Can you believe we’ve had a full decade of The Witcher games already? October of 2007 saw the release of a little title from then-unknown developer CD Projekt Red that would go on to change the gaming landscape.
It seems like a minor understatement that the series (and its book inspirations) have had a bit an impact on the wider world. Last year, Poland actually got a Geralt of Rivia postage stamp. I mean, does Mario even have his own stamp at this point?
A country’s government recognizing the impact of the franchise is just the tip of the iceberg though, as much more fan content has been spawned over the years, from the ultra steamy Witcher 2017 calendar featuring Geralt master impersonator Maul, to some truly stunning cosplays directly from the legion of devoted fans.
Well, hello there February!
Bringing A Digital World To Life
There are plenty of attractive men and women willing to don the clothes and take on the persona of Triss, Yennefer, and the rest of the ladies who play with boy toy Geralt, but what doesn’t get quite as much attention is the level of detail put into the rarer monster cosplays.
That’s an unfortunate oversight for a series focused on learning everything you can about various creatures before hacking them to bits, especially considering the amount of lore packed into the games about those monsters.
On the creature feature front, Elena Samko has put together some jaw-dropping and insanely spot-on renditions of Witcher foes.
Her renditions of the Nightwraith and Wight are well worth your attention, but its the sad tale of the Noonwraith bride haunting a well that really gets to brought to life.
You can’t ever un-see that dangling tongue, and the crown of flowers brings it all together, recalling the bride’s tragic end in the dark world of The Witcher.
Of course the three demonic Crone sisters also get their due in various re-creations, with the middle sister known as the Brewess showing the multi-faceted nature of Witcher cosplaying. It’s not all unicorns, bath tubs, and sexy witches, that’s for sure!
Word of advice: don’t drink the soup.
From Pixel To Paint Brush
The legacy of The Witcher’s impact isn’t just limited to stunning costumes either, as the creativity of the fans truly knows no bounds. There’s probably more fan art online than you could ever actually see in a single lifetime of web browsing, and much of it twists the game in unique ways, smashing together opposing genres.
The aforementioned Maul has a crossover photoshoot re-imagining Geralt as a feudal Japanese Samurai (making me wonder now if perhaps that’s how Nioh came to be), but what has probably most captured fan imagination is the Witcher noir series of prints from Ástor Alexander.
It’s so obvious in hindsight for the many sorceress women that define The Witcher series to appear as dangerous damsels in a noir detective story, and Alexander nailed that smoky mysterious feel. In an awesome recursion of fandom, there’s even been identical cosplays painstakingly recreating the artwork.
If somebody wanted to go ahead and write these up, I’d buy ’em on Kindle!
Geralt Hits The Small Screen
Following costumes and artwork, its obvious where fan creation would inevitably end up going as some Witcher fanatics pulled out their cameras and got to work.
After Castlevania got its due with a four episode series this year, it probably shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Netflix also picked up The Witcher for a 2018 episodic release.
The fans couldn’t wait through all these years for a movie adaptation though, and there are plenty of player-made videos to be found across YouTube and Vimeo.
There’s a surprising level of production value to several of these lovingly crafted clips, with some production teams even taking to crowd funding methods to ensure a high enough quality to be worth releasing.
There’s no question that the loyal fanbase is head over heels for The Witcher and willing to put in an absurd amount of work to honor this decade-old series.
Here’s to ten more years of The Witcher inspiring fans to create works of absolute art! Now if we could only get CD Projekt Red to finish Cyperbunk 2077 already, there’d be opportunity for a whole new generation of amazing cosplay to gawk at…
Do you have any of your own Witcher-inspired fan creations to share with the world, from cosplays to artwork to videos to fanfic? Let us know what you’ve created to show you love for the series in the comments below!
Published: Oct 16, 2017 06:10 pm