"[Geralt] caught sight of Regis looking at him intently. 'Is that a fresh injury?'

"'Not really. But it's tormenting me. Do you have any herbs capable of soothing the pain?'"

- Baptism of Fire by A. Sapkowski, pp.128

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Hello and welcome to the first of our Clash of Fans write-ups. This week we'll be getting together in pairs (virtually) and forcing each other to play a beloved game. Then we'll chat about what we made of it all. First up is Spintires and Thronebreaker!

Chris: I have sort of fallen off of collectible card games over the last few years, and in the back of my mind I think they've all become variations on Hearthstone. This is wrong, obviously, but it's taken Thronebreaker to remind me of that. For the first ten minutes I was filtering everything through the question of - how does Hearthstone handle this? But very quickly that ceases to be meaningful.

A few initial observations - there is so much here beyond the cards. The overworld map, the resources and all that jazz, the camps. And the writing. God, so much storytelling all over the place. I am a story-skipper by nature, and you can just about do that here, but it's clear the care and pride that's involved in bedding this card game into the Witcher world.

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Stationary, uniforms, maybe a new laptop - that's what we'd usually expect to see in a Back to School sale. Not for GOG, though. Instead, the cheeky focus is on parents who now have some extra time on their hands to game again.

And there are some serious timesinks available for cheap in the GOG Back to School sale. Massive RPGs, engrossing sims and gripping stories are all well represented, with savings of up to 90 per cent up for grabs.

Of course, as we're dealing with CD Projekt here, you can find the entire Witcher series on sale. If you're still yet to play the latest entry, you can get The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition for 10.49. This complete version of the game comes with all previously released DLC. That's both the Hearts of Stone and the Blood and Wine expansions, as well as over a dozen smaller content packs.

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What fine rump Henry Cavill has - a super bottom, you could say - so why not slap it on the poster for Netflix's new Witcher TV show?

Exactly. Which is why Cavill, turned away from camera, decked out in full Witcher garb, is the lead image for the show. And it's a clever shot, because bum aside, it's how you see Geralt (the character Cavill is playing) for hours and hours when you play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game. It's familiar. It's saying, "This is the character you know."

Oh, and his carrying only one sword in place of the two you're used to seeing him with in the games? As people have pointed out in the comments below: Geralt carries one sword in the books, leaving the other with his horse Roach for when he needs it. And the show, remember, is based on the books, not the games.

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Netflix has confirmed that its Witcher television adaptation will air toward the end of this year, putting it a little ahead of its originally anticipated 2020 release date.

The news comes via a Netflix investor call, as reported by Deadline, in which chief content officer Ted Sarandso revealed that the fantasy drama would arrive in Q4, narrowing its launch down to some time in the last three months of 2019.

Netflix's series, if you're unfamiliar, is explicitly based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels, rather than CD Projeckt's video game adaptation, with Sapkowski serving as creative consultant. Showrunning and writing duties are being handled by Lauren Hissrich.

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UPDATE 8th December 2018: Following the publication of this article, Sean Halliday was revealed to have ties to a website called Exclusively Games, owned by someone with links to GamerGate. Halliday told Eurogamer he had been offered a job by Exclusively Games and had been flagged as a moderator while considering the position. But, he told Eurogamer today, he has since declined the offer of a job.

ORIGINAL STORY 6th December: On 22nd October, Polish game seller GOG - a part of CD Projekt - found itself in trouble again on Twitter. It had insensitively appropriated the trans civil rights hashtag WontBeErased. "Classic PC games #WontBeErased on our watch," it tweeted. "Yeah, how's that for some use of hashtags?"

GOG quickly deleted the tweet but not before the internet noticed, and a stink was kicked up. Not only was it a problem on its own, but it was the third problematic tweet in a handful of months from inside CD Projekt. Once is a mistake; three times?

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Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, which we've reviewed and Recommended, hasn't sold as strongly as CD Projekt Red hoped.

Here's the admission by joint-CEO Adam Kiciński in a CDP financial call yesterday: "The game appealed to the community, which drove up our expectations regarding sales. Unfortunately, as yet, these expectations have not been fulfilled. Still, we remain optimistic ... We expect to continue to sell Thronebreaker for many years to come, even though the initial period may not have lived up to our initial expectations."

"The reach of GOG is incomparably smaller than that of Steam" -Adam Kiciński

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UPDATE 15TH NOVEMBER: There was a minor update to this story during a call discussing CD Projekt's Q3 2018 earnings. Joint-CEO Adam Kiciński referred to the issue as "an open one", intimating no decision either way had been made.

"Until we have reached a significant milestone we intend to withhold comments," Kiciński told investors. "The issue is an open one, and when we feel we have information which can be shared with the world - in terms of specific outcomes - you will hear from us. For now, we will refrain from comments."

ORIGINAL STORY 2ND OCTOBER: Remember when Andrzej Sapkowski, creator of The Witcher fiction, told me he'd been "stupid" rejecting a percentage of the profits while selling the video game rights to CD Projekt Red all those years ago?

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