Early noughties Cartoon Network classic Samurai Jack received a long-awaited fifth season last year, some 12 years after its fourth finished airing. To put it simply, Samurai Jack is about a man with a sword fighting for what he thinks is right, and in that sense it's quite similar to The Witcher. At least, that's the only explanation I can think of for why Mashed felt the need to combine the two in an animated short, but after seeing their "Samurai Witcher" cartoon, I'm certainly not complaining. Have a gander: 

It's a bit slow, but it nails the styles of its source material. It's sharply drawn and dramatically framed like Samurai Jack, and it's methodical and punishing like combat in The Witcher. It's oddly cathartic to watch all the preparation that goes into a good monster hunt, from gathering herbs and other consumables to tailoring your arsenal for the monster at hand. 

And, as always, it's satisfying to see a griffin go down. 

Last week's PC Gamer Q&A asked: which of your existing games did E3 2018 make you want to play? Bo answered with The Witcher 3—and while I've finished Geralt's third outing myself, Noelgal's Enhanced Reshade mod is enough to merit a return. 

A number of worthy visual overhaul mods already exist for The Witcher 3, but I reckon this is the most impressive one yet. Here's some moving pictures:

And here are some stills:

"The Witcher 3 Enhanced is designed to offer you the most immersive and real Witcher experience," says creator Noelgal on the mod's Nexus Mods page. "It works with all lighting mods and with Vanilla lighting. It enhances the shadows, the lighting, the colors and the contrasts."

More information, including installation instructions, lives here. And while we're talking visual overhaul mods, I'm also fond of Boostin4kix' Alternative Heavy Clouds. Follow that link for more info, and have a gander at these screens:

The Dying Light 2 announcement at Microsoft's E3 press event was made significantly cooler by the surprising news that cold fusion-powered RPG writing machine Chris Avellone is working on it. As we said in our report, Avellone's participation "signals a significant evolution for the series" by giving it a much greater focus on narrative and outcomes. 

But Avellone isn't the only talent working on the game. "We also got some additional help in the form of the former The Witcher 3 writing team," Techland told VG247. "Those guys were responsible for some of the best quests from that game including the Bloody Baron quest line. All of those guys are working very hard to create a narrative—it’s like a puzzle to play with." 

"Those guys" may not have quite the big-name cachet of Avellone, but their talents are readily apparent. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best RPGs ever made, and the Bloody Baron is the best of it—a character so good that we actually wrote about him specifically, describing him as a "complex, conflicted character" at the center of Family Matters, "The Witcher 3's most emotional and disturbing quest." 

"We needed a character that personified Velen, with all of its beauty and troubles," quest designer Paweł Sasko said at the time. "The Baron is a soldier, much like we have today, who comes back from war with PTSD and alcohol issues. He’s unstable and unpleasant, but he also has positive traits. He loves his family and would do anything for them." 

Not much is known about Dying Light 2 at this point except that it's set during "the Modern Dark Ages," 15 years after the zombie outbreak first began. But the core gameplay seen in the E3 trailer will be familiar—parkour, zombies, and "don't go out at night"—and Avellone said during the E3 presentation that the decisions players make will have a major impact on the game world. A release target hasn't been set. 

GOG launched its Summer Gaming Sale earlier this month, which is live now through Monday, June 18. Within, you'll find over a thousand games going cheap—with savings of up to 90 percent. 

The PC Gamer Collection is part of the sale too, and gathers 37 games spanning three decades. Expect everything from The Witcher 3 to Dead Cells and Prison Architect in an assortment that suits fans of all genres. 

Fancy winning one of those? Simply follow the instructions in the widget below for your chance to win one of 500 games from GOG's Summer Sale. 

Good luck from us and the chap at the foot of the page.  

