The Passiflora, a high-end brothel, features one male prostitute. Male prostitutes seem not to exist – with a single exception. The designers’ focus on women’s bodies does not extend to men. (According to Quantic Foundry, 74% of the people who play Western RPG-style games, like The Witcher 3, are men.) The sheer number of breasts on display serves as eye candy for the majority male, presumed heterosexual player base. Nevertheless, Geralt may employ the services of women prostitutes at multiple brothels in Novigrad any time he wishes. The game doesn’t explain why such a bafflingly high number of women have turned to prostitution, or how Novigrad’s economy sustains it. In the city of Novigrad, ‘strumpets’ – unnamed female characters who wear next to nothing and proposition Geralt each time he passes by – rove the streets in packs.
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The Continent is full of blindingly attractive, often scantily-clad women who sometimes talk to Geralt about sex for no reason. This isn’t easy, since Ciri can travel through both time and space, so Geralt and Yennefer set off on a long, complex quest that takes both of them to the far reaches of the Continent.Ĭonventionally attractive women are used as set dressing from the very first village Geralt encounters. He employs Geralt and Yennefer – who parted ways long ago – to track down Ciri. Ciri’s biological father, Emperor Emhyr of Nilfgaard, wants Ciri rescued from the Wild Hunt so that she can take her place as his heir. In The Witcher 3, the Wild Hunt, a band of terrifying alien elves, is also trying to find Ciri in order to carry out their own nefarious purposes. But Ciri disappeared years ago, and both Geralt and Yennefer are desperate to find her. Once, he lived in the witcher of Kaer Morhen, raising Ciri as a witcher alongside his lover, the sorceress Yennefer. Geralt, one of the last witchers, roves from town to town, taking contracts for a living. In The Witcher video games, goblins, sirens, giant spiders, and other violent creatures terrorize the hardscrabble villages of the Continent.
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Instead, Sapkowski reasoned, a professional monster hunter would provide his services to peasants in the same way that a craftsman might. CD Projekt Red’s games are inspired by Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novels, which Sapkowski wrote in response to his disbelief that, in Polish folklore, a cobbler or baker could defeat powerful beasts. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt continues the story of Geralt, a monster hunter, or “witcher,” and Ciri, his super-powered foster daughter.
Pixelated Breasts Here, There, and Everywhere
Let’s break down The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt by going over its general treatment of women, then examining specific characters one by one. This messaging divide is both a shortcoming and a strength we – as members of the gaming community – can all learn from. Sometimes, the game sends the message that women are just as capable and complex as their male counterparts. Sometimes, The Witcher 3 sends the message that women aren’t in charge of themselves and their bodies, even if these women explicitly say they are. It shows how carelessness, ignorance, and subtle, yet pervasive sexism can undermine the narrative potential of female characters in video games. The Witcher 3 is uneven in its treatment of women. The Witcher 3 frequently uses women as background decoration and downplays the power of its ambitious women characters. However, neither is the game a feminist triumph.
In an industry that’s dominated by male designers, highlights male characters, and caters to a male audience, the number of women given narrative significance in The Witcher 3 is remarkable. Although the protagonist is a man, many of the secondary character are women, and a woman has taken charge of the universe’s destiny by the time the game ends. The Witcher 3 also received attention when it came out because it features women in major narrative roles. Jonathan Leack of Game Revolution called the game “ one of the largest worlds ever created,” while Kimberley Wallace of Game Informer said it was a “genre juggernaut” and that she had “never felt so connected a virtual world before.” Since The Witcher 3’s release two years ago, its studio, CD Projekt Red, has sold over 25 million copies. When The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt came out in 2015, critics and fans alike hailed the game as a video game standard-setter because of its stellar graphics, entertaining gameplay design, deft voice acting, and engrossing narrative.