The Adventures of Geralt of Rivia They were already a phenomenon before Henry Cavill signed for the Netflix series or that CD Project RED bring The Witcher franchise to video games: the novels of Andrzej Sapkowski They are positioned as benchmarks within current fantasy literature, and their harshness and sarcastic style have a lot to do with it. Sometimes, too sarcastic to just stay on paper.
The story of how Sapkowski offered the rights to the Polish studio for less than 9,000 euros is not a mystery: he thought it was easy money and that this initiative, like other previous ones, would not go very far. Years later, and being aware of the success and depth of the CD Projekt RED saga, he unsuccessfully tried to renegotiate the terms. But to what extent was he involved in the development? Let’s say that less than what is fair and necessary, but his personality was very present in the face of the creators.
Initially, as Adam Zechenter and Maciej Pawlikowski They told the gry-online medium, when the original video game of The Witcher was nearing the end of production, Andrzej Sapkowski took a look at it and gave his thumbs up. It could be said that it was little more than a formality, at least since Sapkowski had little interest in video games.
He didn’t get more involved in the creative process because he wasn’t interested either. She had a pretty no-nonsense approach to the matter: she knew he could write books, but he didn’t make movies or games, so what was he supposed to advise there?
However, it would be a little unfair to say that Sapkowski did not contribute his bit in the game. At least, not intentionally.
Sapkowski’s lesser known contribution to The Witcher video game
According to Zechenter and Pawlikowski, they consulted him both in the creation of the game map and when naming the characters. And, well, let’s say that he answered them with a very picturesque letter in which he established very specific points to take into account.
We consulted with him about the map and character naming scheme. We sent him a list of names and got a rather curt reply that he didn’t like the names. As is common with Sapkowski, it was a language full of complicated, sharp, sarcastic words.
Of course, we accepted their decision and we changed the names of many characters, because initially there were some not so typical of that fantasy universe like Janko, Wojko, etc. And Sapkowski specifically wrote no. However, the answer [de Sapkowski] It itself was so peculiar that we put it in the game.
In other words: CD Projekt RED included excerpts from that letter from Andrzej Sapkowski in the video game The Witcher. Which brings us to the question of rigor: Where?
Well, according to the creators of the initiative, in the third act of the game we come across a kikimore queen that, in his own body, includes a curious document with phrases that, now put in context, are better understood.
” […]By the way, I urge you not to call them “son of a bitch” because that name day can be completely inaccurate, blatantly inappropriate and false, and certainly woefully primitive. […]”
Was that a criticism of the response that Sapkowski gave you? According to Adam Zechenter, the Polish author was actually doing what they asked him to: advise them on the names they could use. That being said, he admits that it hit their noses a bit and they had to “process it“.
In any case, that document lost in the body of one of the infinite creatures that populate the fantasy universe of The Witcher Today it has a special value. Even when instead of the typical seal and bow, it’s conveniently wrapped in sarcasm.
Will we read that letter again?
Although the enormous contribution that the creation of the universe of The Witcher to the video game, Adam Zechenter and Maciej Pawlikowski assure that that letter was Andrzej Sapkowski’s only contribution to the production. Of course, they did not need much more than to start a franchise that today it is a thunderous success.
CD Projekt Red closed the month of May 2023 announcing that they had already been sold over 50 million copies of The Witcher 3 Worldwide. The new generation versions are a huge additional boost when it comes to rounding off these figures. Even when it comes to free updates. And after that?
Well, we have ahead of us the beginning of a new stage with more games and the no less promising The Witcher remake original to align it with the other two new installments. To what extent will it resemble the PC classic? You may have to go straight to the third act in search of a specific document to find out.
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