As someone who has never read the books or played the games, I gave in to the hype and binged through the 8 episodes. Overall I'd give it 6/10. Positives were the cast that brought the story to life excellently, but unfortunately this was let down by the unexplained switching of timelines, inadequate plot development and important plot elements that were needlessly withheld until the final 2 episodes. I understand that plots twist in any interesting story, but I felt the decision to do this resulted in a story that was longer than necessary. Episodes 1, 7 and 8 directly relate to one another, which is the crux of this story. The rest introduce other characters that are involved in The Witcher's quests and monster hunting thrown in. Jaskier, a welcomed and consistent comic relief offering, being one.

The Witcher is centered around Geralt of Rivea, Ciri, Princess heir to the throne of Cintra and Yennefer of Vengerberg. The cast is perfectly chosen, especially Henry Cavill as Geralt, and the story is excellently told throughout by everyone involved. Unfortunately I felt that both Geralt and Ciri's characters were not developed or explored nearly enough. Apart from being confusingly aware of her importance, Ciri just wanders around with no real further plot development. Geralt's origin and further plot development only occur near the very end which is quite frustrating. Yennefer's character was very well thoughtfully developed throughout. The final episode I felt was anti-climatic as it dwindled on almost pointlessly, the best it could offer were showing different perspectives of what had already occurred and showing you what had been deliberately left out of earlier episodes. Not really a twist, but more a withholding of important dialogue held earlier on in the series for dramatic effect. Overall the series finishes with a sense that the real story is only just beginning, so hopefully season 2 will delve further in to these characters and really bring them to life.