It can be amazing when a series
of books with a memorable setting and cast of characters end up getting enough
attention to jump-start a new media adaptation or two. “Harry Potter” had its
films and “A Song of Ice and Fire” got the “Game of Thrones” HBO series. Then
there is the “Witcher” series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, which has
gotten international attention as a videogame series, a movie and two TV
series, the latter a Netflix adaptation starring Henry Cavill. The third
mainline “Witcher” game may have been released back in 2015, but the recent
release of the Netflix show has revitalized interest in modifying “Witcher 3.”
Polygon has it that fans have been so enamored of British actor
Henry Cavill’s latest acting role as Geralt of Rivia in the new “Witcher”
series that came on Netflix December of last year. So far, the reception to the
new show (which already had Polish-produced film and TV versions since 2001-02)
and its lead star has been stellar for viewers (offsetting the lukewarm reviews
of professional critics). But the real knockback effect of the franchise’s
resurgent popularity was the development of new mods for the 2015 videogame “The
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” many of which reference the Netflix take.
The PC version of “Wild Hunt,”
which allows for game mods like many other desktop titles, is currently being
flooded online with character models and meshes that turn the game’s rendition
of “Witcher” hero Geralt to look more like Cavill’s face. The mods tended to
follow the Netflix series’ facial aesthetic for the actor’s Geralt mug, which
is noticeably paler than in the game and sports a visible scar. Graphical mod
work incorporating Cavill’s likeness began since August 2019 when his casting
was still teased by the global streaming giant.
In addition to making Geralt look
more like Henry Cavill, other mods that have found their way into “Witcher 3:
Wild Hunt” include similar character modeling and meshes to make Yeneffer of
Vengerberg look like her actress Anya Chalotra. An a cappella song called “Toss
a Coin to Your Witcher,” sung in episode 2, has also been spliced into the game
environment’s background sound effects.
“The Witcher” is essentially one
of the biggest global pop franchises to ever hail from Poland in present times,
beginning with Andrzej Sapkowski’s first book of the series which was published
back in 1993. Eight books on the adventures of Geralt of Rivia, a male magic
user (witcher) who travels the medieval fantasy continental setting as a
monster-slayer for hire, have come out since, the latest of which in 2013. The
game adaptations from Polish developer CD Projekt Red started in 2007, with “Witcher
3: Wild Hunt” having its latest iteration for the Nintendo Switched released in
October last year.
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