When I think back on E3, my least favorite moments were typically spent cruising around Kentia Hall. Kentia Hall, as I learned, is the less mainstream portion of E3, where smaller game companies are and where various inventions and other game related content is showed off. Though it lacks the glitz and glamour of the other major halls, there are some treasures buried within the confines of those walls. The Witcher was one such game, and not only was it one of the best in Kentia Hall, but I felt it was one of the best overall games at the entire show.

The Witcher – based on the best selling books of Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski – follows the journey of Geralt, a white-haired witcher who is the most famous of them all. Geralt isn't an average, middle of the road character either, as he is quite complicated, in that at times he can be a hero, but at others he comes across as nothing more than a butcher. He's a mutant possessing superhuman powers – the results of magical experiments. He is unnaturally fast, agile and poison-resistant. As Geralt, a renowned slayer of monsters for hire, the player will crisscross the world to regain his lost memory, and will also unwillingly become involved in a world-shaking power struggle.

As a writer, story is very important to me, and perhaps that is why The Witcher drew me in so deeply. The primary storyline contains over a hundred quests and will take at least 30 hours to complete. Also, there will be additional side-quests, and if the player chooses to do all of these as well, they will have the opportunity to gain over 50 more hours of additional gameplay. That, dear readers, is a whole lot of content. Of course, that 80 possible hours of gameplay wouldn't be anything to write home about if it didn't have a story to keep you engaged during that time period, and thankfully The Witcher doesn't look to disappoint. Featuring over two thousand pages of dialog (all spoken during the course of the game) and a dark, adult storyline, The Witcher also tells its tale through some beautiful CG cinematics and in-game cutscenes (200 I've been told), which really help pull the viewer into the world.

Moral decision also play a major role in the game, as choices aren't so much "good and evil" or "black and white," but rather shades of gray. More often than not the player will be tasked to either do something really bad or only slightly bad. For example, if the player chooses not to let someone loose while they are awaiting a trial by the other witchers, the player will have to take part in the trial themselves, and help determine that person's sentence, whether it be straight death, slow torture for info, or giving them a potion that will force them to tell the council the truth, but will ultimately lead to that character's insanity. Of course, the player can always let the guy go, which I was told will eventually end up leading to an ambush for my kindness. Jerk! As mentioned in that last sentence, sometimes the choices aren't immediately seen, and sometimes won't be felt till 10 hours later during the adventure. With so many choices, there will be multiple ways to go through the game, and that isn't even counting in the fact that there are three different endings depending on how the game is played.

But since we all know we play games to actually "play" them and not simply watch a story, the gameplay must be there as well, and The Witcher looks to incorporate an easy to use click system for the countless battles one can expect to encounter during their time with the game.

Combat in The Witcher is dynamic and every move has been motion captured. The combat system revolves around three different styles: 1) Strong – works best against powerful, slow and well-armored enemies, 2) Swift – effective against lightly-armored and agile opponents who tend to dodge and parry, and 3) Group – most effective against groups of less vicious opponents, mostly those who tend to encircle their target. Given those three different fighting styles, don't go thinking it will be difficult to perform any given action, as the only thing it requires is a click of the mouse button.

When the player sees an enemy, all they have to do is click on them to make Geralt perform his slashing attacks; if the player wants to get fancy they can do double clicks to do special moves. Also, Geralt can perform stylized finishing moves (neat blur effect working over time) to downed enemies, and really, who doesn't want to finish off someone that was about to kill them. Though all the player has to do is click to attack, the player can improve their fighting by timing attacks, so rhythm must be there to perform up the standards of your title in the game. Geralt isn't only a master of swords – oh no – cause he is also adept at magic, so be prepared to light some creatures on fire and other such attacks when the game is released. Geralt also features several enhanced viewing perspectives, with one such power being able to go all Predator and see heat (mystical energy in the game) to seek out where enemies are.

I haven't even got to the little cool features, such as the game featuring over 60 different locations and buildings that are based on real Middle Age blueprints. The day cycle of The Witcher is two minutes real equal 1 hour of a day. Weather effects are varied, as the player can experience a cold rain one day, light foggy steam the next, and even all out thunderstorms. And consider it an attention to detail, but Geralt can actually drink in the game, and when Geralt gets drunk his vision starts to blur (ie your screen), he staggers around the more he drinks, and eventually, if he gets really wasted, will pass out and sleep it off where he lands.

I hope the game gets ported to a next generation console as well, cause as of now, I don't think my computer is going to be able to run it, and I really, really want to play this game. Who knows, maybe I'll end up forking over some hard earned money just so I can play this game.