In the last month, Netflix successfully influenced a lot of people into watching The Witcher series. Like many, even I have responded to a “Did you watch the show?” with a snarky “No, but I have played a bit of the game and it is way cooler”. Although I have discussed ‘Witcher 3’ before, at the risk of making this sound like a game vs the series review, I will soldier on as to why the game is really, “cooler”.
A deeper understanding of the universe
Playing the game consumes a lot of time. A single main event can take hours to complete. Side quests involve a lot of horse riding, multiple deaths, some random encounters and unavoidable detours. Agreed, content these days are best consumed in small amounts.
But if you truly want to understand Geralt better, and the entire Witcher universe, there is no superior method than to walk through the muddy roads and sniff out clues using your Witcher senses, and occasionally ride with Roach (the horse). Although the show is somewhat faithful to the original books, the cultural impact of the games is far greater — and for good reason.
You can skip dialogues
The show will have you think that smiling or talking in any expression that is differentiable from a robotic sorrowful voice is frowned upon in the Witcher world. The reviews will have you applaud at those sparse instances of self-aware dark humour in the show, as if it were enough to diffuse the overall seriousness. If you’ve played the game before, you will understand that pressing need to click a button that will help you skip that dialogue cutscene — because you’ve already read the essence of the exchange in the subtitles.
You choose your own story
Watching the show once you play the game can be a little unsettling — especially when I realise that I cannot control what Geralt says or does next. Does he pluck some herbs from near the tavern? Does he loot boxes that eventually captures the attention of the Nilfgaardian soldiers? Will he lose another game of Gwent? Who knows?! Although I am not particularly good at the card game, and the game does feature some of the characters from the game’s deck: I rate the game a Gwenty out of ten, because its strategic logic can potentially outweigh the entertainment you would get from the books and show combined.