Strap on a sword and brush up on your magic. Geralt of Rivia is heading out to do what witchers do, and you are coming along for the ride. Witcher: Path of Destiny explores some of Geralt’s adventures from the Last Wish book. You can step into the shoes of his most venerated companions—or even the White Wolf himself—and see how the adventure plays out when you get a say in things.

Will you fight the monster no matter what sad tale of origin you might hear? Will you show compassion and seek more information first? Your choice can alter the outcome, so get ready to dive into a story that may not wind up being as familiar as you think.

Soundtrack for this game: Any of the video game soundtracks, available from Spotify or Youtube.

Gameplay Overview:

The Witcher: Path of Destiny is a narrative-based deck builder. Three stories are provided in the base box, and each story plays out through three chapters. Select your character from the five available (Geralt, Yelena, Dandelion, Ciri, or Vesimir), and collect their player board and starter deck.

Eight cards for open drafting (must be selected in pairs) or draw two blind from the deck

Read the story cards until you come to a decision point. There are two options for what you will do; each has an associated icon (fight, magic, explore, or diplomacy), and the two choices are considered ‘active’ icons. Draw new cards from the board into your hand then play two cards from your hand into your timeline. The active icon that has garnered the most icons from the majority of players gains a destiny token. Replenish the cards on the board and repeat for three cycles. Your timeline grows with each choice. After the third round, whichever token has won the most destiny tokens directs you to the next card to read. Read the new cards until the next decision point.

That’s the primary mechanism for the game. The cards have rewards you may earn while playing. Experience points, which give you boons when selecting cards or boost a card’s power, or victory points. The cards also have color indicators, which are used in differing ways depending on the story that you are playing. At the end of the third chapter, points are tallied, and the player with the most victory points wins.

Waiting to reveal my selections. hopefully they will have at least one necessary decision icon

Game Experience:

This is a surprisingly fast-playing game. Almost too fast. In the beginning, it’s easy to get focused on drafting cards for active icons and overlook the rest. The rewards on the cards are critical, though. They provide means of earning Victory or Experience points. Experience points are hard to come by, and unless you earn at least 20 Experience points, they don’t count at the end of the game.

Story cards and their additional challenges, all are neatly stored in their own box to make set up easier

The game has several points of introduced asymmetry or variability. Each player has their own strengths reflected in the bonuses available on their player board. Each story also has an additional play feature that uses other card features (like colors on banners) as a means of garnering additional points during or at the end of the tale. These are a nice bonus not only in terms of actual added points, but they also add additional considerations to your play choices, keeping it from being strictly just playing cards for their icons.

The artwork is beautiful, and the symbology is clear and easily interpretable. The stories are familiar, and the choices are in keeping with the tone of the books. Set up is reasonably quick, and even checking for any story-specific rules doesn’t make it overly finicky to get ready. As a bonus for those of us who aren’t into miniature painting, you have the option of minis, standees of the characters, or standees of character symbols. I appreciated that.

Time line at the end of the chapter. I used Geralt’s experience to include an additional card

This is a story-driven game, but as a player, you aren’t really immersed in the story. You read the tale and make your card play choices. It is very choose your own adventure with the decision largely made by luck. You wind up playing icons that are available and rewards that will earn points more than trying to affect a particular story outcome. In that sense, the game feels a little shallow. Like all story-driven games, this one is hindered by the number of available stories. Three total in the game box, though it does appear there are multiple expansions available, adding more characters as well as more stories.

Final Thoughts:

I came into the Witcher: Path of Destiny expecting a meaty, narrative-driven game set within a familiar IP. This game isn’t that. Instead, it is a fairly light deck builder set within a familiar IP. There’s a lot of reading, which doesn’t bother me, especially as I play solo, but with a group, I can see that slowing down the momentum.

The game itself is beautiful and has a wonderful table presence. It sets up quickly and plays quickly. This game is good for a Witcher fix between book releases or Netflix seasons. Otherwise, it’s a little light without as much game there compared to what I was expecting.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars – Beautiful game, familiar stories, fun structure. Just not as deep as I would have liked.

Hits:
• Beautiful game
• Fast set up
• Player abilities are thematic to the actual IP characters

Misses:
• Needs more depth
• Needs more stories