Geralt of Rivia. Nothing is more Witcher-like than the iconic Kaer Morhen Armor and the dual Witcher swords that Cavill is seen donning within the series. Although slight alterations were made, the basis of the original design can clearly be seen.

However, if you are coming from the show to the game, then you may want to look toward this mod that alters the original armor to carry the same HEFT as the one seen in the show.

Lastly, Henry Cavill within the Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

Download link for the Henry Cavill Reskin

As any form of modding goes, nothing was left untouched when it comes to the plethora of Geralt Re-skins that have invaded the mod-site. However, this one appears to best capture the character of Geralt played by Henry Cavill from the Netflix series.

As time passes, updates and patches will most likely be released to greater enhance the useability of the mods and their reliability!

Thank you for reading and hopefully you were inspired to try out the game!

Get to brewing those Decoctions,

-OVBDavid