It’s been 12 years since CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher video game launched what would become one of the most successful role-playing video game franchises to date. So it came as no surprise when Netflix announced that it too would be creating a series based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels.

For fans of the video games, that’s an important distinction to make. The Netflix TV series is based on the novels and not the games, and December 20 was the show’s debut on the streaming service. Reviews are already coming in.

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Henry Cavill takes on the role of the moody, white-haired monster hunter Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix show, traveling from town to town in search of bounties. An underlying message in the series seems to be that, though monsters are always understood to be monsters, people can surprisingly be monsters as well or at least behave in monstrous and evil ways. This often leads to bloody confrontations of a not entirely beastly sort.

It seems that overall the scores are middling at best. On Metacritic, the show currently has a score of 53 based on 15 critic reviews, and Rotten Tomatoes sums up its 58% score by stating: “The world of The Witcher still only feels half-formed as it gallops onto screens, but Henry Cavill brings brawny charisma to a series teeming with subversive fantasy elements and dark humor.”

Besides the inevitable and constant comparisons to HBO's Game of Thrones TV show, one of the most frequent comments is about the complexity of the world of The Witcher and how its very niche vocabulary, locations, and stories often lead to confusion and an overload of information for the uninitiated. Further impressions of the small-screen adaptation are below:

CNET (Richard Trenholm)

"But as much as I hate to be the guy who's all, "Oh, you've just got to keep going; it only gets good around episode four," the Witcher does reward you if you stick with it. Not only does episode four begin to tie things together, it also has the best story of a generally upward trajectory…. And then there's the dialogue. Actually, there's nothing wrong with the dialogue, which manages flashes of being funny or poignant, when it's not shoehorning in every possible way of saying that people, right, people, can be monsters. No, it's the terminology. In the first episode a character delivers a speech that in about 90 seconds crams in a ton of names like Eltibald, Falka, Fredefalk of Creyden, the Blahdibloog of Blompoblomp..."

Score: Unscored

CNN (Merrill Barr)

"So, viewed in that realm, what can be said about The Witcher is it’s got a lot going for it if you’re a fan of this kind of story. Lots of battles. Lots of magic. Lots of great swordplay (one fight, in particular, at the end of the first episode, puts a lot of Game of Thrones swordplay to shame). Also, Cavill is bringing a real A-game to the show that, if it were only focused on him, would be something truly special…. Overall, one could do worse than The Witcher when it comes to scratching that Game of Thrones itch. It hits the checkmarks it needs to for the audience Netflix is after. However, the show is not without its flaws and, if not taken care of, they are what could be the series’ undoing."

Score: Unscored

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Entertainment Weekly (Darren Franich, Kristen Baldwin)

"So yeah, this is some high-school level Dungeons & Dragons role play with a multi-million-dollar budget… I haven’t played the games, but the pilot has certain tropes from that medium exported without imagination to television. There’s the constant download of fantasy verbiage, including much talk about a “kikimora” and a town I swear is called “Blevicum…” The Witcher is also packed with confusing conflicts and long-held rivalries that require a lot of explanation but still manage to make no sense…. Alas, my destiny is to never watch this borefest ever again."

Score: F

TV Guide (Tim Surette)

"Those who commit to the leap of learning a whole new set of rules, terms, and names…will be rewarded with a carefully crafted story of destiny, love, and a white-haired stud slicing monsters to pieces. With its elaborate fantasy setting, richly detailed universe, and compartmentalized storytelling, The Witcher is better compared to the excellent science-fiction series The Expanse. It's great for those who love the genre, but might be a little too hardcore for those who don't have the will to keep up."

Score: 4/5

Variety (Daniel D’Addario)

"There’s not quite enough fully developed characters to make this feel like a big ensemble show like “Thrones,” and so we crave a single center of gravity. The decentralized aspect of “The Witcher,” instead, emphasizes certain faults, like how Cavill doesn’t quite embody the Han Solo aspect of his roguish-hero role enough to hold the screen fully. It also raises the fundamental question of who the show is for. As a “Witcher” watcher but not a reader, I felt the universe at times both overly broad (in its resistance of the single hero) and a bit narrow."

Score: 60

In the end, newcomers to The Witcher might feel a bit overwhelmed by the complexities of the world created by Andrzej Sapkowski. However, those who stick it out will be rewarded with impressive battle scenes, which according to some critics rival those of Game of Thrones, and strong performances by Henry Cavill and the rest of the show’s cast. If the show isn’t enticing enough, though, there are also a board game, card games, and comic book adaptations of Sapkowski’s creation for gamers who have already indulged or even overindulged in the video games.

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Source: Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes