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The World of the Witcher: Video Game Compendium Hardcover – May 19, 2015
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- Print length184 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDark Horse Books
- Publication dateMay 19, 2015
- Dimensions9.3 x 0.82 x 12.4 inches
- ISBN-109781616554828
- ISBN-13978-1616554828
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Product details
- ASIN : 1616554827
- Publisher : Dark Horse Books (May 19, 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 184 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781616554828
- ISBN-13 : 978-1616554828
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 9.3 x 0.82 x 12.4 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #43,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #47 in Video Game Art (Books)
- #90 in Dark Horse Comics & Graphic Novels
- #111 in Pop Culture Art
- Customer Reviews:
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Customer Review: Wonderful game companion to The Witcher
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About the author
CD Projekt (Polish pronunciation: [ˌsiːˈdi ˈprɔjɛkt̪]) is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, which was founded in 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video-game retailers before they founded the company. CD Projekt is best known for their The Witcher series of video games and their digital-distribution service, GOG.com.
The company began translating major Western video-game releases into Polish, collaborating with Interplay Entertainment for two Baldur's Gate games. CD Projekt was working on the PC version of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance when Interplay experienced financial difficulties. The game was cancelled and the company decided to reuse the code for their own video game. It became The Witcher, a video game based on the works of Andrzej Sapkowski.
After the release of The Witcher, CD Projekt worked on a console port called The Witcher: White Wolf; but development issues and increasing costs almost led the company to the brink of bankruptcy. CD Projekt later released The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, their first open world video games, which received positive critical reviews. The company's upcoming project is Cyberpunk 2077, an open-world role-playing game based on the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop system.
A video game distribution service, GOG.com was established by CD Projekt to help players find old games. Its mission is to offer DRM-free games for players and its service was expanded to cover new AAA and independent games. The company opposes digital rights management in video games, and hopes that free downloadable content becomes an industry standard. CD Projekt considers maintaining their independence one of their most important strategies. The company currently focuses on the international market, particularly Europe and North America, and spun off its Polish business cdp.pl in 2014.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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The book is presented under the pretext of a compendium providing information about the witcher, Geralt, his adventures, and peripheral information. The compendium is composed by Dandelion, poet and long-time friend of Geralt. He collects works of other authors and statements from main characters to compile an extensive and entertaining historical, biographical, scholarly piece of literature. His voice and character, wit and pomp, are heard throughout the work.
The first chapter is a very broad history of the world, from times before humans inhabited it to the times when humans ruled over it. It provides information about the Northern kingdoms, the empire of Nilfgaard. and other places, as well as political factions and relations. It's apparently from the scholarship of a golden dragon named Villentretenmerth. It's a bit of an annoying and bizarre read because the dragon speaks in first, second, and third person; and has a great disdain or at least cynicism toward humans. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating look at the history of the world and how it came to be as it is at the time of the Wild Hunt.
The second chapter provides information about witchers, their origin, their creation, and the tools of their trade (medallion, blades, signs, etc.). It was narrated by Vesemir, Geralt's mentor and, according to this book, probably the oldest living witcher. This was definitely my favorite chapter: a pleasant and enthralling read. I actually felt as if Vesemir really wrote, hearing his age old wisdom and world weariness.
The third chapter concerns magic and religion.The magic section is perhaps the most intriguing information from the book because it is so well-composed and critically analyzed. The religion section is, well, about religion: the cult of Melitele, the Order of the Flaming Rose, Druids, etc. This chapter is narrated by powerful sorceress and Geralt's long-time lover, Yennefer of Vengerberg. Even more so than Vesemir, I thought a brilliant job was done in convincing the reader that it was her authentic voice - her stern attitude, dry wit, intellect, and intuition. Personally, I don't really like her character as a "person," but I respect her; this chapter smartly captures the essence of the characteristics I respect in her.
Then we arrive at the fourth chapter, a bestiary and brief description of the monsters of the witcher (you know, drowners, wraiths, dragons, trolls, etc.). The guide is pretty good, yes. But my problem is its narrator, none other than the man himself, Geralt of Rivia. This chapter hardly felt as though it were in the voice of Geralt, save for a few references to his adventures and misadventures. To be fair though, it is what Dandelion recorded from conversations with Geralt, so not exactly his writings. But his character is utterly vacant from this chapter, which is a tad disappointing, as he is, you know, the main character. Nevertheless, this does not detract from the chapter as a whole - it's a very interesting read.
The fifth and final chapter is a rapid overview of Geralt's story. It mostly concerns his destiny with that of Ciri, the fabled Child of Destiny and his adoptive daughter. The information seems to be taken from the books as well as all three games in the series. On that note, reading the entirety of this chapter will spoil the ending of the third installment; I myself stopped short of the last page because I've yet to finish the game. The fast-paced nature of this chapter can be confusing to one not oriented with the story, but if you want a broad picture and some colorful detail, this will satiate you. Speaking of colorful, this chapter, most of all, and naturally, captures the voice of its narrator, Dandelion himself: a tender recount of the history of his friends, and an inflated sense of his own importance in the events of the story.
The art throughout the work is beautiful and, more often than not, relevant. However it is clearly not the focus of this book, as a great deal of it is used and reused, pasted here and there. Much of it is stuff you've perhaps seen before from promotional material. Nonetheless, it enhances the narrative and the aesthetics of the guide.
In summary, The World of the Witcher is a fun, fascinating, and informative read. The inclusion of characters as narrators is a treat, but not as well done as it could have been. The art is nice, but not impressive and certainly on-the-budget. If you're interested in Geralt, his story, and his world, I would highly recommend this compendium.
About the book, this book not only contains that marvelous art from the game but also uses the narrative to tell you the history of the characters, beasts, world, etc.
This is indeed a book made thinking on the W3 fans.
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2022
The book breaks down into five parts, each with a different narrator:
1 - The World and Its Inhabitants (3.5/5): narrated by Three Jackdaws/Villentretenmerth, it provides a pretty good overview of the world and its history, though it's still pretty barebones. I'd rate this section higher if it at least provided a map of the Northern Kingdoms, but alas, no such luck.
2 - The Witchers (4/5): narrated by Vesemir. One of the better parts of the book, as it gives a brief history of the witcher trade, their training and techniques, and the origins of the enmity they face from the common folk. It doesn't go into detail about the different Witcher Schools, which is the only real weak point of the chapter.
3 - The Magic and Religion of the Continent (3.5/5): narrated by Yennefer. Pretty simple overview of how magic works and the different religions, though it's not the most interesting read.
4 - The Beasts of the Northern Kingdoms (1/5): narrated by Geralt. This is the weakest part of the book by far; it only talks about a few monsters (about two or three per category), and barely gives any details on them. You'll learn far more about their strengths and weaknesses by playing the games.
5 - The Story of Geralt of Rivia (5/5): narrated by Dandelion. Exactly what the chapter title says; it covers Geralt's story from The Last Wish all the way up through The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. THIS is what you buy the book for; it gives you the full story of Geralt of Rivia without having to read the books (though I recommend the books, as they're quite good).
Artwork (5/5): as I said above, the artwork in this book is fantastic. Admittedly, some of it is basically promotional images from the video games, but even that is well done.
Overall, it's a solid book if you're a fan of the Witcher series; just don't expect a full bestiary or great detail on the kingdoms.
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Reviewed in India on June 8, 2023