Meet 'The Witcher'; Because Adult Fantasy Isn't Limited To 'Game of Thrones'

We all know what Games of Thrones is about and why it's popular. It's an orgy of violence, deceit and incestuous relationships liberally sprinkled upon an orgy of spectacularly gym-fit naked bodies writhing in sexual bliss and manipulation. It's Dungeons & Dragons for Generation Y; the Wuss Generation, to use Bret Easton Ellis' vernacular, too cool to admit to liking precisely this kind of fantasy when they were at school. Yeah, it existed, but it meant reading.

Today, to many, Game of Thrones and its cast of simultaneously lovable and despised damned, not only represents the pinnacle of 'mature' fantasy entertainment, but it's the only 'mature' fantasy entertainment. As false as this is, it's understandable. Look around the popular media landscape and its genre peers seem confined to the wholesome, boorish and outdated family fare epitomised by Lords of the Rings, The Hobbit and Pirates of the Caribbean. Each of these telling stories and serving relationships that fit neatly somewhere along the official Predictable-to-Inevitable scale.

There is a genuine challenger to Game of Thrones' position as King of the Andals Adult Fantasy realm, though. You just need to look to the world of videogames to find it and be prepared to delve into the story of a man with even more grey hair than Gandalf. The Witcher 3 is released on 19 May, and here are the reasons why it matches (and exceeds, in some cases) Game of Thrones in the 'adult only' stakes.

Let's face it, a big part of Game of Thrones' success comes from the fact that it and its actors and not afraid to show flesh and crevice. But that's okay, mature even, because it's 'political'. There's a context for every flaccid knob on the table.

The Witcher 3 is hardly shy of showing carnal pleasures, either, it's protagonist, Geralt, possessing more than a passing interest in the opposite sex. It's all on show, from bums to boobs, kiss to kink. You might even be lucky enough to witness a couple score upon a stuffed unicorn. Watch out for that horn.

Admittedly, there's less nudity here than there was in Geralt's first outing—The Witcher 1 being particularly notorious in that regard—but there's still enough to make things awkward if your mum walks in.

Like Game of Thrones, The Witcher 3 features a world that is separated by different ruling lords and families but not by natural land barriers. Resultantly, there's a fair amount of unrest, irritation and a constant underlying tug of war to gain more power without having to risk life and limb.

Political tensions are impacted by your own actions and decisions, the outcomes of which can vary wildly depending on what you choose. You might think you're helping someone out, only to find that their rival has foreseen your thoughts and made plans to damage them.

Essentially, it's a world full of money hungry fat cats looking to get richer and fatter with as little risk to their own skin as possible. Sound familiar?

Obviously, there's violence here. Just look at those swords and that haircut, if they don't spell 'don't piss me off, I stab people' then I don't know what does.

The violence that leaves the biggest mark is the unexpected kind, though. As Geralt you're fighting plenty of foes and leaving their dismembered corpse as a warning to others, but it's the fights that you're a voyeur to that are most shocking.

Unlike the majority of games, this violence isn't limited to one massive bloke slamming a similarly steroid—ridden mass of muscle into the dirt amid a cloud of dust. The women of Geralt's world, given the stress and torment of the war that rages around them, are just as likely to make things physical—one of the game's most unnerving scenes involving one woman viciously bloodying another in a tavern early on.

It's up to you how you want to play, but making people's life difficult is certainly one of your options. Despite being the protagonist of this tale, you don't necessarily have to be the good guy. You might be trying to rid the land of a seemingly unstoppable evil, but there's nothing that says you have to like the people you're saving.

If you want to act like Little Finger, pretending that you're everyone's best friend and sole confidant before taking them out with a sly grin, you can. Just don't be surprised when people try to do the same to you. The North Remembers, or summin'.

If there's anything that singles a narrative out as being childish and immature then it's the inclusion of single-minded, morally polarised characters that are so predictable in their actions and motives that they resemble Tom Cruise.

In reality, no one is wholly 'good' or wholly 'evil'. That's a fallacy best left for 60s comic books and partisan football fans.

The Witcher 3 captures the ambiguity that resides in real people brilliantly, leading to surprises of behaviour and engaging you through to the end due as you're never really sure how things are going to play out. You might get to know someone in this world, and have a decent idea of how they're going to react to something, only to have that turned on its head due to them getting a better—if less admirable—offer elsewhere.

It's impossible to understate just how big of an impact this has in making Geralt's environment feel like a real place.

Linked to the idea that no one is morally rigid and entirely good/bad is The Witcher 3's delivery of intent and motivation. All too often the fantasy genre gets so caught up in its quest to provide a moral judgement or communicate a certain ideal that it fails to leave anything for the audience to decipher.

Such an approach couldn't be further from the truth in The Witcher 3. Not only do you need to use your head to read into a situation and a character's words, but you must be constantly on the lookout for a wider context in order to make sure you're properly attuned to why people are doing what they're doing.

Someone might be acting strangely or subverting expectations that you've built up by interacting with them, but it pays to take into account what is going on in their part of this world and attribute that to their actions.

If there's one thing that sets The Witcher 3 apart as a mature experience it's that the inhabitants of this world are genuinely influenced by what's happening around them and, as a result, not everything is always as it seems upon first reading.