The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

It took me two years to play this, and now that I have - I wish I'd played it sooner. This game has some of the most ornate quests I've ever seen, and one in particular, Secrets of Loc Muinne, I was just mighty impressed with. This isn't a game made to waste some time on, it's an entertainment experience of the highest quality and worthy of anyone's time.

The Witcher 2 it's not an easy game to learn, it's not an easy game to get into, heck it's not even an easy game to play. The Witcher 2 has a complex but simple story telling it to you from a prologue while our main protagonist is sitting down on a prision table beign questioned about a situation that starts unwrapping itself as you play. The Witcher 2 it's not the kind of game that breaks the boundaries of gameplay, it's its own unique and special bowl of surprises mixed in a perfectly crafted fashion in order for you to uncover and discover the true shining of the pulp that this game has to offer.

It has it's flaws, still the most immersive RPG so far.

First of all: It's a worthy sequel. Beautiful, inrtrigueing, highly addictive. I think I don't need to say much about the positive side, since you possibly know The Witcher, or read enough worshipping. Here's the bad part: 1st: yeah, it's gonna be a console game some day and you will feel it already. Stupid "click your ass off" action, "only-drink-potions-while-meditating" (huh?) and unnerving "Quick Time Events" for the extra dose of plastic superaction while it's not even logically used. For me there's no point in having for about 2% of the responses you're able to give just 5 seconds time, while you can wait forever at the other 98%. Since it's pretty rare I can live with it - but it's stupid as hell nonetheless. This childish "load of action", probably taken from the latest part of Tomb Raider or the Pokemon Saga (wtf?) wasn't necessary. But you can live with it. It's a shame see this spread through almost any computer game nowadays. 2nd: If you're German like me, but don't like playing in english, let me tell you this. The translation is aweful! The synchronization is just horrible! It's even worse than the first part - and I always thought that's impossible. The speaking actors don't have ANY clue of what this game is about - it sounds like some failed soap star reads sticky notes in the bathroom! They even translated the misspelled curse of an elve "Bloddy d'hoine!" (misspelled in the subtext as "bloede d'hoine") with "blo-ehde doi-ne" - which means they've NEVER listened to the english version prior translating. It's really really ugly. Google would've done a better job ^^ Now for the Germans who'd been unable to get it so far: 2. wenn du wie ich Deutscher bist, aber nicht auf Englisch spielen möchtest, dann sei dir über Folgendes klar: Die Übersetzung ist fürchterlich! Die Synchronisation ist zum kotzen! Es ist sogar noch schlimmer als beim ersten Teil - und ich dachte DAS wäre unmöglich. Die Synchronsprecher haben KEINERLEI Ahnung worum es in dem Spiel überhaupt geht - die klingen wie gescheiterte Seifenoperndarsteller, die aufm Scheisshaus sitzen und Post-It's vorlesen. Die haben sogar den im Untertitel falsch geschriebenen Fluch eines Elfen ("verdammte d'hoine (Menschen)") mit "blo-ehde doi-ne" übersetzt (man spricht eigentlich "doann", die aber sagen wirklich DOI-NE.. krass). Das bedeutet die haben sich das englische Original nichtmal vor dem Übersetzen angehört. Das ist wirklich richtig, richtig widerlich. Google hätte das besser übersetzt ^^ Since I enjoy the game in English, I don't really care about this disaster - but it'd be nice if I could play in German too, without feeling the urge to puke all across my keyboard. Don't get a WRONG impression here! I LOVE The Witcher 2! It's just awesome overall - but these two things really suck, so I needed to mention. Nicht falsch verstehen! Ich LIEBE The Witcher 2! Ein großartiges Spiel insgesamt. Nur kann man halt leider sagen, dass es eigentlich garkeine deutsche Synchronisation gibt. Es gibt im Grunde nur eine Version bei der ständig irgendein Scheiss auf Deutsch gebrabbelt wird, während man die englischen Untertitel lesen muss um zu verstehen was gemeint ist. Spiel auf Englisch, dann is allet tutti ;-)

I have played Witcher 1 right about when it came out - for all it's flaws, i enjoyed it a lot. After a while, i switched to consoles - i didn't own a gaming PC and since Witcher 2 never came out on PS3/4, i missed out on it. Then Witcher 3 came out and i fell in love, basically doing a 100% completion in one sitting. Even if some things in Witcher 3 could be better, I find Witcher 3 the game of the decade. So why am i writing about W3 in a W2 review? Because this review is focused on how it feels to sit down to W2 having played W3 (and W1) first. :::::: Here is the main issue: W3 was an upgrade on absolutely everything. Every. Single. Thing. When i started out with it, it was my understanding that while it was obviously an inferior game in a technical sense (graphics, mechanics, gui etc.), it stood it's ground with the story, the immersion and lore. It doesnt, not by a long shot. I was actually surprised on how poorly delivered parts of the story were. The story itself is good/great, but for me the deliverance took away a lot from the enjoyment. The scenes start/end abruptly, the characters act unnaturally, there are a lot of tiny cliches, basically while the overarching storyline is great, the bits connecting it are mediocre. Also, although the main characters are beautifully fleshed out, they contrast strongly with everyone else being very one dimentional. Additionally, I was spoiled by the abundance of fleshed out side-content in W3 - W2 is mainly focused on the main story (though it's not necessarily a flaw i guess). The combat is poor and the gui is very unintuitive. The graphics are still beautiful and the animations are what you'd expect for the time. ::::::: Don't get me wrong, the game is still great and - by all means - play it! As a point of referrence: it's better than every entry in the Dragon Age series. Just don't be disappointed by how far from W3 it is. And - if you have the chance - play W2 before W3.