Nexus modder Votislav has done the impossible: make Geralt better looking. Votislav's newly released Finger Lickin' Geraldo mod, which you can download here, changes the already fetching Witcher's stubble, complexion and eyes to make him appear sharper and younger but just as grizzled and dangerous. Gaze upon him: 

The mod sports a white beard and brows, yellower eyes, scars left by a Striga (a woman transformed into a monster by a curse, if you're wondering), and most importantly, "quite possibly the best stubble in the world." It also includes a variant without the scar and with eyebrows and skin more in line with vanilla Geralt. 

For maximum effect, Votislav recommends pairing Finger Lickin' Geraldo with a few other mods (some of which were also used in the images above): Cinematic Hair by Feregorn and Holgar96, Weathered Face by curme, and Disable HairWorks on Geralt by WitcherBoy1981. You'll find plenty of other great choices in our roundup of the best Witcher 3 mods, which you can wrangle using the easy-to-use Nexus Mod Manager.

With that out of the way, there's something else I simply must share with you. Tucked away in the image gallery for Finger Lickin' Geraldo is perhaps the most incredible Witcher image since that other image we sometimes use. Votislav titled it "the stuff of dreams," and I have a hard time arguing with that. I present to you, Big Geralt: 

Incidentally, there's something else you need to see, if only because I had to see it and I'll be damned if I'm going to suffer alone. It's Geralt's texture file, the stuff of nightmares: 

Oh god, take me back. 

There we go.

With the Witcher Netflix series out now (and quite good!) and The Witcher 3 seeing more concurrent players than ever, there's a lot of renewed interest in the root of all this: The Witcher books. If you want to fill a Geralt-shaped hole in your life following the show and games, the books are definitely worth a read. 

It's not quite as easy as one, two, three, though. As a brief overview, the book series is written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and follows a man named Geralt who happens to be a Witcher—someone attuned with supernatural abilities and trained from childhood to battle beasts that threaten the public. Of course, the books are about more than that: there’s plenty of drama, sex, politics, and even some comedy, but the central arc follows Geralt as he protects Ciri, a princess whose country has been conquered. 

If you want sword-wielding action and grotesque monsters, you’re in the right place. The series started as a set of short stories in the '80s for a Polish fantasy magazine, and the initial tale came third in their competition to find new ideas and writers. The stories were so popular they then went on to spawn full-length novels, which were then published in Polish in 1993. The books were released in English a bit late, from 2007, with Danusia Stok translating the first two and David French taking over duties the third book - so we know who to thank for bringing them to us English-speaking fans. The books then eventually became the games (and now show) we know and love.

Where to start with The Witcher books

You’ll want to start with The Last Wish. While it was published later on, it features stories set before the first full-length book and establishes the Continent as a backdrop. It also introduces the reader to Geralt and the basics of what a witcher is and what one does. You’ll read about Geralt fighting beasts, indulging in bar room fights, and his bedroom escapades.

This set of stories introduces everything you’ll see in the games. Sapkowski tells of Geralt’s silver sword with which he kills the monsters of magic, he depicts the often-corrupt governments that reside throughout the world, and we meet an ensemble of characters. These include Dandelion (aka Jaskier), a poet friend of Geralt who is hearing these tales we’re experiencing, Yennifer, a sorceress with whom Geralt begins a troubled relationship, and Triss, also a sorceress, a friend of Geralt but also the third point of the Geralt, Yennifer and Triss love triangle.

The second short story collection, Sword of Destiny, must follow because it’s here we meet Ciri, and each story takes place directly before the main novels.

What's the reading order of The Witcher books?

1. The Last Wish
2. Sword of Destiny
3. Season of Storms (optional; explained below)
4. Blood of Elves
5. Time of Contempt
6. Baptism of Fire
7. The Tower of the Swallow
8. The Lady of the Lake

Following the short stories, you would think it's best to read the rest of the books in the order they were published, but a recent release, Season of Storms, actually takes place within the stories of The Last Wish. To be honest, it’s only worth reading Season of Storms if you want to experience everything The Witcher has to offer, as the events that take place are not integral to the main arc—but it does sow some seeds of what’s to come in the rest of the series.

Otherwise, read the books in the order they were released: Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake. 

