This is the first short story collection in the series of Witcher novels and - as the redesigned cover suggests - is what the majority of the recent Netflix series was based on. That makes it the ideal starting point if you're looking to get into Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy opus.
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Imogen Beckhelling)
I’m going to level with you, I’m extremely late to the party with The Witcher. I never played the games or read the books, so the Netflix series is very much my entry point to all of its extensive lore. And from what I’ve seen so far, it demands a fair bit of prior knowledge to truly understand what’s going on.
It’s good then that Netflix have developed an interactive timeline for us, that describes a whole heap of events throughout The Witcher’s history that are alluded to in the show.
I knew The Witcher had hit the bigtime when I started getting Netflix Witcher memes from my sister in the family group text. And while I don't expect her to make the leap from fantasy-television-watcher to hardcore PC gamer overnight, some other folks definitely are doing just that. What Witcher game to play first is the big question. It's clear the popularity of The Witcher Netflix show has instilled major interest in the videogames—more people were playing The Witcher 3 on in December than on its launch day, four years ago.
For those whose first introduction to The Witcher is through the Netflix series, getting into the games might be daunting. If you're dying for more Witcher but don't want to commit to reading eight novels, here's how to get into the games, including what to play, what kind of PC you'll need to run them, and how to customize the experience to suit your playstyle.
You can skip The Witcher 1 and 2
The Witcher 1 and 2 aren't necessary in the slightest. This isn't to say they're not good games, but in order to start anew with its own canon separate from the books, CD Projekt Red gave Geralt amnesia at the beginning of the first game. He's made into a blank slate for players unfamiliar with the universe. It's a narrative framework that introduces players to Geralt as he slowly pieces his memory back together while noodling around in the sociopolitical affairs of the land in a series of adventures that echo the themes and events of the books.
The Witcher 2 is definitely worth visiting after wrapping up everything else (show, books, The Witcher 3) if you're still thirsty for more. The Witcher 1 hasn't aged as well, so I'd skip it entirely. But if you absolutely have to know what happens in those games, I recommend watching IGN's short 5-minute explainer for a quick catch-up. It might save you a couple dozen hours.
You only really need to play The Witcher 3
The first season of the Netflix series is an excellent primer for hopping in. When the first season ends, you've been introduced to most of the major players in The Witcher 3. When the episode eight credits roll, we know Ciri is a child of the elder blood and has special powers beyond explanation. We know her and Geralt found one another, we know how Yennefer and Geralt met, we get introduced to Triss and Jaskier (Dandelion in the games) and Geralt's monster-hunting profession, we know Niilfgaard is aiming for global domination at any cost, we know the mages circle is web of ego and unchecked authority—all the fundamentals are covered.
The Witcher 3 largely ignores the events of the first two games anyway. At the start, Geralt's regained his memory completely and Ciri, having skipped out on the first two games, suddenly enters the picture again. The Witcher 3 does a fine job filling in the necessary blanks, introducing characters and summarizing key events that took place between the events of the first season of the show and the start of the game without resorting to dry exposition. Everything you need to know is communicated through clever dialogue sequences, some introductory cutscenes, and a massive codex that explains who's who, as written by Dandelion (Jaskier).
If you're dead set on skipping the books, you'll have little problem getting up to speed in The Witcher 3. But if you're mildly curious, we have a guide to getting into The Witcher books, too. They're fun reads, but the political drama might be a bit too dry for some, in which case I'd just wait for The Witcher Season 2 for what I'm sure will be a more accessible, thrilling interpretation of events.
Where to buy The Witcher 3
So you've committed to giving The Witcher 3 a go. Below you'll find a few links showing you where to get it, but first, a few key bits of information.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is simply the base game for The Witcher 3. It's all you truly need to get started, an adventure that'll likely take around 100 hours to complete, but I recommend gunning for The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition. It includes the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions, both of which are excellent additions to Wild Hunt that add 50-plus hours of new locations, quests, characters, and systems.
GOG: You can get The Witcher 3 from a digital storefront made by the same company that made the game, DRM-free. That means there's no need to install special software to play the game. Just download, install, and play—though GOG Galaxy 2.0 is a nice optional client for managing your digital library.
Steam: If you want all the fanciest social features and easy library management, Steam is the way to go.
Humble is selling The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition for $15 right now. Normally $50 (but frequently on sale), this deal nets you a GOG key for the complete version of one of PC Gamer's favorite games of all time.
What PC hardware do I need to run The Witcher 3?
There's no shame in playing The Witcher 3 on a console, but we highly recommend playing it on a PC if possible. It's one of the prettiest games ever made and seeing it at its best is definitely worthwhile. But if you're new to PC gaming, knowing what kind of hardware you'll need to get The Witcher 3 looking fine might feel a bit daunting.
To get started, I recommend checking out our PC building tutorial for the basics, and our recommended PC builds based on how much you're willing to spend.
Every PC we've specced out will run The Witcher 3, no problem—the budget build is already more powerful than any console on the market. How well depends on what kind of performance you're looking for.
