The Witcher 2 - Holds a Mirror to Polish History

[Couchpotato]

A small blog by the name of digitallovechild has a new article for The Witcher 2 that talks about how the game is mirror of Polish history. Sounds weird but it's a good article.

Put aside the superficial trappings of elves, dwarves, and an order of monster-hunting “witchers,” and The Witcher 2 looks a lot like a vital document of Poland’s national consciousness right now. It is that rare thing: a lavishly produced, mainstream videogame that feels as if it is saying something about the many people who created it. That knowledge makes the post-credits scene–the one where an unarmed peasant watches in horror as an enormous army invades his home–far more chilling than it would otherwise be. In that video the player sees an entire culture’s nightmare coming alive as history repeats itself yet again.

More information.

 

[Aubrielle]

That's...wow. I never thought of it that way, though I suppose I should have. It sort of gives me a sick feeling in my stomach.

 

[Dez]

Now that was an intresting article to read.

 

[zahratustra]

Don't let it upset you Aubrielle because it's simply not true. Although I have spent more time abroad than in Poland, I'm Polish born and bred and I have to tell you that the author is seeing a pattern which doesn't exist. Tolkien based his books on Anglo-Saxon traditions and folklore but can anybody say that he holds a mirror to the United Kingdom's history? In the same way Sapkowski (and CDP follows him faithfully) used Slavic (Polish, Russian, Czech etc.) traditions and folklore without being historical about it.

 

[Mrozie]

Well, I'm a Pole who also grew up with the stories from II World War and Communism era, I know history of my country very well, but I never thought about W2's outro this way. The main theme of Sapkowski's books, and thus Witcher games, suggest that sometimes monster can be better than human. Although they explore some other interesting themes, none of them seem to have a reflection in Polish history.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

The one games I know which were based on history were the Ogre Battle games (Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre). They were meant to be a parallel to the conflict in then Yugoslavia, which was confirmed by the designer Matsuno himself. Tactics Ogre is pretty much an all-time classic too, still unparalleled as an SRPG.