The Witcher 3 is undoubtedly one of the best role-playing games of recent years. Now the first board game from the Witcher universe has been released. But can such an analog adaptation actually work? MeinMMO author Linda B. is a big Witcher fan and has tested the game.
What is “The Witcher: Old World”?
- The Witcher: Old World is a board game from “Go on Board” in official collaboration with the developer of the Witcher video games “CD Projekt Red”.
- The game was funded through the crowdfunding platform “Kickstarter” and raised an impressive sum of €6,800,000 there.
- You can experience the game with 2-5 people in about 90-150 minutes.
Here you can get an impression in the official trailer for the board game:
We are again a Witcher, but Geralt is not there
One thing up front: the game takes place long before the events we know. Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, and co. are therefore not part of the action.
Instead, “The Witcher: Old World” lets us take on the role of a Witcher from one of 5 different Witcher schools. I already find this premise quite cool, as we haven’t seen much of the other Witcher schools so far.
With this Witcher, you then traverse the world, experience adventures, become stronger, defeat nasty monsters, and hopefully do so faster than your competitors.
How does the game work? In brief, each round you take three actions:
- You move your Witcher figure on the game board and can execute the effects of the places you visit
- You fight a monster or draw a story card
- You buy a new card for your deck
At its core, “The Witcher: Old World” is a deck-builder. This means that everyone starts with the same (bad) cards and improves their personal card deck throughout the game by buying new cards and discarding old ones.
The special trick is to manage the few hand cards properly. Each card can be used for movement, combat, or for buying new cards. This makes the purchase of new cards quite tricky, as everything must be considered at once.
In general, I find the deck-building mechanics here very innovative and well done. Many deck builders, for example, face the problem that cards cannot be removed often enough, leading to the deck literally getting cluttered. This is not the case here. At the same time, excessive power-play is prevented, as the number of cards at the same time represents your life points in combat. Thus, if you keep your deck small to constantly pull the super strong cards, you also have very little life.
But what about combat? My biggest concern before the first game was the combat system. Because at its core, it’s about fighting monsters. But how do you implement the action-packed combat system of a “Witcher 3” as a board game?
Here too, the game pleasantly surprised me with a cool mechanic.
Each card in your deck has a color representing a specific combat action – for example, dodge, fast attack, or heavy attack. Most cards also have one or more combination options that can be laid on cards of the corresponding color.
When it’s your turn in combat, you now try to create the strongest combination chain possible.
Thematically, this is really well implemented. After a dodge maneuver, you can deal a special quick hit, and as in Witcher 3, the combo ends after a heavy strike.
From PC to board game
Even aside from the combat system, you will find many small and large things in “The Witcher: Old World” that are familiar from Witcher 3.
My personal highlight are the “exploration cards”. These cards tell small stories that always fit seamlessly into the world and often contain allusions to known quests or stories. In the end, you have to choose one of two possible reactions, which naturally have different consequences.
The stories can also trigger ongoing side quests that you can hoard in the best role-playing manner.
Overall, there are 72 exploration and 56 quest cards in the base game. Of course, you’ll get to know some cards after a few games. However, I find the number to be completely sufficient for many hours of fun with the game. With the expansion “Adventure Set”, this number of cards will more than double again. However, the add-on is currently not available for purchase.
Of course, you also level up your Witcher in various disciplines, collect potions and “rumors” with valuable information about monsters to be as well prepared as possible for battle.
Monsters themselves should also be familiar to Witcher fans. Everything from the Necker nest to the Muhmen from the Buckleswamp to the forest clearings is represented.
And as a special bonus, there’s even a mini-game in the board game, “Dice Poker”. The simplified Yahtzee variation cannot compete with a Gwent from “Witcher 3”, but that would probably also exceed the scope here. And it’s a fun change of pace.
Overall, the game manages to capture the essence of “Witcher 3” very well and transport it into a new medium.
What is missing? Although you regularly make decisions in the game, the Witchers themselves remain largely characterless except for one special ability. In my opinion, the characters could have been more differentiated in terms of gameplay, but it doesn’t really detract from the experience.
Who would I recommend the game to?
I personally derive a lot of joy from the game. However, it is not suitable for everyone. If the following points apply to you, I would recommend the game:
1. Board game enthusiasts
Although the game is not overly complex in its mechanics, it could seem a bit “overwhelming” for newcomers to board games.
Due to the many different elements of the game, many small rules must also be considered. The included overview cards help tremendously in this regard. However, one can quickly get confused or forget something.
In addition, throughout a game you will accumulate quite a lot. And while in a video game effects often apply automatically, in a board game each effect must be considered individually. Keeping track of that is not so easy.
2. Witcher fans
Even though the game contains some cool mechanics, the many allusions to the original are what make its true charm.
If you have no connection to “The Witcher”, you probably don’t need to acquire this board game, especially given the price.
However, fans of “Witcher 3” can rediscover a lot and dive back into the world of Witchers and monsters.
3. Patient players
Since a player’s turn consists of several phases and many sub-actions, this can take some time, especially for players who like to think things through thoroughly.
Also, the monster fights involve longer phases, in which primarily one person plays. In matches with two players, this is hardly a problem since the other person takes over the monster’s turns.
However, in games with four or five players, I see the risk of too much “downtime”, meaning the time one must wait before it’s their turn again.
4. Adventurers
Although you compete against each other in the game, inter-player interaction is rather low. Primarily, you just snatch monsters from each other. While you can also fight against each other directly, in our games this has never happened since there was always more important things to do. However, this heavily depends on the player group.
Overall, “The Witcher: Old World” remains an adventure game in which the journey itself is the goal.
You definitely need a “Patch”
One of the biggest criticisms of “The Witcher: Old World” is probably the uniformity of monsters in combat. While each opponent has a special effect, the “combat cards” are always the same. This makes the monsters feel less varied than they should.
A noticeable improvement is brought by the expansion “Monster Hunt”. This adds a passive ability and 4 special attacks to each monster. Additionally, you can now discover specific “weaknesses” to gain advantages in combat.
Moreover, the expansion includes familiar bombs from Witcher 3, “Mutagen cards,” which allow you to further specialize your Witcher, as well as a new playable character.
However, “Monster Hunt” unfortunately belongs to the expansions that are not yet regularly available for purchase. If you enjoyed the base game until the release, I can only recommend it.
A word about miniatures: If you are a fan of “The Witcher” and miniatures, I warmly recommend the Deluxe version. In addition to the Witcher figures contained in the base game, you will receive miniatures for all 28 monsters.
All figures come in one piece and do not need to be assembled. The quality is surprisingly good for this.
What expansions are available? Since there are several different versions and expansions, here’s an overview along with roughly the associated prices:
- The Witcher: Old World (base game) (approx. €75)
- The Witcher: Old World (Deluxe version) (approx. €175)
- The Witcher: Old World – Legendary Monsters (expansion) (approx. €50)
- The Witcher: Old World – Skellige (expansion) (approx. €45)
- The Witcher: Old World – Sorceresses and Mages (expansion) (approx. €55)
The expansions “Monster Hunt,” “Adventure Set,” and “The Wild Hunt” (cooperative campaign) were previously only available during the Kickstarter campaign. However, they are also expected to be available for regular retail sale.
“The Witcher” is now popular in many areas. In addition to the original books, the video games, and the board game, Netflix has also been producing a series about Witcher Geralt and his adventures since 2019.
Many fans mourn for Geralt actor Henry Cavill, who recently left the production. How director Bola Ogun staged the last scenes with Cavill can be found here on MeinMMO:
“I wanted to say goodbye in an epic way” – Director of The Witcher lets Henry Cavill go
