Reigns: The Witcher brings swipe-based Geralt game, launching Feb. 25

Polygon reports Nerial’s Reigns: The Witcher will launch on Feb. 25 for Windows PC and mobile, adapting the studio’s swipe-based decision gameplay to put players in control of Geralt of Rivia. In a 90-minute demo the reviewer saw runs built around three-card hands that represent aspects of Geralt or goals; levelling those cards increases Dandelion’s fame and unlocks new performance titles.

As in previous Reigns games, players must keep four attributes in balance — Geralt’s witcher work and his relationships with humans, nonhumans and sorcerers — with extreme highs or lows ending runs, often accompanied by a pithy Dandelion poem. The demo included absurd and funny decision chains, from being shot by the Squirrels to a run that ends with Geralt dying in an orgy after getting too close to sorcerers, and even guiding a troll to a new career as a chef.

But the reviewer said the experience is marred by an awful combat mini-game: Geralt’s head slides along the bottom of the screen and the player can only click to change direction, trying to cross magical signs and catch falling swords and potions while avoiding teeth and claws — a system the writer found very tricky to time and easy to be boxed in by grouped tiles.