The Witcher 3 is five years old now, which is good news when it comes to hardware requirements. If you have a PC that's less than five years old that includes a graphics card, you should be able to play The Witcher 3 on PC. The CPU is also less of a factor than your graphics card.
In terms of current hardware, a GeForce GTX 1050 or Radeon RX 560 can do 1080p and medium settings while maintaining a steady 30 fps (frames per second, or essentially how quickly the image refreshes. The higher, the smoother the game will run). We consider that a bare minimum for enjoying The Witcher's beautiful world. For better graphics and performance, you'll want a faster graphics card. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 / GTX 1660 Super provide a steady 60 fps or more, and so do the AMD RX Vega 56 / RX 5700. Our mid-range PC build guide fits the bill nicely.
How to make The Witcher 3 even better on PC
If you're fairly new to games, particularly PC gaming, then welcome, first of all. Second of all: mods, baby. Mods (short for modifications) are custom additions that allow PC gamers to change how games play and look, from tiny tweaks to sweeping overhauls.
To find out where to download mods and how to install them, check out our list of the best Witcher 3 mods.
If you're in it for the story
There's a difficulty mode in The Witcher 3 that trivializes combat so you can work through the story without testing your reflexes and understanding of its RPG systems, which can be daunting to anyone that doesn't play games often. Let's make things a bit easier on you, yeah?
God mode - Become invincible, make your weapons and armor invulnerable, run around with infinite stamina and magic power—become the Geralt Geralt wants to be.
Fast travel from anywhere - Save time and get to the next story arc quicker with this mod. Normally you need to travel to a signpost to use transport between them, but this mod lets you do it from anywhere. Neato.
If you truly want to roleplay the life of a witcher
Preparations mod - For those that want to make the process of meditation more meaninful withouth turning The Witcher 3 into a hardcore grim fantasy simulator. With this mod, meditation is the only way to use alchemy, manage skills, and tinker with equipment.
The Witcher 3: Enhanced Edition overhaul - A complete rework of nearly every system in service of realism. Everything from combat to horse-riding takes on a new form in this fantastic mod.
If you want it to look as good as possible
Minimal HUD - The default HUD takes up a lot of screen space and might look a bit dated to pickier players. This mod pins everything to the bottom of the screen in a much simpler, transparent design.
Increased draw distance - If your PC can spare the extra processing power, this mod makes the landscape more detailed over long distances.
If you want to make the game look more like the TV show
I've already written a complete guide to making Videogame Geralt look like Netflix Geralt. Get the face, the hair, the outfit, the medallion, and more to make your leap from TV to PC as natural as possible.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice Bell)
Corr, remember when we were all making fun of Henry Cavill’s wig? It seems only yesterday. And now we’re all humming that stupid song. Can’t get enough of that there The Witcher on Netflix. Recently, VidBud Astrid walked over and was like “We should have an analysis of the bathtubs in The Witcher TV show and The Witcher 3,” and for a moment it was like the grizzling clouds parted and the sun shone on Brighton again. We should> have that! And dammit, we shall.
The powerful memetic qualities of bathtub Geralt, originating from the opening cutscene of The Witcher 3, meant that a single screenshot ended up being referenced in episode five of the Netflix adaptation. But which bath is best? One must be, right? There must be a fair way that we can pit the two against one another, resulting in an ultimate champion. Well, at RPS we take baths and needless competition very seriously, so have come up with an exclusive and definitive rating for both bathtub Geralts.
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)
If someone enjoyed Netflix’s live-action Witcher series and it made them want to try the games, where should they start? Following the show’s debut in December, I’ve had pals who sorta fell out of games pop up asking that to me, some sort of professional opinion-haver. Should they start at the beginning of CD Projekt Red’s series? Skip to the end? Are the older games archaic? Is it easy to pick up the plot? I have opinions! Skip the first two and start with The Witcher 3, I tell you. But what would you recommend?
I have spent the winter holidays making a list, checking it twice, trying to find who is naughty on ice. But unlike the popular red-clad demon of the north, my list is reserved for terrors, demons and critters larger than 4 feet tall. I m talking about cold monsters. They re very chic this week. You see, while Nic has been battering majestic species of endangered giganto-moose in our Monster Hunter World: Iceborne review, I have been working hard to catalogue the frostiest freaks this side of video gaming. Here you go, the 8 coldest monsters in PC games.
Humble's Winter Sale is in season, and along with deals on thousands of games it's a great time to toss a coin at The Witcher series on the Humble Store. From now until January 23, you'll find The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its Game of The Year Edition (which includes its two expansions) for 70 percent off. That makes The Witcher 3 $12 and the GOTY Edition $15, a nice savings, especially if you missed Steam's last sale.
Expansions are on sale as well: you can save 60 percent off The Witcher 3 expansions Blood and Wine ($8) and Hearts of Stone ($4), or get them bundled together for $10. You'll also find The Witcher Enhanced Director's Cut and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition for 85 percent off, which means you can pick them both up for less than $5 combined.
Obviously, it's great time to get into The Witcher games if you never played them, and you'll have plenty of company—thanks to the success of The Witcher series on Netflix, The Witcher 3 recently attracted more concurrent players on Steam than it even had when the game first launched.
