The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

After a long, careful consideration I'm firmly decided the second Witcher does deserve an absolute rating. Now I don't tend to hand out 10s as if there was no tomorrow, so believe that my point of view towards the game isn't just another temporary shout out of excitement of a young gamer who still wanders around in the state of euphoria. Rather, it's a steady verdict of a quite bored gamer, who's been, after many years, finally torn out of lethargy by this one game that managed to re-wake the passion for gaming inside him. Tomasz Gop once noted their game would be the synthesis of Demon's Souls, Heavy Rain and Arkham Asylum, and wow he was actually pretty accurate with that statement. But what's more important, it's not only these games, but the entire decade of the games' market. The best way to put it is that The Witcher 2 is a game which defines the current condition of the gaming industry. It's the centerpiece of everything the many companies were attempting to come anywhere near to before. You'll find just about everything in this game – from the intensive gameplay to the slowest „stalker"like; from the deep story digging in ethical questions to the sharp escalating twists; from the tactical battles all the way to those that seem as though they come from some one-on-one fighting game; and finally, from the interactive movie with QTE sequences to nearly classical adventure-ing. From the pointed aspects two things are apparent: 1) In a „dream world" The Witcher would be a game that would draw a thick line behind the current development, thus initiating its new generation. 2) The combination of mechanisms leads to a varied gaming experience. The second point is key for the gamers, since the game does NOT go as near as to the standard feeling of satisfaction found in other titles. It's the mixture of what at first seems to be an incongruous material that causes the quantum of „emotions" the game manages to evoke in you. It often goes far to the ancient times for a bit of inspiration, when the challenge meaning hardcore elements also meant some sort of a reward for the player, just as it does in the game (the anger and anxiety during the battle with Kayran -> the unbelievably satisfying and expurgatory feeling after his defeat). CDP RED were well aware of it, and so they prepared the Insane difficulty (simply put, death = game over); I think it would be virtually impossible to juice any more potential out of it. A sequel to an already perfect game merely prompts many and many other questions, for example how does the European market stand in relation to the one beyond the ocean, which I'll rather won't get into. But, I could simply say it's simply the greatest pleasure to play such detailed, all in all perfectly polished and playable RPG that combines various genre directions in a very skilled way. The script is a chapter of itself, but it's excellent in the core; the journey in the trails of the royal murderer is easily one of the finest pieces of writing I've ever seen in this given media. To conclude, I must praise the narrative experiment that no other game of heroes has had the guts to take (afaik) and which works (damn) well in here.

I'm not going to pretend that this isn't a great game, or that I didn't enjoy it, but I can say with certainty that it PALES in comparison to The Witcher 1. The story is well composed, and the graphics are expectedly prettier, but nearly every other aspect is a step back from the predecessor. Where TW1 ASTOUNDED me with its depth and immersion, TW2 is simply another case of a great series being dumbed down for brain dead console gamers. I don't necessarily fault CD Projeckt Red for this; I understand developers want to make money, but at the same time, I cannot help but feel disappointed as a pc gamer. The combat, which previously required strict timing, has now been reduced to mashing. You can, *most* of the time, get by clicking Mouse1 as quickly as you can, even at higher difficulty settings. Battle stances based on the type of opponents you were fighting are also gone. The inventory is an absolute mess, but it almost doesn't matter, as you barely NEED anything. I played through on Dark, and never wanted for ANYTHING. With all the hand-holding this game does, everything will be provided if you just loot crates. If not, merchant's items respawn... Infinitely. Finally, as I'm running short of characters, Quicktime Events! No! BAD devs. I have so much more to complain about, but I'll leave the rest to others. It's a great CONSOLE game, but fails to live up to the first.

I have had this game for well over a year but the support that has been given is outstanding, free DLC, DRM removed and a free upgrade to the Enhanced Edition for people who had the regular edition! This game captures the essence of old school RPGs while modernising it at the same time. Its a mature game for adults that deals some very violent and sexual themes. The game doesn't treat you like a child and it has a fantastic D&D + medieval European feel (Regardless of the american voice actor for Geralt). This has got to be one of the best RPGs I have played in a long time and I'm looking forward to the Witcher 3 ;)

Very good RPG, but not as great as TW1. Hard to explain, maybe a bit too "modern" for me: too much politics, action-based fighting, a rather short and linear story, ... And it doesn't have the dark poetic athmosphere of the TW1. I hope TW3 will include best parts of the first 2 episods :)

