The Witcher dev says the combat is rhythmic for a reason and “drinking beer” is part of it

Some of us can’t wait for The Witcher 4 (especially since it might include elements from the new Crossroads of Ravens book) and are digging into every rumor about the upcoming game. Meanwhile, The Witcher 3 surprised everyone with a brand-new anniversary edition. But let’s take a step back to where it all started: the very first game in the series, released almost 18 years ago, which looks nothing like the games we know today.

Everything finally makes sense

Artur Ganszyniec, the Lead Story Designer for the original The Witcher (and who also did some work on The Witcher 2), started a YouTube series about a month ago. He’s playing through the first game while adding his own commentary and sharing some very interesting behind-the-scenes stories.

In the first video, while going through the prologue, Ganszyniec dropped some surprisingly insightful thoughts about the combat system, and let’s just say, nobody saw that coming.

Around the 23-minute mark, the dev talks about the whole idea of rhythmic combat. Ganszyniec explains it like this:

And if you’ve read the books, the whole rhythmic combat actually lines up with what Geralt tells Ciri. He’s always stressing that witcher swordplay isn’t about brute force – it’s about smooth, dance-like movements. He teaches her to find a rhythm in her strikes and parries, like a dance where timing and precision are everything.

To make combat in The Witcher 1 more strategic, there’s more than one fighting style, and we’ve got to pick the right one for each opponent. Some enemies need a quick, agile approach, while others call for heavier, stronger attacks.

Source: The Witcher; Developer: CD Projekt RED

A lot of us found the combat in the original Witcher a bit awkward, clunky, or slow compared to other RPGs, so it’s likely to get some changes in the upcoming Remake. But now that we know the wonderful backstory behind why it was designed that way, maybe Fool’s Theory, the studio handling the remake, will approach it with a more forgiving eye. Hopefully, they’ll just update the most outdated mechanics while keeping that old-school Witcher feel, complete with Easter eggs, like the sarcastic letter from the book series’ author that appeared in the first game.

The Witcher

October 26, 2007

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• action RPG
• CD Projekt RED
• The Witcher (franchise)