Below are the best prices for these books but they do get sold together on Amazon—the first six books altogether on Amazon US and the first seven bundled together on Amazon UK.

Away from the novels, it’s also worth reading The World of the Witcher, which is a compendium of information created directly by CD Projekt Red. It’s a beautifully illustrated addition to the series that contains everything you’ll want to know about monsters, weapons, people and places. Be warned, though, it does feature spoilers for the games and the books. 

There is a designated Witcher 3: Wild Hunt art book but it is pretty rare as it was released only with collector's editions. One to look out for though; I know I always do. And there's yet more artwork available now following the release of the Gwent game, as it too now has its own art book: The Art of the Witcher: Gwent Gallery Collection. And to finish the art side of things off, there's a Witcher Adult Coloring Book that will keep you occupied long into the night, giving your favorite characters unique outfits and painting your own Witcher pictures.

The Witcher graphic novels

Aside from the short stories and novels, graphic novels from Dark Horse Comics have been released. While not written by Sapkowski, the comics do a great job of adding extras to already released stories, plus they look great as the art evokes the nasty themes of the books and games. Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 all include several stories each, while a collated Library Edition packs everything in one. 

Why should I read them if I’ve played the games?

In a nutshell, because they’re good books and a great way to get more Witcher in you. They are fun, accessible reads with a fast pace. Of course, it depends on your personal tastes, but generally the novels and short stories are good fun. It would be easy to say "well, much like films, the books are better," but that isn’t generally the case here, as the games give you a better view of the action within this setting, while still delivering a genuinely great story.

Reading the books will, however, give you a better sense of the world, flesh out more of the cast and create a stronger bond between yourself and the situations in the lore. Characters are drawn with more depth, and although much of the plot will be known to you if you played the games, the books fill in small gaps here and there.

How faithful are The Witcher games to the books?

Very, though only so much of the books was directly brought to the games. CD Projekt Red went to great lengths to bring Sapkowski’s witty, wry and strong Geralt of Rivia to players of the games. Due to the branching narratives of the games, the plot is "based" on the books, rather than a direct retelling. Everything you’ve seen in the games, however, from runes to weapons and monsters are featured in the series of novels. 

There’s an interesting divide between how Sapkowski sees his world and how it was translated to games, but readers will notice only small differences here and there. Coming to the books from the games brings a certain spark of life to the battles and fights.

It's worth noting though that a game, especially one of the quality featured in The Witcher series, is designed to bring excitement and danger. This can make some sections of the book—mainly the political discussions—rather dull in comparison. The games, because they deliver the story in bite-sized chunks between the killing and hunting, offer the most accessible way to consume the tale of Geralt.

Where can I get all these books?

Since the profile of The Witcher series and books has been elevated to brilliant, world-famous heights, the books, on the whole, are available from all the major retailers, including Amazon. The only one that is a bit difficult to get, as mentioned above, is the collector's edition Witcher 3 art book but it usually appears on eBay occasionally. However, for your ease and comfort, see the best prices currently going on all the books below.

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info. 

With Gwent singleplayer and The Witcher TV series in our future, it's a pretty good time to check out The Witcher books. The Netflix show is a little way off, according to the creators, but it’s likely to be a success as fans of Game of Thrones will be looking for a new dark fantasy show to watch. It helps, of course, that the series has already established itself nicely with a load of books and hours upon hours of great RPGs by CD Projekt RED. 

If you're wondering where to start with The Witcher books, we've got you covered. The series is the brainchild of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and follows a man named Geralt who happens to be a witcher—someone attuned with supernatural abilities and trained from childhood to battle beasts that threaten the public. Of course, the books are about more than that: there’s plenty of drama, sex, politics and even some comedy, but the central arc follows Geralt as he protects Ciri, a princess whose country has been conquered and becomes a witcher-in-training. 

If you want sword-wielding action and grotesque monsters, you’re in the right place. The series started as a set of short stories in the '80s for a Polish fantasy magazine, and the initial tale came third in their competition to find new ideas and writers. The stories were so popular they then went on to spawn full-length novels, which began in the '90s, and eventually became the games we all know and love. 

