‘The Witcher’ Trailer Is Here—and It’s Shockingly Good

Happy Friday, and welcome to another edition of Replay, WIRED’s rundown of the most important and interesting news from the world of videogames. Sit down, get comfy, and get informed. Let’s go.

Netflix’s The Witcher Gets a New Trailer, and Henry Cavill Is Maybe a Little Bit Daddy

It’s here. It’s moody. And it’s surprisingly beautiful: the trailer for The Witcher, Netflix’s TV adaptation of a book series that is way better known as a videogame series. Starring Henry Cavill, it’s the story of Geralt, a magical mutant who hunts monsters in a fantasy version of Renaissance-era Europe called the Continent. There are witches, and vampires, and a mysterious young woman who might hold the key to the future itself.

All in all, the trailer looks great! Cavill makes a better Geralt than anyone could have expected. Not to mention there’s a quick shot of him lounging in a bath, one of the most memetic images of Geralt from his last videogame incarnation, and he continues the tradition of sexy grayed looks. Geralt is daddy—but is Henry Cavill? We’ll find out when the show comes to streaming on December 20.

Blitzchung Is Still Banned, But He’s Already Signed With a New Team

Remember the whole Blizzard, Hong Kong, Hearthstone story, where amazing pro player Blitzchung got banned for several months for speaking out about politics on a Blizzard stream? Yeah. Well. He’s still banned, and will be for a while, but that’s not stopping his career at all. As PC Gamer reports, Blitzchung has signed with esports organization Tempo Storm, a group founded by a former professional Hearthstone player who goes by the handle Reynad.

What will Blitzchung do for his new organization, considering he’s banned? Well, according to the report, he’ll stream, train, and “represent the brand abroad.” Not a bad deal.

Speaking of Which, Blizzard Apologized—Not Really, Kind Of

Oh, also, as of this writing, BlizzCon is just getting underway. In a surprising move, Blizzard opened up their keynote presentation with something that almost, if you want it to be, sounds like an apology. Company president J. Allen Brack said that, “Blizzard had the opportunity to bring the world together in a tough Hearthstone esports moment about a month ago and we did not.” He then went on to apologize for failing to live up to the company’s high standards.

What moment? What was the right decision? What is Hong Kong, even, and what does China have to do with any of this? Good questions! Blizzard clearly learned apologies from from someone who didn’t know a lot about nouns.

Recommendation of the Week: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

The Force Unleashed is my big dumb comfort game. Before Disney grabbed the license, before Star Wars lore was tuned to be coherent or make sense, this game was out here doing all sorts of ridiculous nonsense with the series. You play as Starkiller, Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, a comically powerful Force user who can pull Star Destroyers out of the sky and destroy literally anything in his path. The play is a chaotic superpowered playground, all cartoonish Star Wars carnage, a thousand rag-dolled stormtroopers and charred AT-ATs. It’s simple, goofy, and entirely cathartic. Go play it.

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