The Witcher: Monster Slayer is Pokemon Go meets Elder Scrolls: Blades and we played it

Date:
Sun, 18 Jul 2021 12:00:39 +0000

Description:
The Witcher mobile game, called Witcher: Monster Slayer, brings the dark fantasy series to your smartphone.

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The Witcher began as a dark fantasy book series before exploding in
popularity with the eponymous video games, and the franchise has reached new audiences with the Netflix TV show. Naturally, the time seems ripe for a mobile game to land big with fans so get ready for a game inspired byPokmon Go?

Yes, The Witcher: Monster Slayer, a new game developed by Poland-based studio Spokko set for a global launch on July 21, is a location-based mobile game that overlays your surroundings with fantastical environments chock full of monsters and quests. Similar to game developer Niantics hit Pokmon Go, youll have to wander around IRL to encounter challenging enemies, harvest items,
and explore the story.

The game is a bit of a blend of Pokmon Go and Elder Scrolls: Blades instead of capturing monsters, youll swipe your finger to slash them with your sword, though youll probably want to prepare with oils, potions, bombs, and magic suited for each foe, just like in the main games. But Monster Slayer has something unique that fits its rich literary, interactive, and cinematic origins: story. (Image credit: Future)

Its not that easy on mobile to make a story-driven game, and its even tougher to make a location-based game, but that creates many, many opportunities,
said The Witcher: Monster Slayer Quest Designer and Story Lead Przemek Tarczyski to TechRadar in an interview. I dont think anybody else ever tried it, at least at such scale or with such success.

Monster Slayer will have a progression of quests that tell a story fitting
the dark, dangerous world of the Witcher. Players will, of course, play one
of the titular magic-enhanced warriors, and follow both a main storyline told through 2D-animated cinematics and dialogue between characters using the
games 3D engine. While the games developers didnt want to spoil the details, they hinted at an epic story worthy of the franchise.

But dont worry, youll also stumble upon some familiar Witcher quests
requiring some monster-killing dirty work, like getting asked to chase down a villager abducted by Nekkars, Tarczyski told us youll just have to run down the baddies in the real world this time. (Image credit: Future)

And along the way, dont be surprised if you run into some familiar faces from the franchise, but a heads up: Monster Slayer is set 200 years before the games and show begin, so dont expect to run into Gerald, Yennefer, Ciri, Dandelion (Jaskier to the Netflix watchers) or others who wouldnt fit such a timeline.

Starting the game earlier gives the team plenty of design space to tell new stories, especially since, in that era of the Witcher universe, there are far more of the monster hunters roaming around (slanderous propaganda turns the public against Witchers and their numbers are whittled down until few remain in Geralts time).

We found that this experience of being a Witcher and building your own story in that universe is something fresh, said Witcher: Monster Slayer Executive Producer Mateusz Janczewski. This will be a game about millions of Witchers
in the world, and we thought that would be something sexy that we thought would be cool for the players. Prepare your phones for the worldwide premiere of The Witcher: Monster Slayer coming to iOS and Android for free on July 21st! Android users can pre-register right now on the Google Play Store: https://t.co/wwzcA7PW4zSee you on the Path!#TheWitcherMonsterSlayer pic.twitter.com/rFfYXl6pIG July 2, 2021 See more Wotcher, Witcher

The Witcher: Monster Slayer is a free-to-play mobile game, which means
players can run through the game without spending any money but if they
want, theyll be able to purchase extra resources to make equipment as well as combat items (like oils, potions, and bombs). Quests and story content wont cost anything extra and will be available to all players at launch.

The games story will be told in quests found out in the world at launch, six main quests and six hidden quests which players have to physically approach to engage with. While the Monster Slayer team agrees this is a tricky issue, especially for players who have limited mobility (some monsters and items
will randomly spawn around players, but quests seem to be some distance
away), the developers believe this is a core appeal of the game. Folks can play the Witcher 3 at home, but to experience Monster Slayer, they need to venture into the world and that can result in some serendipitous IRL experiences.

For example, it can be that the [quest objective] is on the other side of the river and you need to find a bridge and it wont be so close as you thought, and maybe you will need to visit the part of your city that you never
visited, Tarczyski said. Its kind of a LARP more than an RPG.

Theres something else unique that could make Monster Slayer one of the most hardcore RPG experiences ever, as Tarczyski puts it: the game is constantly saving your progress. If you make a decision in the story, its locked in forever (unless you want to start over with a new character), since you cant just load up an old save file. As he puts it, If you make a choice, you have to live with the consequences.

Those effects may not be felt immediately, but could have ramifications down the line: Monster Slayer will add more story quests with Seasons, which are expected to come twice a year. Seasons will add more content and fill out whats happening in a world set 200 years before that of the main games.

In theory, Monster Slayers story could catch up to the plot of the main
games, Janczewski noted, but thats a long timeline to fill before the mobile game catches up: At some point, because were doing the service game with free-to-play, maybe at some point well be able to get to the point when
Geralt is alive, you know? You never know what happened. (Image credit: Future) What its like to be a Witcher

In our time with an early build of The Witcher: Monster Slayer, it does feel like a game steeped in the world of the games, show, and books. We hacked and slashed our way through familiar enemies and prepared for fights with oils
and potions specifically tuned for monster groups. We drew signs on the
screen to cast magic (a V to spew fire with Igni, for instance, matching its glyph). We picked herbs off the ground to toss in a cauldron.

Monster Slayer clearly owes a lot to location-based games like Inverse and Pokemon Go, overlaying a map of my area with monsters, items, and other
places of interest. Its honestly more fun to hack apart enemies than it was
to catch Pokemon, but dont expect complex combat - the fun will mostly be in feeling like theres more going on in your neighborhood of a grim,
supernatural variety. (Image credit: Future)

Truth be told, we havent experienced the quests that the Spokko devs have singled out as the most unique parts of the game. Perhaps a lot of players wont, as theyll still enjoy a casual game that doesnt ask too much of their time - just a few minutes here and there as I pull up the game while out on a walk. The Monster Slayer devs know this:

Perhaps on a daily basis, youre not going to play the quests, but when you have the weekend and youve got an hour, then you can start the adventure and dive into it, Janczewski said.

Likewise, I didnt experience the real worlds impact on the game: rain or
other weather will change the kinds of monsters that appear, though I did see that different foes pop up after dark. There are even quests that change whether you complete them overnight, though the devs were coy about what
would be different while wandering around at the witching hour.

But its a new game that costs nothing to try and evokes the sense that more
is happening in our world. For fans of the franchise as well as mobile gamers looking for something to liven up their outdoor adventures - and find reasons to get out of the house - The Witcher: Monster Slayer will have plenty to offer, especially as we all wait for the second season of Netflix's Witcher show. This is the Steam Deck , Valve's handheld PC that looks like a Nintendo Switch



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/the-witcher-monster-slayer-brings-the-dark-fant asy-series-to-your-smartphone/


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