The Witcher 2 starts with Geralt coming awake to find himself in a dungeon facing execution for the murder of a king. From there he is interrogated by Vernon Roche to recall the details of the last battle and how the king died. The story is recalled in pieces and The Prologue unfolds this way. I would love to tell you more , but so much of the game revolves around the excellent story that anything I could tell would be spoiling the fun. Instead, I’ll cover the overview of it. The story is fluid and compelling, but not without it’s flaws. If you don’t pay attention the story can be hard to follow. It moves in a lot of different directions with a lot of different names very fast. However, there is an excellent journal with information on all the characters, places, events, creatures, and even some of the dialogue you encounter. So, if you find yourself lost in the story you can quickly catch up there. I actually found myself spending a lot of time reading the books and taking in the history of the world. The information from the books you read is almost always transferred to your journal for you to look at later. This method of story telling allows the very cinematic approach the game takes while keeping the background and depth of a book and RPG. The Witcher 2 has plenty of RPG elements without a lot of the ‘fetch quests’ . This makes the game feel so much more involved and cinematic. Most of the quests have a tie in with the story, and I never felt forced to do a filler quest just to advance through the game. Everything had a purpose and often more than one. This is excellent since it keeps the story moving steadily towards a common goal without the feeling of wasting time. You may be stuck and have to do some quests for this person or the next, but it all ties together in such a way that it feels right. Granted, there are side quests and job boards where you can use your Witcher skills to hunt monsters to gather gold and items. These aren’t required, but most are enjoyable and often encountered on the paths the main quest takes. The only ‘quest’ I didn’t enjoy was the dice poker mini games that felt only like filler for items and money. The idea wasn’t horrible, I just always lost. In order to finish the quest line I would guess I lost 3 out of every 5 games. This repetition and failure made the mini game less than enjoyable to me, but I could just have really bad luck. Along with the great story and cinematic scenes the game boasts some excellent game play, albeit with a steep difficulty curve. The Prologue was especially tough, but during my initial play through a patch was released successfully addressing the balance issues. However, The Witcher 2 still can be frustratingly difficult at times. The trick is to remember your potions and weapon enhancements. These abilities help ease the difficulties early on. Don’t let the early fighting discourage you because after a few ability levels the fighting curve quickly levels out. Eventually leaving you feeling much more powerful, but occasionally challenged by bosses. The ability tree is where all your leveling is handled in The Witcher 2. I really like this system because you can tell early on the potential for multiple play styles. There are four main branches of the ability tree, Witcher Training, Swordsmanship, Magic, and Alchemy . With the 3 ‘class’ branches locked until you put a certain amount of ability points into the Witcher Training branch. Once unlocked you have a hard decision to make. The ability points are limited and can’t be changed once used. So, you have to decide early on which path you want to take. Taking multiple paths is certainly possible, but the better abilities are found at the end of the trees. I found by the end of the game I had only enough ability points to max out one of the ability paths. What I like so much about this system is how much more powerful you can feel from a simple skill upgrade. Take the swordsmanship tree for example. With one skill point you can start damaging all the enemies around you. This has a dramatic effect on dealing with multiple enemies. I never explored the Magic or Alchemy paths, but they look like they have the potential to greatly effect the way you play the game. Along with the usual sword, magic, and alchemy method of fighting, The Witcher 2 includes several quick time events scattered throughout the game. Although there is an option to turn on or off ‘difficult QTE’s’ I never found any of them to be difficult with the option on. QTE use ranges from the fist fighting mini-game to parts of the epic boss battles. I enjoy the subtle use of quick time events in The Witcher 2. They add enough interaction to the cinematic events without being too frustrating or intrusive. Graphically the game is beautiful, as the screenshots below will show. The Witcher 2 features some very detailed environments and superbly crafted creatures. I spent a lot of time just gazing at the environment and getting too close to some of the creatures just for a better look. Everything seems to scale well enough that it should be playable on a large range of computers, and even at the lowest settings, The Witcher 2 offers graphics that are good enough to not distract from the joy of the game. Although The Witcher 2 is fantastic it is not without its flaws. I noticed a few bugs while playing worth noting. On a couple of occasions I found I had to reload because I either became stuck in an animation sequence or an npc or item that should be there wasn’t. I also had a handful of Crash to Desktops that were completely unexplainable near the end of the game. One that forced me to reload to an earlier save to continue. The only other noticeable bug was occasionally my quest marker would outright lie to me. Instead of taking me to the quest location it would lead me to the wrong place then change when I got there. None of the bugs felt game stopping to me because I have so many saves, but they could be frustrating if I didn’t save so often. So, I suggest saving often. Both for the bugs and the fact that sometimes death awaits around the corner. UPDATE: As of Patch 1.3 many of the above bugs have been fixed. With the upcoming release to XBOX 360 it is important to add that the game plays fantastically well with the XBOX 360 controller for Windows. I simply changed the control scheme to controller and the game picked right up with it. Menus, dialogue, and quick time events reflected controller buttons and the entire transition was smooth. Judging by my few hours with a controller I have every reason to believe the game will be just as great on the XBOX 360 as PC. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a superb game that I would recommend to anyone. It boasts an epic story with paths, love interests, and consequences on par with any rpg including those from Bioware. The game is fun and exciting throughout without the feeling of repetition, and every chapter leaves you wanting more. The Witcher 2 is beautifully crafted with details that leave you in awe and epic boss battles that make you feel like the Witcher you are suppose to be. Very few RPG games have pulled off the cinematic feel that The Witcher 2 has, and even fewer have a story with so many branches that replaying is almost a must. I was on the edge of my chair from the beginning, and I am left hoping there is more to come soon.