Skip to main content

Playing The Witcher Adventure Game multiplayer beta

A worthy distraction?

How would the grisly cinematic adventures of a mutant monster hunter called Geralt transpose to a board game? Could it cope with more than one lead character? Would it support drawn-out strategies? How would it work in turns? The questions were plenty - has The Witcher Adventure Game convincingly answered them?

In the closed beta the signs are promising; I've scratched the surface of deeper strategy and enjoyed the rich and pleasant company of the game. There's detail, personality and camaraderie as players chat between turns, talking of this and of that.

I'm not allowed to present the game in video because CD Projekt Red (The Witcher studio) isn't ready for that yet, but I can share screenshots and talk about my experience so far. Bear in mind that things will be honed, tweaked and changed as time goes on. I'm in early, so to speak. If you've pre-ordered The Witcher 3 on GOG, you'll probably find that you're invited to play too, so go check - more people are joining every day and the experience improves because of it.

Remember that The Witcher Adventure Game will also be a proper physical board game as well as a digitised version when released this autumn. It's coming out on PC and Mac as well as iOS and Android tablets. There's only online multiplayer at the moment (match-made or private), but the full version will have AI opponents and local hotseat multiplayer.

Let's start with the 'why?': CD Projekt Red told me The Witcher Adventure Game came about because someone pitched an idea the studio liked and decided to pursue. This wasn't, the studio assured me, rampant merchandising. The brain behind the game is decorated Polish board game designer Ignacy Trzewiczek and the muscle is Fantasy Flight Games.

The Witcher Adventure Game is a relatively complex beast, with decks of cards to draw from, dice to roll, unique spells and powers to collect and choose between and beasties to fight. It's not Dungeons & Dragons but it's for adults of a certain frame of mind.

Matches are won by the player who has the most Victory Points when the set number of main quests are completed: one (takes 10-20 minutes), three (takes 40-70 minutes) or five (takes 90-120 minutes). Shorter games are a blinkered rush to the finish but longer games reward deeper strategies, which is why they're the most rewarding to play - especially with the full complement of up to four players, if you can find them.

Main quests award the most Victory Points but require you satisfy objectives first, which usually means having the correct number - and colour - of proofs, as in the kind detectives seek. You're a detective here, really, and you amass proof by collecting evidence, and you get evidence by performing Investigations. They're a type of action, Investigations, and you can perform two actions per turn.

The other actions are Travel, Fast Travel, Development, Rest and Special. Travelling takes you to other regions on the board, which offer you different colour Investigations or places to heal wounds - penalty markers that prevent you using certain actions.

Fast Travel moves you further but at the cost of a Foul Fate card - a card that's probably bad news. Exactly how bad that news is, you'll wait and see. You may be ambushed by an enemy and face the decision of spending collected evidence to overcome it, or by doing battle.

Combat is a roll of the dice and a question of whether you can land enough sword icons and shield icons to satisfy the win requirements of the enemy you're facing. Thankfully you can use modifiers to affect the outcome and greatly increase your chance of success, which is why using the Develop action to find these modifiers is a good idea early on. No sense rushing to finish a quest only to be riddled with wounds and other handicaps that will set you back later on.

Combat modifiers are dependent on the character you're playing as, and there are four to choose between: Geralt, Triss, Yarpen and Dandelion. You can't double-up, so if you pick last, you get what you're given.

As well as character-specific abilities, each player can choose to perform a character-specific Special action each turn. Geralt and Triss can recharge their special ability cards, albeit it in slightly different ways; Yarpen can choose two of four dwarf minions to do things for him; and Dandelion can on-the-spot earn two gold (which pays for his Develop cards among other things). Different characters also start the game in different regions, with different amounts of gold and different resource change rates - ie how many proofs you need to exchange for an evidence.

Mixing all of this up further is a War Track - a spinning dial that gradually increases the monster difficulty in regions over time. You can also receive Foul Fate tokens as penalties (that linger on actions until you use them, forcing you to draw a Foul Fate card) and Good Fortune cards (that generally help you out) along the way. It all piles up!

The beauty of playing The Witcher Adventure Game as a computer game is that, as complicated as this all sounds, you can stumble through early matches not really knowing what you're doing. There are only ever a few things to choose between doing and options glow when they can be used. Were this you and some friends and a board game, one of you would have to do a lot of rulebook-reading first.

And then soon, as you re-read the tutorial screens and ask other players how things work, your stumble disappears and those decisions, those choices, are done with understanding. That's when The Witcher Adventure Game - like other board games - comes into its own.

How would the grisly cinematic adventures of a mutant monster hunter called Geralt transpose to a board game? As a different kind of experience, and very well.

Read this next

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com