Polish developer CD Projeckt aims to take the storytelling aspect of RPGs to a whole new level with The Witcher.

Inspired by the works of renowned Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher takes place in a very harsh, mature world full of social issues such as racism, genocide, political intrigue and moral ambiguity. Players must choose between the lesser of two evils instead of right and wrong choices.

Atari has touted this RPG as "the pinnacle of storytelling in role-playing games" based on an immersive game world created with an "artists first, technology second" mentality. With hopes of returning to the genre's glory days, The Witcher emphasizes old school story and character development where the player's choices shape who the character becomes. Fortunately, there will be a lot of fast, tactically deep, real-time combat as well.

Players take on the role of Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster killer, also known as a Witcher. Trained from birth to hunt and kill, Geralt's master swordsman abilities along with supernatural strength and a host of magical powers make him a formidable killer.

According to Sapkowski's fiction, Witchers once built their reputations by killing monsters in return for money. However, the monster killers are dying off and the sterile Witchers face extinction. As the story opens Geralt has been missing for several years. Further complicating matters, the white-haired Witcher has amnesia, so a chunk of the story entails uncovering bits and pieces of his past. 

As players progress through the game, they obtain experience points and level up to gain access to the over 250 skills available to him. They can then develop a vast number of correlated abilities (like agility and endurance), combat skills and magical powers that can be customized with active and passive modifiers. Interestingly, a plethora of non-combat abilities and social skills are also available for development; including stealing, fighting, haggling, eating, gambling and even alcohol consumption. In fact, increasing this particular ability not only allows Geralt to drink more, but also opens up side quests. Players will have to choose wisely since they can't all be obtained, nor maxed out the first time through (intentionally designed for the replay factor).

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