The Witcher Interview
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Q: Freedom and non-linearity. How does The Witcher handle those concepts?
A: Freedom in our game is best characterized in the character development system. The Character development system in The Witcher is based on skills progression. There are over special skills you will be able to access and apply to Geralt. This type of freedom results in the player ultimately having his own version of Geralt.
A big focus from the beginning of our design was to make the game non-linear, both on the level of minor decisions and solving small problems, as well as on the global level. A good example of this first non-linearity is in obtaining the key to the house of the rich merchant. In order to do this, we can either get the merchants drunk and make him believe that his house is haunted, bribe the guard to give us the key to the house, or persuade the local thugs (whom we helped earlier) to take care of things for us.
Non-linearity in the global sense means that one can go through the entire game in several different ways; decisions that the player makes over the course of the game lead to one of several distinct conclusions. It is important that, unlike in other games, we do not take a single decision at the end, which determines the finale. Characters whom we have helped will assist us in turn, and those whom we have left in need will turn their backs on us. The conclusion is the sum of many decisions that we have made.
