I Was Almost OK with this Sex Scene...

The first sex scene in The Witcher is effectively in the tutorial. Given what I have heard about this game (it's sexist, misogynistic, clunky, and skippable) I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I had assumed all the nookie would wait until Geralt's training wheels were off, but I suppose he needs practice at this too.

Here's the context for those who haven't played the game before. The Witcher is an action RPG. The player is Geralt of Rivia and the opening cut scene establishes that he lost his memory from a battle injury. (Because this is an RPG and I am more accustomed to using first-person vocabulary in these types of games I will be doing so for the rest of this post.) The scene shows my being taken to a castle by friendly NPC and it is in the castle that I can first take control of Geralt. I know at this point that I am a witcher, that this castle is a place that trains witchers, and that witchers are ostracized magical fighters.

The sex comes after the break ;)



The castle is effectively a fish tank - a simplified version of the rest of the game that allows a player to learn how to play without being overwhelmed by taking in the entire system at once - in other words, it is a type of tutorial. In the castle, the game introduces me to the storyline through conversations with NPCs and teaches me fighting mechanics through a small invasion of enemies into the castle among other necessary mechanics.

One of the NPCs I meet is Triss, a sorceress. What I know so far is that she is powerful, but not privy to the witchers' secrets - whatever those are. Although she is set apart from the witchers she seems generally respected and seen as a contributing member of this group by everyone else. During the attack on the castle Triss is badly injured - setting her up as a damsel in distress. Now, I am not suggesting that it is sexist for a woman to get injured, and in fact during this attack a man dies, but it is how the scenario plays out that makes it problematic.

Alright so Triss is dying and it is up to me to save her. I go on a mini-quest hunting down potion ingredients within the castle and then I make a potion by meditating; thus learning how to interact with and loot the environment, make potions, and mediate - a "gathering quest" and common tutorial format. After I give Triss the potion (a little over an hour of playtime into the game) she says to me, "I know we should set out, but I have a feeling we won't be back, perhaps ever. Won't you stay just a bit longer with me?"

If it wasn't obvious before it is now that the dialogue was written by men. There is nothing wrong with this per se - it's just obvious to me because that line I just quoted doesn't immediately signal sex to me - especially considering that Triss is in this moment lying in the bed she almost died in. But this is The Witcher and the game is now teaching me in this tutorial that there are going to be a lot of opportunities for getting laid in this world.

I get a dialogue option to respond by either saying we need to get going or we have some time. I don't want to rush this woman - she is recuperating - she needs rest - so I tell her we have time. She then starts to talk about her feelings for me - apparently, we have a past, but I tell her that I am not ready to talk about that - which makes sense considering I have AMNESIA. Triss responds by comparing herself to a teenager as if being attracted to someone is childish, and I admit to also feeling unnamed things for her.

At this point, the camera drops down and moves across the floor showing mine and Triss's feet entangling next to the bed, my sword dropping to the ground, and then a pillow falling from the other side of the bed. Up to this point I am actually OK with what's happening. Triss sounds a little silly, but a lot of people do when hormones are clouding their brains. And even though it was a damsel in distress trope that led to this moment (subtly suggesting that I am owed for saving her life) at the moment it is Triss proposing we sleep together and I-as-Geralt am not acting like I am owed. So I-as-Geralt get laid and I-as-KL am feeling confused as to why so many people said this game was so bad and then the screen transitions to this:

A Sex Trading Card - or sex card or romance card - I don't know what the official name is for these, but I get one every time I sleep with a woman. This is what changed the encounter from consensual adult sex to male conquest fantasy. It was 8 seconds, but enough to turn an otherwise fairly sexy scene into a disappointment.

At this point I want to say thanks for reading and I promise not to talk about sex every week, but I am not confident I can make that promise. 20 minutes later I am in an inn using bad lines on a waitress named Vesna Hood and 20 minutes after that I run into Vesna outside being harassed on her way home. This time I decide to go all in and see how just how bad these pick up lines can get. Ironically, I failed and got her killed. I could've continued the game, but decided instead to reload from the last save. My stream ended with Vesna promising to meet me the following night.