If you're new to The Witcher books, where should you start?

With so many books and short stories set within the universe, it’s tricky to know where to start, especially as some were only released in English after the series reached a certain level of success. You’ll want to start with The Last Wish. While it was published later on, it features stories set before the first full-length book and establishes the Continent as a backdrop. It also introduces the reader to Geralt and the basics of what a witcher is and what one does. You’ll read about Geralt fighting beasts, indulging in bar room fights and his bedroom escapades.

This set of stories introduces everything you’ll see in the games. Sapkowski tells of Geralt’s silver sword with which he kills the monsters of magic, he depicts the often-corrupt governments that reside throughout the world, and we meet an ensemble of characters. These include Dandelion, a poet friend of Geralt who is hearing these tales we’re experiencing, Yennifer, a sorceress with whom Geralt begins a troubled relationship and Triss, also a sorceress, a friend of Geralt but also the third point of the Geralt, Yennifer and Triss love triangle.

The second short story collection, Sword of Destiny, must follow because it’s here we meet Ciri and each story takes place directly before the main novels.

What's the reading order of The Witcher books?

So, you’ve read the short stories and you’ve got a taste for Geralt and those around him. You’ve discovered more about the world he inhabits and the wars between human, dwarves and elves—the humans were victorious and now the other races are seen a lesser species—and now you want to sink your teeth into the proper saga. You would think it's best to read the rest of the books in the order they were published, but a recent release, Season of Storms, actually takes place within the stories of The Last Wish. To be honest, it’s only worth reading Season of Storms if you want to experience everything The Witcher has to offer, as the events that take place are not integral to the main arc, but it does sow some seeds of what’s to come in the rest of the series.

Otherwise, read the books in the order they were released: Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake.

Away from the novels, it’s also worth reading The World of the Witcher, which is a compendium of information created directly by CD Projekt Red. It’s a beautifully illustrated addition to the series that contains everything you’ll want to know about monsters, weapons, people and places. Be warned, though, it does feature spoilers for the games and the books.

Is there anything else? You bet! Graphic novels from Dark Horse Comics. While not written by Sapkowski, the graphic novels do a great job of adding extras to already released stories and creating some extra content on the side, plus they look great as the art evokes the gritty and dark themes of the books and games.

Why should I read them if I’ve played the games?

They’re good books, and this is the way the story was intended to be told. They’re generally quick reads as the action keeps the pace up and it’s interesting to see how CD Projekt Red adapted certain scenes to make them interactive. Of course, mileage may vary from person to person, and it depends on your personal tastes, but generally the novels and short stories are good fun. It would be easy to say “well, much like films, the books are better” but that isn’t generally the case here, as the games give you a better view of the action within this setting, while still delivering a genuinely great story.

Reading the books will, however, give you a better sense of the world, flesh out more of the cast and create a stronger bond between yourself and the situations in the lore. Places will become more familiar, characters are drawn with more depth and although much of the plot will be known to you from playing the games, the books fill in small gaps here and there.

How faithful are The Witcher games to the books?

Very. Only so much of the books was directly brought to the games. CD Projekt Red went to great lengths to bring Sapkowski’s witty, wry and strong Geralt of Rivia to players of the games. Due to the branching narratives of the games, the plot is “based” on the books, rather than a direct retelling. Everything you’ve seen in the games, however, from runes to weapons and monsters are featured in the series of novels. 

There’s an interesting divide between how Sapkowski sees his world and how it was translated to games, but readers will notice only small differences here and there. Coming to the books from the games brings a certain spark of life to the battles and fights. Geralt tracing runes through the air holds more gravitas when coming from the games, and seeing how CD Projekt Red animated the effects of spells makes the translation of The Witcher’s abilities feel even more exciting.

