For those who have yet to experience this winner of multiple 2007 RPG of the Year awards, The Witcher tells the story of Geralt, a man whose title of witcher dictates that he protect humans from monsters. Lauded for its mature plot and emphasis on gray-area decisions, Geralt's story is one that forces gamers to make difficult decisions and live with them -- or at least try to, as the enemies Geralt encounters are rarely easy to kill.

Not content to hide The Witcher's flaws behind a mask of bonus features, CD Projekt took the game to re-write and re-record over 5000 lines of dialogue, capture new animations, tweak the inventory system, add voice and subtitle support for a bevy of languages, significantly reduce load times, add an alchemy bag to the inventory screen in order to separate alchemy elements from Geralt's other findings, and more. CD Projekt loves their baby, and it shows.


Especially wonderful are the reduced load times, which are much more bearable realistic within the context of PC games released over the past two years. No longer will players cringe when they realize a particular quest will take them in and out of several buildings - entering and exiting structures still prompts a bit of loading, but the time passes swiftly and is no longer anything to complain about.

Perhaps the main attraction for those who have already completed The Witcher are the two new adventures, each of which features new areas, characters, and three to five new quests and as many additional gameplay hours. Side Effects follows Geralt as attempts to help his best friend, Dandelion, escape trouble his friend has gotten himself involved in, while The Price of Neutrality tasks Gerald with deciding the fate of a woman who has been accused of being cursed by a busty sorceress.

Time spent waiting for the game and bonus content to install -- which, if combined with voiceover and subtitle support for all included languages, will consume approximately 13 gigabytes of hard drive space -- is best used to marvel at Enhanced Edition's extra content: one behind-the-scenes DVD, the official game soundtrack on one disc and music inspired by The Witcher on another, a mini guide which walks players through the game and all moral forks that branch from its extensive road, a short story penned by Andrzej Sapkowski, the author who wrote the books on which The Witcher is based, and a full map of Geralt's mesmerizing world, and the D'jinn adventure editor which can be used to craft your own stories long after you've finished Geralt's.


It's hard to voice legitimate complaints in the face of swag that spans five DVDs and two plump booklets, but we have one, minor though it may be: a digital instruction manual can be found on The Witcher DVD, but would a paper manual have been so hard to produce? True, the guidebook and short story are both of tremendous quality, and referencing the manual is as easy as popping in the appropriate disc, but reading at the computer is uncomfortable for many.

How much will all of this bountiful booty cost you? The meager price of $39.99. With everything that The Witcher: Enhanced Edition includes, CD Projekt and publisher Atari wouldn't have been thought greedy to charge at least $60, but they didn't. When one considers the price of most special editions, $40 could be considered a budget price.

If you haven't gotten the chance to play The Witcher, you would be remiss to pass up The Witcher: Enhanced Edition. A re-tweaked core game coupled with extra adventures ensures that you'll be able to suitably ensconce yourself in a rich, dark fantasy world for many, many hours, and when you actually see fit to take a break, the bonus material should keep you preoccupied until you inevitably wander back to your mouse and keyboard.


But what if you've already finished the main game? This decision is a bit trickier, as it's sometimes hard to justify the purchase of re-released when so many new titles are being released. Even so, this reviewer confidently says "yes." The game's technical issues have largely been fixed, and the extra content should take the sting out of your wallet's decreased weight.

Buy with confidence, good reader. Despite its one-year birthday looming just over the horizon, The Witcher is undoubtedly one of the best RPGs gamers will experience this year. A quality game coupled with so much loot at such a cheap price makes The Witcher: Enhanced Edition not only fun-filled action-adventure romp, but a blueprint of an exemplary special edition package that all publishers are advised to follow.