I heard somewhere that this is Netflix's response to the Game of Thrones. It's either an innocent exaggeration or a shameless PR lie.

GOT had complicated and intertwined storylines with a set of complex characters. Fantastical background was a welcome addition, yet even without dragons and monsters, it offered satisfying amount of highly engaging drama.

The Witcher is a nice tv show to watch and I enjoyed binge-watching it but it's far from being a rival to GOT. I felt that it's closer to Merlin, another series I liked for completely different reasons.

To begin with, there are not many characters in the story. The whole story revolves around three people and we don't have enough chance and convoluted plots to know others better. Additionally, the-monster-of-the-week trope was more dominant in Merlin. GOT dealt with converging multiple different and complex storylines.

All the characters have magical abilities and they have relationships with authority figures, in one way or another. That reminds me of Merlin and Arthur. Finally, unlike GOT, comedy is more dominant in The Witcher and it's frequently used throughout the first season.

Just because having a fantasy world as a backdrop and a Hollywood star on board doesn't make a production "epic" automatically. It's an enjoyable Merlin-like adventure with a little sauce of sex and gore. If you don't expect more, you can have fun more.