The Witcher

While the worlds of even successful RPGs often get built around boilerplate lore that wouldn't pass muster in the cheapest of paperbacks, this sucker has hundreds of thousands of words of history flowing in its background. Marginalized peoples mount desperate insurgencies, powerful alchemical mixtures can be as damaging as they are vital, and right and wrong are seldom as clear cut as we might like.

It's a good thing, too, because the developers are promising a storyline that twists and turns based on genuinely interesting decisions. For instance, you come across Elves who've locked away some humans in a dangerous underground chamber; you have time to slaughter the elves, or rescue the humans, but not both. Which is the lesser evil? You simply won't know until hours later, when the ripple effect has had time to reach shore. Forget about saving before a major decision and reloading if you aren't jazzed about the outcome. Hopefully this intriguing and empowering storytelling won't lose anything vital in the translation minefield.

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