The Witcher: Old World Review - An Absolute Must-Have for Witcher Fans

Go On Board launched a successful kickstarter for The Witcher: Old World last year, and after some time with the game, all signs pointed to the final product being a must-have for fans of the franchise. Now with the full game in hand, we can safely say that Go On Board absolutely knocked it out of the park. The Witcher: Old World tasks players with taking down monsters and occasionally each other in a contest to be recognized as the top Witcher of the land. Many of the franchise's key elements are brilliantly conveyed through gameplay and wrapped in a stunning visual presentation. Some will be disappointed that this game doesn't feature the franchise's biggest characters, but once you're a few rounds in you'll likely be too lost in the experience to care.

The Witcher: Old World has you playing as one of five Witchers, each from a different Witcher school. Those are School of the Wolf, Griffin, Cat, Viper, and Bear, and each Witcher features a unique Specialty that can only be upgraded at either their School location or one other city. The specialties can greatly come in handy, allowing you to draw cards from your deck, alter your opponent's cards, and raise your shield level among other abilities.

There are a variety of ways to evolve your Witcher and add to your advantage throughout the game, but one of the main ways you'll be doing so is through drawing cards from the Action Card deck, and 6 cards from that deck are always available on the board at any given time. After each of your turns, you'll draw one card from this deck, which affects future battles and movement options. The cards themselves are beautifully illustrated, but they also stylishly present a bevy of information, as you'll be able to discern where you can move, initial attacks, and combo abilities all within the framework of one card.

Old World will have you fighting Witchers if you so choose, but more often than not you'll be dueling monsters, especially if you want to claim the top spot first. That means as the game moves along you'll be utilizing those action cards quite a bit, and thankfully the game's combat more than delivers. You'll be attempting to utilize your hand of cards to form combos, and these combos will dictate how you maneuver in one round of a monster fight. Depending on the hand you have, you might only have one combo to play that only does a bit of damage and perhaps shields you from some from your opponent. As the game moves on though you'll start adding more cards and therefore options to your deck, and you can start doing more damage, raising your shield level, grabbing cards from your discard pile, and more.

Here's an example: Action cards are divided into 5 colors, which are Blue (Fast Attack), Red (Strong Attack), Green (Dodge), Yellow (Defensive Sign), and Purple (Offensive Sign), and each one features a slice of that color on the left hand side of the card. Some cards will then have an extension that features a different color, and that allows you to combo with that color card if you have it. You can continue that chain as long as you have more tabs and matching colors, and those tabs may also have symbols to activate as well. Let's say I start with a green card that has one attack, but it also has an extension that is yellow with a symbol that says you can draw the top card from the discard pile. Then that card has a purple extension with an attack symbol, and you add one more purple card with an attack and defense symbol. Once you've formed your combo, you move from left to right, attributing damage, shields, and abilities, so you would have 3 attack, 1 shield, and the option to put a card from your discard pile into your hand.

Combos can extend further and as you pick up cards from the action deck, you'll start picking up cards that allow more combo options and abilities per card. That's necessary because the monsters you're fighting will get more powerful as the game goes on, represented by imposing miniatures on the board. The monsters system is also delightfully streamlined as the Monster Deck gives you two choices with every card. Another player will form the monster's life pool with cards from the Monster Deck, and before they draw one they will choose to charge or bite. Then they will execute that attack by flipping the card over and seeing what the attack is, which is typically either doing straight damage or trying to get rid of your Witcher's cards in some way to hinder their turn. This greatly increases when you introduce Legendary Monsters to the mix, but that's for another time.

You can't just dive into a monster fight though, as you'll need to bulk up a bit in levels and potions to stand a chance. You'll do that by traveling to different locations and utilizing Location Actions to enhance your skills, earn money, and more, and these cities will also be where you can explore and take on quests. In Phase 2 you can either Fight, Mediate, or Explore, and you can explore either in The City or The Wilds. Those two decks have story quests that have two different responses you can choose from, and some of those will give you immediate positives or negatives or provide you with a quest option, which typically requires you to move to a specific location to complete it. The quests feel like they jumped right out of the Witcher universe, and though they don't feature the franchise's most well-known characters, they are still a joy to read and discover.

Iconic Witcher elements are also represented through Potions and Trails. You can pick up Potions by going to certain cities or by leveling up your Alchemy Level, and these potions will give you certain abilities to aid you in combat. Meanwhile, you can go to certain cities on the board and pick up a trail of a monster. If you complete that trail you will get the first turn in combat with a monster of that matching trail, which are divided into Forest, Water, and Mountain, just like the Terrain symbols on your cards.

That's not even diving into things like Dice Poker, Monster Trophies, Witcher Fights, and the risk and reward of the Action Deck selection on the board, as cards become cheaper as they move along it but can also completely fall off the board before you can pick them up. All of this is wonderfully represented on the board itself, and the character boards are just as if not more impressive, as they house so much in a stylish manner without taking up a substantial amount of real estate.

The Witcher: Old World took a different angle on The Witcher franchise, and it succeeded in spades. Old World is a gorgeous game to look at and is even more incredible to play, and for fans of the franchise, I couldn't recommend this more.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Published By: Go On Board, CD Projekt Red

Designed By: Lukasz Wozniak

Art By: Bogna Gawronska and Damien Mammoliti

The Witcher: Old World is available in stores now.

Review copy provided by the publisher