Overview of Russian Collectible Releases: The Witcher

Hello, dear readers! Today you are in for not just a review of the collector's edition of The Witcher, but a review of the collector's release! What does this mean? I will tell you about all the accompanying products that the company NDGames released for the launch of The Witcher. Not all of them were included in the collector's editions - some were given out at the premiere, some were awarded to contest winners, and some were simply sold at Igromir. But I will also talk about the collector's edition, of course. To be precise, about the collector's editions. The Witcher was released in Russia in four collector's editions! The expanded Eldorado jewel, the collectible DVD box, the collector's edition, and the gift jewel of the Enhanced Edition. Let's go through everything in order.

The expanded Eldorado jewel is sold, as you might guess, exclusively at the Eldorado chain. It contains a disc with the game, a disc with music inspired by the game (not from the game, but specifically inspired), and an audiobook of The Last Wish. It costs only 319 rubles, and it can still be bought almost in any store of the chain. Here’s what it looks like:

Next is the DVD Box. It contains the game, a set of stickers, a 60-page manual, two music discs - one from the game and one inspired by it, as well as a bonus DVD and an A3 world map. I will only present the general appearance of the edition, as I will discuss its elements in detail later in the review of the Enhanced Edition, where the contents have mostly carried over. So here’s the general view:

The edition cost 699 rubles at release, and now it's freely available for purchase on the ND website for just 499.

The next edition is the collector's edition. It differs from the DVD box by having a leather bag in which its contents are packaged. The print run of this edition is only 270 copies, and it is impossible to find it now. However, who would want it for 1999 rubles?

Now I will describe the fourth edition of The Witcher in detail - the Enhanced Edition, also known as the Silver Edition. This is a unique and singular case of a collector's (and very respectable!) package priced at only 399 rubles (at release, now 499). Moreover, this edition is multilingual - it contains 10 language versions (both for the game and for the bonus disc). I have this edition in my hands, and I will describe it in detail. Here’s what it looks like:

And the back of the packaging:

Tracklist of the music disc:

1\. A. Skorupa / Dusk of a Northern Kingdom 4:32

2. A. Skorupa / A Wolf's Demise 2:09

3. P. Blaszczak / River of Life 5:19

4. P. Blaszczak / Mighty 1:08

5. A. Skorupa / Dead City 8:02

6. P. Blaszczak / Last Battle 1:12

7. A. Skorupa / Elaine Ettariel 1:13

8. A. Skorupa / To Arms (Rebellion) 1:22

9. P. Blaszczak & A. Skorupa / The Prince Striga 6:50

10. P. Blaszczak / Returning to the Fortress 1:28

11. P. Blaszczak / Evening in the Tavern 0:55

12. A. Skorupa / Peaceful Moments 5:08

13. A. Skorupa / An Ominous Place 5:10

14. P. Blaszczak / Temerian Castle Theme 0:47

15. P. Blaszczak / The Order 3:51

16. P. Blaszczak / Night Approaches 1:06

17. A. Skorupa / The Grand Master Revealed 1:26

18. A. Skorupa / Withered Roses 1:14

19. P. Blaszczak / Prepare for Battle! 1:06

20. A. Skorupa / Do You Remember? 1:30

21. P. Blaszczak & A. Skorupa / The Lesser of Two Evils 1:53

22. A. Skorupa / Catch Me If You Can 0:22

23. P. Blaszczak / Tavern at the End of World 1:23

24. P. Blaszczak / The Dike 7:02

25. A. Skorupa / Twilight 0:37

26. P. Blaszczak & A. Skorupa / A Matter of Conscience 1:26

27. A. Skorupa / Leo's Farewell 1:44

28. P. Blaszczak / Silver Sword 1:31

29. P. Blaszczak & A. Skorupa / Kingdom & Betrayal 1:48

The video disc in DVD-video format contains the following materials: interviews with CD Project RED and Atari, an introduction video in high quality, an interview with Tomasz Baginski, the director of this video, a story about creating the Polish version, discussions about localizations into other languages, a tale about the sound design, and materials on recording the combat system (from Polish fencers). And all this, I remind you, in ten languages! The disc also contains the music video by the band Vader for the song Sword of the Witcher, which I suggest you watch below (an impressive sight!)

The inserts of the game jewels are adorned with a cover featuring art:

The box also contains a book, or rather a story "The Last Wish", describing the events of the game's opening video. Here are a few spreads:

And the main element - the map of Temeria. Not fabric, of course, but it's large (A3 size) and double-sided:

This concludes the story of the collector's editions; next, I will tell you what else the new disc has done for The Witcher fans. First - about the premiere. Detailed information can be found here, and I will show what gifts were given to buyers.

First of all, all game buyers could receive a poster (A1 size) signed by the developer from the group CD Project RED, Michał Kiciński. My poster looks like this:

Buyers of the collector's edition (for 1999 rubles) were also given a volume of stories about The Witcher with game art on the cover...

...and an original hoodie with a Witcher design (it looks very grown-up!):

In the photo is the very Michał Kiciński.

But the main thing that New Disc delighted the fans with is the medallion. A real, three-dimensional one, just like Geralt's in the game! Initially, it could only be won in contests, but then, at Igromir-2008, it was put on free sale for only 150 rubles! Obviously, they were sold out within the first day of the exhibition. Here’s my medallion:

And its size compared to a hand:

In general, NDGames paid great attention to The Witcher and its fans, for which they deserve immense respect! If I missed something, feel free to add it in the comments! I really hope someone will post good photos of the bag from the collector's edition)

See you in the next review!

Some photos are taken from the archive of the fan site witcher.net.ru