One of the extras for this game is "The Witcher story," a 49-page pdf. Is this meant to be read *before* playing the game? Or does it contain spoilers for the game itself, and therefore is to be avoided? I suspect it's the former, as the events seem to sync with the intro video for the game, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks.

It takes place before the events of the game. Actually, it's the first story about Geralt written by it's author, Andrzej Sapkowski, dating back to 1986*. It's a nice introduction to the Witcher's world and Geralt himself, and obviously there are no spoilers from the game.

*There re more than just this story - six novels and numerous short stories. Seems that not all of them were oficially translated to English, though.

It expand on the background story that is mention in the game but not explain in details.

Thanks to both of you. Yes, you're right, it expands on the background story, and is a helpful complement to the intro video in the game.

I think this first short story was the best Witcher story Sapkowsky has ever written. The short stories in generals are notably better than his 5 books long cycle about Ciri, the elven prophecies and whatever, it starts well, but it loses steam and focus during the third book and ends up pretty muddy.

Yeah I like this story a lot. It does an excellent job of introducing what a Witcher is, and it was a great idea to include it with the game, as I immediately understood the kinds of things I'd be doing in the game: navigating a morally ambiguous world, making careful preparations using alchemy, and hunting down monsters.

I also really liked the stories A Grain of Truth and A Matter of Price, both from The Last Wish (the only set of stories that's been officially translated into English). I haven't read the novels, although I probably will eventually. If nothing else I'd like to know the full the full background story that leads up to the games, but I'm also curious to see how a longer tale about Geralt would work.

I recommend reading his Hussite trilogy called God's Warriors (Narrentum, God's Warriors, Lux Perpetua), it's IMO much superior to the Witcher saga (the novels). As a Czech who was taught about the Hussite movement from different perspective (communist glorification vs. the current regime condemnation), Sapkowski's somewhat more banlanced point of view spiced with bizarre excursion to the world of occult and new age style mysticism represent an interesting addition to the discussion.