It's worth noting though that a game, especially one of the quality featured in The Witcher series, is designed to bring excitement and danger. This can make some sections of the book—mainly the political discussions—rather dull in comparison. The games, because they deliver the story in bitesized chunks between the killing and hunting, offer the most accessible way to consume the tale of Geralt. Let's see if the TV series can top it. 

Shall we try to improve on CD Projekt RED's splendid, genre-defining open world RPG? Geralt's angry judgmental glare says 'how dare you' but I say 'how dare we not?' Geralt's an old man now and even CD Projekt has moved on to a futuristic new game called Cyberpunk 2077. We have already designed the perfect FPS game, the perfect battle royale game, and the perfect RTS game. It's time for the noble RPG to get its due.

As always we do this using a quick and easy survey. Questions cover a bunch of RPG basics: would we prefer a squad RPG or something driven by a single hero? How should leveling work, and what sort of sidequests do we want? Some of the questions have an 'Other' section where you can make personalised suggestions. For the love of Geralt please keep them clean. 

At the end of the process Google magic chews up the data and spits out pie charts that may prove informative and/or amusing. Once we have a load of responses we will compile the results into an article on PCGamer.com and the industry will weep joy-tears to see what we have made.

The Witcher is coming to streaming platform Netflix as an eight-episode TV drama in either 2019 or 2020, starring Henry Cavill as Geralt. The series is based on the Polish novel series by Andrzej Sapkowski, much like the CD Projekt Red RPG series that we're so keen on here at PC Gamer. With a showrunner in place—Daredevil and The Defenders writer Lauren Schmidt Hissrich—we're already learning loads about the series via her Twitter feed, including character descriptions. We also know that writing on the series is nearing completion. As of August 2018, the final episode of the season is being written.

If you were curious about the show's credibility, too, Sapkowski is working on the Netflix series as a creative consultant. 

“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing,” he said in a press release. “I’m excited about our efforts together, as well as the team assembled to shepherd these characters to life.”

While we'll endeavour to keep spoilers to a minimum, please proceed with caution if you'd rather not know about the characters or story beats ahead of time. You'll find various pieces pointing in the series' direction here.

Does The Witcher on Netflix have a release date yet? 

Though it was announced a year ago now, we're still some way away from seeing The Witcher's premiere, unfortunately. 

Though the precise release date has yet to be confirmed, it's widely expected to release some time next year, but showrunner Hissrich herself has even suggested 2020 as a potential window. 

In terms of where the show is at now, the writers are on at least the fourth episode already, as of the end of July 2018. 

While this isn't the first time the Witcher series has come to screens—The Hexer, a 13-episode Polish language series adaptation of the series, was broadcast way back in 2002, and a poorly-received Polish movie preceded it in 2001—this is the first time we'll have seen an on-screen adaptation outside of Poland. 

It's been confirmed that the inaugural Netflix series will feature eight episodes.

"I know, I know, it may not seem like enough for you, but creatively, it's the right call," Hissrich tweeted last month. "The episodes can be tight, action-packed, rich in character and story, without lagging in the middle of the season. Sounds good to me, sound good to you?"

As of August 2018, the season finale is being written, which suggests we're getting closer to learning juicy details. 

What is the story of The Witcher Netflix series?

If you head on over to The Witcher on Netflix right now, there's already a placeholder description to tempt you into pre-adding the show to your list. 

While the Netflix blurb—"The witcher, Geralt, a mutated monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts"—doesn't give away much, an official synopsis revealed by executive producers Sean Daniel and Jason Brown tells us a little more, indicating that the show follows an unconventional family that "comes together to fight for truth in a dangerous world." 

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko of Polish visual effects studio Platige Image said in a statement: "There is a moral and intellectual depth in these books which goes beyond genre. It is a story about today and today’s challenges, hidden under a fantasy cover. It is a story about us, about the monster and hero inside of all our hearts."

On Twitter, Hissrich has introduced us to other writers, like Declan de Barra (The Originals), Jenny Klein (Jessica Jones) and Sneha Koorse (Daredevil) to name but three, joining the crew, and detailed what happened the first time the team gathered in the writers' room.