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Matt Cox)
I have no doubt that “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher“, the hit song from the Netflix Witcher series, is destined for greatness. It’s got 11 million views on YouTube. Children are chanting it in the street. The music industry is reeling. Before I came along, though, nobody had grabbed a lute and played the song at impoverished Mordhau players. I expected adoration, and that I might inspire songs of my own. Legends about the brave vanguard of pop culture.
Turbulent winds howl as rain batters the weathered precipices. Wolves can be heard in the distance, likely feasting on a carcass less fortunate than they, while miles away regular farmhands sit around a table, guzzling Viziman Champion as they wager their own boots to break even in Gwent.
Away from it all, stood atop a sequestered crag, Geralt of Rivia patiently awaits the sunrise after completing his contract. The world is quiet here: "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead," Sylvia Plath writes in Mad Girl's Love Song. "I lift my lids and all is born again." Such is the case in The Witcher 3.
If you've recently finished the Witcher Netflix series, which revels in its confidently kitschy adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's illustrious saga, then you're probably wondering where to go next. The Witcher was commissioned for a second season before its inaugural one even aired, but there will likely be at least a year between the two. But you're already hungry for more: where's all the good food?
The popularity of The Witcher Netflix series is bringing more people to the games than ever, with The Witcher 3 breaking its record for concurrent players on Steam just last week, nearly five years after release with over 100,000 players. It's safe to say that Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia carries the same magnetism as Doug Cockle's, the grumpy charmer we know and love.
But why not make the two things we love into one thing we love? Toss a coin to your witcher and toss aside your aversion to the uncanny: we're making a monster—a monster hunter by plastering Henry Cavill's face and body on The Witcher 3's Geralt.
And we're going to do it right.
We've already written about the Henry Cavill face mod for The Witcher 3 before, but there's been a steady stream of 'retextures' in its wake. There's also a couple body mods, a sword mod, an armor mod, and plenty more to consider. Let's sift through them all and find the best Henry trimmings for our baked Geralt.
Adnan did the difficult work of shaping Henry's face and body, but something's wrong the way the light hits it. The furrowed brow, eyes, and cheekbones make our boy look like a damn wraith rather than a macho monster hunter with poison coursing through his veins. This is a great foundation, geometrically speaking, but the retextures are where the magic happens.
A big no-no for me. Our guy is still looking like a weird stunt double. Yian hasn't done much to Adnan's work, though the big draw for this mod is the Hearts of Stone option. If you want to make sure Geralt's runic face drawing fits on Skele-Cavill in the HoS expansion, this is a decent mod to have around, but it's still a little too damp and—I can't quite articulate what's wrong here—inverted? Like one of those hollow-face optical illusions where a concave mask has the appearance of a convex face that follows you where ever you go. It's creepy is what I'm saying.
Score: Specialty face-tattoo/Mustache removed with CGI
Now we're talking. Easily my favorite face for the purposes of The Witcher 3. This face darkens Henry a bit by ironically making him paler, which highlights the stubble and contours of his face for a more natural, witchery look, and adds a Striga scar to fit Henry comfortably into the game's timeline. This is the face texture to use.
Geralt's hair is a bit longer in the show than the hair the game starts with, so I recommend going with something long as soon as you find a barber. To really accentuate those locks while keeping our beloved hair physics intact, try out CraniumJ's alternative long hair mod. It's glossier and more responsive to wind.
It ain't a perfect recreation, but we'll take it for now. Dimkich's steel sword mod aims to recreate one of Geralt's Netflix blades for use in The Witcher 3. It's not the most detailed model, a bit too simple with the color and geometry, but at a glance it looks familiar enough.
This mod's a must, as long as you're willing to forgo the specialty looks and stats the game's armor provides. ReplicantPolice's Viper Armor nails the look of Netflix Geralt's studded leather getup.
If you'd prefer to keep the lovely in-game armor around and just swap out a sigil, Jatodude1's alternate amulets mod will suffice. It changes Geralt's pointy wolf pendant into the show's flat, circular version, and it's supported a good spread of popular armor sets. Ciri and Yen also get new amulets based on the symbols used in the show.
While there's no dynamic Cavill face mod that looks applies corpse paint in the lavish layers the show goes for as his toxicity increases, we can at least make his eyes turn black and light veins pop around his eyes.
Cavill doesn't grow much facial hair in the Netflix show, but throughout a playthrough of The Witcher 3, a beard is an inevitability. Problem is, slapping a new face on vanilla Geralt doesn't automatically change where hair is gonna sprout from. This beard mod from Skaters122 replaces the Mutton Chop facial hair with a beard custom built for Henry's square jaw.
And there you have it. He doesn't animate as well as vanilla Geralt and Cockle's VO is a bit less strained and deep than Cavill's, but we've successfully melded two worlds into one—a conjunctions of spheres, if you will. We're only a few weeks out from the show's release, too, so expect even more Henry mods to trickle out from now until Netflix stops changing Geralt's outfit. With a second season of The Witcher already confirmed, we'll at least get a few more years of this good stuff.
