This is a story-based game. Did that scare anybody off? Good, we didn’t like those people anyways. Not just a story-based game, but one where there is rarely much black-and-white. What’s the use of a deep, story-based game with complex moral issues that doesn’t allow you to make choices? None, it’s a contradiction in effect. On that note, there will be choices, you will have to pick sides, and there is rarely a clear right-or-wrong choice to make. It’s a major part of the game, and hence, it must be a major part of any guide written about this game that’s worthy of your time.

To manage to cover all sides, three different Witchers are potrayed in this guide, ideologically seperated from each other. The division starts out simply. Early on, when you’re getting your feet wet, there are two choices to make-whether you’re a moral Witcher, or a consumate Witcher. The moral Witcher strives to be good (being evil isn’t so much of a possibility, but perhaps you could be morally ambiguous, with darker shades). He will help those in danger, and views the term ‘monster’ loosely. A Ghoul is as much of a monster as a rapist, and both deserve the same fate-to feel the edge of a Witcher’s sword.

The consumate Witcher, however, stays true to the Witcher code-it is nearly impossible to implement, in effect, but all good codes are. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to adhere to, whenever possible. This code is simple-Witchers kill monsters and stay out of politics. Beasts, undead, and magical aberations are all fair game-the local crime boss is not… allowing, of course, for self-defense. He won’t necessarily be an unfeeling husk, either, but if given the choice to fight a horde of insectoids to help some misguided rebels escape after their caper or fighting those rebels, he’ll kill the monsters. Of course, if he has to choose between fighting somebody else’s political battle or running and earning the ire of both sides, he’ll avoid the conflict entirely and lose friends.

The moral Witcher will not stay simple, either. Two competing factions drive the politics of the game, and without getting into details, they aren’t friends. Both factions have good and bad sides, and neither is wholly worthwhile of our support, nor incapable of evoking some sympathy. The representatives of either side are flawed, but interesting characters who genuinely feel they’re in the right, and that their causes are worth fighting-and dying for. The two moral Geralts will divide in their support for either faction… although perhaps out of loyalty to one friend or the other, or because they agree with the benevolent aspects of the ideology, rather than because they agree with the larger (messier) political aims of the organization as a whole.

These three Geralts will be refered to often in the guide-more frequently as we progress further into the story and plotlines diverge more and more. The consumate Witcher will be synonymous with the “neutral” Geralt, who avoids both factions and remains politically neutral. The other two “moral” Geralts will bear the names of their respective factions, as they are introduced into the story and as events force us to pick sides.