"We start talking. And talk and talk and talk. We write the things we say on dry erase boards. [...] 

We break down characters first: who they are, what they want, who they'll do it with. Organically, those emotional moments collide with plot. Note: some writers are better at plot machinations. Some are better at emotional arcs. Some do action. Some do sex. It takes all types."

So that's the sex scenes confirmed, then… although it remains to be seen if we'll get to see some sexy times on a unicorn.

Which characters will appear in The Witcher on Netflix? 

So far, we know that Yennefer, Ciri, Roach, and Triss will be joining Geralt, along with Regis the vampire and Emhyr var Emreis.

Dandelion will also be making an appearance, although for the show he'll be referred to as Jaskier, his original name from the novel series. 

“The characters are original, funny and constantly surprising and we can’t wait to bring them to life at Netflix," said producers Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko when the series was announced. 

Hissrich has even taken to describing each character via a series of recent tweets. Brace yourselves—there's a lot of detail here, and many hyphens for the more descriptive sections of Hissrich's tweets.

• Geralt is described as stoic, circumspect, balanced and fierce, and, in Hissrich's words: "soft-and-squishy-in-a-tiny-place-in-his-heart-that-he'll-never-reveal-until-maybe-the-end-and-even-then-it-will-just-be-a-hint."
• Yennefer, meanwhile, is fiery, proud, shrewd and contradictory, plus: "seeking-to-fill-a-family-sized-hole-in-her-heart-even-though-she-resents-it-and-swears-she's-just-fine-on-her-own-but-she-is-not-and-we-love-her-for-being-both-independent-and-vulnerable."
• Ciri is described as resilient, relentless, brazen and growing, and, according to Hissrich: "she's-going-to-change-the-world-and-what-the-hell-is-she-supposed-to-do-except-be-scared-and-be-bold-and-learn-and-adapt-and-find-a-family-who-can-walk-by-her-side-no-matter-what-and-maybe-just-maybe-teach-her-the-meaning-of-love."
• Roach is apparently "ladylike; faithful; extrasensory; steady". Hissrich adds this, too, as part of the same Twitter thread: "Really-annoyed-with-this-game-because-we-can’t-pretend-all-Roaches-are-the-same-so-she’d-prefer-some-singularity-and-individual-recognition-instead-of-all-being-lumped-together-by-blatantly-horsist-people."
• Jakier is extravagant, caddish, loose-lipped and loya. Plus: "Hides-behind-the-exterior-of-an-idiot-when-in-actuality-he-is-the-keeper-of-Geralt’s-realities-(even-if-he-exaggerates-his-own-heroics)-AND-the-truths-of-the-world-which-means-he’s-far-more-important-than-we-realize…"
• Triss Merigold is "Spunky; Idealistic; Insecure; Conflicted; Young-and-naive-and-lacking-the-confidence-of-sorceresses-which-means-she-is-ripe-for-manipulation-but-when-she-finally-transcends-the-crap-she-has-a-chance-to-be-loved-as-herself-and-not-as-'the-third-wheel-with-Yen'".
• Cahir is "Conflicted; Charismatic; Haunted; Pure of heart; Despite-being-young-he's-like-a-relic-of-a-simpler-time-when-knights-in-shining-armor-always-won-the-girl-but-now-in-the-face-of-harsh-reality-he-must-learn-what-it-means-to-actually-be-heroic-and-brave-for-others."

Phew, that was a lot of hyphens. Check out character descriptions for Regis, Vilgefortz, Ephyr, Milva, Leo Bonhart and Borch Three Jackdaws/Villentretenmerth deeper into Hissrich's Twitter thread, starting here. "This is a starting point, mostly because—how could characters ever be boiled down to five words (even with hyphens?)" Hissrich told fans on Twitter. "Also, the characters change and develop so much over the series that a summary can never be 100% accurate. Geralt starts off stoic. He doesn't end that way."

