The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

Playing through my first time with the v2.0 patch (Chapter 3) Have bought the game twice to support CDPR, once retail, second time on GOG. Have played through the first game once and hold it in a similar light. Here are my thoughts in (somewhat) short form. The good: Great aesthetic sense. Not only are the graphics technically astounding, they also evoke the low-fantasy setting wonderfully: this is not a beautiful game in the conventional sense. The setting and its characters are not designed to instill awe and wonder. The environs are more muddy than fantastical; its architecture more practical than fanciful; its inhabitants are often grubby, sometimes good hearted, many times superstitious, and almost always self-centered. This is a very colourful game, one that distances itself from the generic fantasy trappings of its peers with its tone, its palette, and its ability to take itself seriously as a mature tale while demanding that you do the same. The plot concerns political intrigue, and for the first time we see the world of the Witcher expand to include the Northern Kingdoms heretofore only mentioned in lore books. In short, its a more involved quest-line than usual for games of this sort, one that has makes more sense and impact than a generic "save the world" arc. The idea of multiple loyalties and perspectives in the continent-wide conflict is reinforced in The Witcher 2's radical decision making branches and by letting you play as different characters in some scenes. Most dialogue options will have admittedly negligible consequences for side-quests, but not so come Chapter 2: you'll be playing an entirely different second-half depending on your choice of ally. The Witcher 2 tells its story in a refreshing fashion. These are its strengths, in addition to other improvements over the original game that I won't mention here. It's the flaws of the Witcher 2 that keep it from achieving 4+ stars. As a game, one that seeks to entertain before all else, it falters in some niggling, but persistent issues. Some are engine-related: Doors only opening for one person at a time is silly; looting crates can be awkward depending on the angle you're facing; some audio drop-ins and drop-outs; persistent mouse lag on game menus, etc. More importantly, some are design related: 1) While I appreciate the aspect of Geralt having to prepare ahead of time for battles, you often initiate combat without warning and without time for preparation, not without reloading a quick save you made yourself (not enough checkpoints). I don't mind having to drink potions before battle, just give me better indication for when I'm going to fight. 2) A very attractive and mostly functional menus, but 'mostly' can be improved. Many have complained about this too, so I won't reiterate as it wasn't a huge issue. 3) A very attractive and somewhat functional map. Sometimes the waypoints get confusing (Do I go to point A or point B first?) or don't update properly (I thought I was just at point A?). 4) Though I suspect Version 2.0 alleviated some of this, much of the game's mechanics can still be poorly explained (this is where the "oldschool RPG" cred comes in, I suppose) Concluding: For everything it does wrong, TW2 does two if not three things right. It is still a wonderful game, and one that with much more QA testing could be excellent.

Every gripe I have about this game so far (I'm only on chapter 2) is covered by TigerLord's excellent and comprehensive review. Fans of the first Witcher game (which I consider to be a 10/10; and possibly my favorite game of all time) should take special note of his review, which covers some of the unwelcome changes beautifully. I'm not at all accustomed to needing a gamepad to play PC games, but I bought one especially for this game. I simply could not adapt to the console-style combat with my keyboard. I've never really owned a console past Ninitendo GC, so I've essentially been learning to use the modern dual-axis control system while trying to enjoy the game. It's been distracting to say the least. All in all, I'm really happy with the game. It's much prettier than Witcher 1, they just altered the gameplay to be more console-oriented, and it's a bit sloppy and frustrating at times. If you haven't played the first game, get it immediately (I envy first-time players). Witcher 1 will have you aching for Witcher 2 in no time.

The Witcher 2 glänzt durch seine gute Story und seinen tiefgründigen Charakteren. Es gibt nicht nur schwarz oder weiß, gut oder böse. Jeder sollte die Geschichte selber spielen, jedes weiter Wort wäre zu viel. Die Dialoge sind gut geschrieben und von sehr guten Sprechern vertont worden. Empfehlenswert ist vor allem die englische Fassung. Technisch habe ich am Spiel auch nicht wirklich viel zu bemängeln. Die Grafik ist natürlich etwas in die Jahre gekommen, aber es sieht für ein mittlerweile 8 Jahre altes Spiel immernoch gut aus. Es gibt keine wirklich großen Bugs oder Glitches, die einen erheblichen negativen Einfluss haben auf das Spiel. Lediglich kam es hin und wieder zu Abstürzen. Darum sollte man oft genug speichern, auch wenn es häufig auch autosaves gibt.

First off this may be a non issue for most, but it's a literal game breaker for me. I'm disabled, my left hand does not have the manual dexterity to use WASD as standard movement, to get around this, I typically remap movement keys to the numpad 8, 4, 2, 6, keys. as the spacing is more forgiving and can actually work for me, but TW2, doesn't even allow mapping of keys to the numpad, this is the first, and ONLY game I've had that happen with, when the controls ARE remapable, I'm not sure why this is. Also, before anyone points out about the gamepad option I have a game pad, but it's not a xbox360 controller for windows, not sure why, but that seems to be the Only gamepad TW2 will recognize, in short I paid 50 dollars for a game I can't use..while I applaud the lack of DRM... I would really NEED an update where I can use the numpad to assign movement keys if I'm to be able to play this at all.

From a company with good values. I bought this on Steam first, but had to buy it on GOG too (although on sale) to support the DRM free approach. Very entertaining (not for kids) fantasy with great graphics.