Atari today announced the launch of the playable demo for The Witcher, the acclaimed first game from Polish development studio CD Projekt RED and a PC role-playing masterwork which delivers an engrossing story and thrilling tactical combat, all set in a mature and compelling original fantasy universe. The demo can be downloaded via the official Web site.

Giving players a tantalizing taste of the world of The Witcher, the demo begins with the first part of the prologue in which the seeds of the story are sown and the white haired witcher Geralt learns the rudiments of combat. The prologue is followed by the entirety of Act 1, during which Geralt of Rivia will see the first threads of the story weave their web around him and be called upon to slay man and beast to stay alive and earn his keep.

In The Witcher players take the role of Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer who exists on the fringes of a complex society afflicted by the kind of problems more commonly found on the front pages of newspapers than in a fantasy universe. Taken as a child, mutated, and trained in the arcane ways of the witchers, Geralt is a reluctant hero, who nonetheless finds himself all too frequently in the heat of battles that are not his own. His is a path he might not choose to walk, but walk it he must, guided by his head, heart, and only faithful companion — his sword.

Based on the fictional world created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher is set in a unique fantasy universe where real-life issues dominate a troubled society. In this world there is no right or wrong, only decisions and consequences.