The Witcher Netflix series cast: Henry Cavill is Geralt

Henry Cavill said in August that he'd be interested in taking on the role of Geralt, but as it turns out he'd already been given the role: Netflix announced on September 4 that Cavill will portray the White Wolf in the series, after which showrunner Lauren Hissrich revealed that she'd had meetings with him about the taking the role four months earlier. "I've never forgotten the passion he brought. He IS Geralt. He always has been," she said. "I'm so thrilled to welcome Henry Cavill to the Witcher family."   

Cavill might seem a little too much of a Boy Scout to play a grizzled, world-weary monster hunter, but a fan-made image he shared on Instagram looks closer to the mark than you might expect. Perhaps more importantly, he got an enthusiastic endorsement from Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt in CD Projekt's Witcher RPG series, who said Cavill will "do a great job." 

 Other members of the cast haven't been announced, but we'll keep you posted. 

Where is The Witcher Netflix series going to be filmed?

Eastern Europe, naturally.

"WE'LL BE SHOOTING IN EASTERN EUROPE. Yes!" tweeted Hissrich. "This show couldn't exist anyplace else. Period."

While the show follows the novels more closely than the accompanying game series, we know that CD Projekt Red's cinematic director, Tomas Baginski—who directed the opening cinematics in all three Witcher games—is penciled in to direct as least one episode, so it'll be interesting to see if the show will be influenced by the style and motifs of its accompanying game series. 

We'll keep you updated on the show in the coming months. 

My least favorite sensation in all of gaming is when I'm playing an RPG, and I pick up a weapon, or a breastplate, or an incandescent bauble of no obvious importance, and suddenly my feet cement to the floor. My character is over-encumbered! I have to spend the next few minutes on the pause screen, deciding which knick-knacks in my inventory to leave abandoned on the side of the road. Once spry and light again, I continue my adventures deep into the murky chasms of whatever fantasy world I'm exploring, until inevitably I find another item I want and the exact same thing happens again. 

I am not alone in hating encumbrance. It's a source of constant annoyance for gamers everywhere, to the point of achieving meme status in certain communities. And yet, it's still common. Bethesda makes two of the most popular single-player franchises around with The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and yet we've all crossed our weight limit and hampered ourselves in the middle of a fight with a rowdy sect of Super Mutants. CD Projekt Red is one of this industry's few near-universally beloved studios, and yet Geralt always seems to be one looted corpse away from completely losing control of his body. There are cases where it makes sense, obviously—of course Dark Souls has an opaque encumbrance system, given all its other intentionally draconian quirks—but it certainly seems weird that such a despised mechanic is implemented, and re-implemented, over and over again.

Why do big games, particularly open world games with thousands of objects that can be picked up and examined, so often turn to a mechanic where fun goes to die? I figure there must be a reason. I'm constantly in awe of just how much work it takes to create videogames, and generally, when I find something to be stupid and unintuitive, I'm willing to hear the experts out. There must be some method to the madness, right?

Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, game director of The Witcher 3, outlined a few arguments for encumbrance when I emailed him. The first is probably the most obvious: Immersion. "Having a limit to how much equipment Geralt can carry plays a part in making the character and the world around him more believable," he says. "Yes, you’re playing as a professional monster slayer. He’s very strong, stronger than normal humans, due to experiments and mutations witchers have to endure throughout their rigorous training. But even then, Geralt has limits. It’s a small touch that packs a lot of punch for the role-playing aspect of an RPG."

Tomaszkiewicz tells me that he believes the fundamental purpose of an RPG is to embody the central character fully. That's why, he says, some players choose to unequip all of their armor before taking Geralt for a dip in a river or a lake. "They want to live the fantasy the game is enabling them to live, while keeping the experience as close to authentic as possible," he explains. It's the belief of CD Projekt Red that functions like encumbrance, while occasionally annoying, add up to a world that feels more consistent.

Oscar López Lacalle, lead designer of the survival game Conan Exiles, offers a similar justification. Exiles is different from The Witcher, in the sense that it packs a crafting system that heavily relies on resource harvesting and management, which makes it a pretty natural fit for a weight limit. But Lacalle tells me that the team decided to opt for an encumbrance mechanic, rather than a traditional inventory page, because it opened up the flexibility—and yes, the authenticity—of how you fleshed out your character.

"For example, we can set items like explosives to be artificially heavy because that makes players think on the logistics of sieging rather than just bringing unlimited explosive jars or trebuchets to breach any wall while still being able to fight at peak capacity," he says. "We can also say that all our core resources are much lighter than specialty items to enhance the feeling of rarity and the relative worth of items when compared with each other. This becomes an important factor in situations like coming back to your base loaded with riches, or relocating your base to a new location in the map. In general, it's a powerful tool to enhance and promote certain aspects of the game without adding other, more aggressive limitations."

That's just the front end of things though. Tomaszkiewicz highlights a number of  behind-the-scenes issues that make encumbrance systems necessary for a healthy experience. He mentions how too many items can clutter the UI, and that adding a limit helps "manage the chaos." Also, you can't ignore the fact that every piece of inventory takes up a sliver of memory, and for a game like The Witcher 3 that already asks a ton of your hardware, developers need to be frugal. "You've got to keep in mind what might happen performance-wise when players hoard insane amounts of items."

Lacalle swears up and down that encumbrance systems are not designed to make players uncomfortable. Instead, he hopes to simply coerce us into interesting choices. Exiles was specifically designed around the remaining weight a character will have access to after equipping a basic set of armor. What you do with that remaining space hollows out your place in the world, and your role in guilds. When he frames it like that, it sure sounds a lot more dynamic than simply choosing a class.

"We made heavy armor and certain weapons heavier—because we wanted to steer them towards the fighter archetypes—and certain materials heavier or lighter depending on how many are needed for typical activities and how rare they are supposed to be," he says. "For building pieces, we made them lighter than their material parts because we wanted players to commit to converting materials instead of amassing tons of raw resources, with a few hand-picked exceptions like Altars and Wheels of Pain. Finally and most importantly, sprinkle in some design voodoo (lots of testing and iterating) until it feels good!"

It's true that sometimes you don't know what you really want, and as much as it might sound fun to jog through The Northern Kingdoms with Geralt sucking up loot like a vacuum, I'm willing to admit that I might be misguided. However, it's clear that the world at large is not convinced.

Websites like Eurogamer and Motherboard have dedicated blog posts instructing on how to turn off encumbrance, ostensibly because there are so many people on the internet googling for answers. A mod that gives you infinite carry capacity in The Witcher 3 has been downloaded over 30,000 times (it's the third-most popular Witcher 3 mod on the Nexus). The "100x your carry weight" mod for Skyrim has been downloaded 380,000 times. The developers I spoke to are all reasonable people who make good points, but it's hard to shake that fundamental feeling that encumbrance only slows down our fun.

All that being said, maybe there's a way to make encumbrance better without completely purging it from the code. David J. Cobb has spent the bulk of his modding career tinkering with the nuts and bolts of Skyrim to create a more realistic, more demanding weight system, and he makes a strong point about how encumbrance is often poorly implemented. There's never any warning when you're about to become over-encumbered in Bethesda games. Your momentum comes to a screeching halt after you add one extraneous item to your inventory. "Like carrying hundreds of pounds of gear effortlessly, only to stop completely in your tracks because you decided to pick a flower on the side of the road," he says. He argues that instead of creating immersion, that breaks immersion.

Cobb came up with a set of checks and balances called Cobb Encumbrance that add progressive penalties to your speed and stamina as you add more weight to your character. Essentially, it's an uber-hardcore interpretation of the core Skyrim fantasy. Personally, that doesn't sound like my kind of thing, but it also feels a tad more honest than how most other games deal with encumbrance. Maybe it's not the answer, but it's certainly an answer. 

"The encumbrance mechanic has to be viewed as part of the broader experience," says Cobb. "It influences and is influenced by everything around it."

Thumbnail GIF via the delightful Skyrim animation above by Ferhod.