The Witcher - Reviews @ CVG, GameZone

8.8/10 is the score for The Witcher at both CVG and GameZone. CVG calls it "intelligent, adult and thoroughly compelling" and here's a short excerpt:

 It's your job to find a way to recover the secrets before they are put to nefarious use, all whilst finding out about your past and that of your dwindling clan. It's perhaps not the most exciting premise, but the presentation and pacing of the story is excellent throughout, from the lengthy opening cinematic even to the hand-drawn screens that guard the transitions as new areas load into memory.

Most noteworthy are the cutscenes, which have been storyboarded and edited with real cinematic flair and, together with the voiceovers and script, make The Witcher one of the best examples of interactive fiction I've enjoyed.

GameZone says The Witcher is a "benchmark RPG":

This is truly a refreshing game that may plague your conscience through choices you might make as your journey through the game. Focus on one goal, though, and being the fact that Geralt is a mercenary, a killer for hire that judges right and wrong from his own standpoint. Those that want to see him dead are in the wrong. Those who don’t may not be right. The only one who is right is Geralt. The Witcher offers no easy choices. This is a game that thrives on challenging players to think, not just wander through the world in a hack ‘n slash escapade.