Geralt’s trip from the pages of Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels to the games we know today was not an easy one.
Polish gaming site Arhn.eu published a documentary today titled on YouTube as “The Witcher’s video game history,” telling the story of the first Witcher game’s development. (Update 4:50 ET: a commenter has translated the thumbnail to “White Wolf: The history of digital Witcher.)
Although it’s in Polish, English subtitles are available.
In it, the developers of The Witcher tell stories of hardship and trials, and even discussions with Sapkowski over the writing and characterization of leading man Geralt of Rivia. One developer relates a correspondence with Sapkowski over the end of Chapter 3, in the Kikimore lair, where the player can find a letter written to the Professor. The team inserted a phrase written by Sapkowski basically verbatim, a proud moment for them.
“However, I must insist you cease referring to him as a ‘son-of-a-bitch’—appellations of that nature are entirely inaccurate, inappropriate and painfully primitive.”
Other little tidbits include a mysterious missing mission and other strange facts about the development of the game. At almost two hours it’s a hefty run-time, but worth your time if you want to see how The Witcher made the jump to games and laid the foundation for some excellent games to come.