The Witcher Adventure Game
By Neilie Johnson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Interesting but hard-to-learn digital board game.

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The Witcher Adventure Game
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It's great
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What’s It About?
THE WITCHER ADVENTURE GAME spins a different tale every time you play. Set in a dark fantasy world where war is brewing, players take on the roles of Geralt the Monster Slayer, Triss the Sorceress, Dandelion the Bard, or Yarpen the Dwarven Warrior. Each hero will travel to various medieval towns, encountering characters and events that can range from the amusing (a raucous drinking contest) to the perilous (driving off groups of man-eating monsters). These instances of good fortune or foul fate keep the player's path and the story line constantly shifting.
Is It Any Good?
The Witcher Adventure Game is fun once you figure out what the heck is going on. The makers of the game assume players already know about this sort of tabletop board game, so they fail miserably at helping new players learn how to play. Its tutorial videos and extensive rule book do nothing but throw a lot of information at you without helping you truly absorb it. This results in a complex game that feels like it's playing itself until the meaning of its arcane dice rolls, drawn cards, mechanics, and interface finally become apparent. That requires patience and spending time in the offline single-player mode to understand how you perform actions such as completing quests, developing new abilities, and engaging in combat. Skip this step, and not only will you become lost, you'll also get crushed in online games, assuming you can find others to play with.
It's unfortunate, because the game does have a lot going for it. Conditions for each play session are completely different each time you hit start, which reduces boredom and repetition. Each hero has unique abilities and skills that make him or her better-suited to winning the game by various methods, such as strategy or combat, so you can really test your plans next to your luck at rolling dice. On top of this, the nice-looking graphics and expressive musical score make it an atmospherically beautiful game to play. Overall, The Witcher Adventure Game is a gallant but flawed attempt to transfer a real-world board game into a digital format. Although it looks and sounds great, newbie board gamers likely will be discouraged. We can only hope the next Witcher Adventure Game is a bit more accessible.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in The Witcher Adventure Game. How strong is the impact of combat in the game when it's handled with the roll of the dice? Even though you may fight a lot, does this seem as dangerous or harmful as other games that graphically depict violence?
Talk about what it means to be a hero. Do heroes always have to fight, or can they achieve their goals in other ways?
Think about having special powers. If you could have one special power, what would it be, and why?
Discuss what it would be like to live in the world of The Witcher. Would you want to live there?
Game Details
- Platforms: Mac, Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Not available online
- Publisher: CD PROJEKT RED
- Release date: November 27, 2014
- Genre: Adventure
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- ESRB rating: NR
- Last updated: August 25, 2016
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