In an unexpected twist of fate, Geralt of Rivia has changed races, from a human mutant to an elf in Total War: Warhammer II.
By now, we're all aware Henry Cavill is a massive gamer. He professed to have lived and breathed The Witcher universe in preparation for his role in the Netflix series and most recently posted a snippet of his quarantine life painting Warhammer miniatures on Instagram.
Henry told GQ in a pre-premiere interview for The Witcher Netflix series how much he adores escapist fantasy games, Creative Assembly's Warhammer in particular. He claims to have completed the game with six different races and "loved it each time!" In the same interview, Cavill is quoted as saying:
There’s new DLCs coming out all the time and I’m looking forward to whatever the next one is.
Well, the self-professed gaming nerd has cause to fanboy harder than ever before. He probably wasn't expecting the next DLC to inject himself straight into the thick of battle.
The newest DLC, 'The Warden and The Paunch' drops today, May 21st, and introduced a new character based on the actor's most recent role as Geralt of Rivia. This newest character is a High Elf Loremaster unambiguously named Cavill. The High Elf comes with a trait called White Wolf, granting the elven Loremaster a fighting bonus against large enemies. Hm, maybe monstrously large? There's even some witty text "Wind's howling," referencing some of The Witcher 3's commonly quoted bit of dialogue.
Surely these easter eggs are evident enough on their own. But just in case players had any doubts as to whom this new character was referencing, Total War's game director, Richard Alderidge, confirmed the tributes. Alderidge told PCGamesN, once learning Henry was such a massive fan of the game, he thought it would be great to work the actor into the gameplay.
When I saw a certain Mr. Cavill mention that he enjoys nothing more than firing up Total War: Warhammer or painting a few models in his spare time, I thought it would be fun to somehow inject him into the game [...] With the Warden and the Paunch coming up, it felt like a good time to include Henry...
This isn't Henry Cavill's first inclusion in a game. His IMDb lists his involvement in Squadron 42, the upcoming sci-fi action game where he'll be playing the role of pilot Ryan Enright. It suffices to say Henry is effectively living a boyhood dream, combining his talent of acting with his life long passion for gaming. Popping up in one's favorite game would be a highlight for any gamer, so we can only imagine Henry's delight when he downloaded Total War's newest DLC this morning. Happy gaming, Mr. Cavill!
Source: IGN