Thanks to CD Projekt Red and Spokko I was able to join in the Test Flight phase for The Witcher: Monster Slayer earlier this month.
Some might think that jumping on the augmented reality-based monster-hunting platform for mobile devices might be an attempt for a quick cash grab due to the popularity of similar games in that space but after being incredibly fortunate enough to receive an early invite to try the game on iOS I would say that this game does feel like it will carve a new wave of fans eager to transform themselves into Witchers.
The Witcher: Monster Slayer shares the same first impression of Pokémon GO but instead of catching Pikachu, you are facing monsters and critters from The Witcher Universe. Players will be running quests to slay monster to earn in-game currency to better equip their Witcher for tougher foes.
Beware when you explore the map as people might think you are crazy or just plain wonder what are you are up to as you will be constantly spinning/swinging around your mobile phone to scan monster footsteps to track them. Once done tracking then the fun will begin as the monster will appear.
I found that the “Wraith” was very unique and I enjoyed battling it because it was a flying monster and required pointing my mobile phone upwards to the sky to view the monster and hit it as opposed to the other monster types that were more grounded.
While battling said monsters, players can use signs like Igni as well or items like bombs to inflict damage. Apart from that during battles, there are also chances an icon will appear in which when activated a critical hit will register against the monsters.
If players are not confident on roaming to monster hunt they can also hone their basic Strong or Light attacks in Practice.
Even though I couldn’t play it as much as I wanted to as even though I’m using the iPhone SE 2020 edition the game will heat up my phone after 10-15 minutes of playing due to the graphical intensity. But when I could play, I spent whatever time I had at home or work trying to level up and unlock additional skills and to earn more gold to purchase better weapons as the store-bought weapons can be quite expensive!
Aside from the heating issue, there were no significant bugs or errors except for when trying to exit the game there was always an error promo that the game has crashed and to report the error to the developer. I think at this stage there were still some bugs to iron out but the future bodes very well for this very promising title.
I truly believe that it is a good idea to implement the Witcher game into augmented reality to let players experience a different side of the Witcher universe. The Witcher: Monster Slayer will be launching on both iOS and Android platform
