The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

I got this game shortly after building my first mid-range gaming PC and I found the game infuriating and complicated, but beautiful and deep. After I managed to break through the wall and enjoy Dark Souls, I decided to revisit Witcher 2. Boy am I glad I did. To date, I have gotten four endings, and I am currently on my seventh playthrough, second time on Dark. The game takes the "classic" shell of Western fantasy and kicks up the bleakness factor to create a world where monsters are an ever-present threat, non-humans are torn between comfortable city life filled with disdain or a life in the wild fighting for non-human rights. Through it all, the Witchers are the first and last line of defense against the evil lurking just beyond the torchlight of small villages and castle walls. The characterization in the game is phenomenal. The voice acting, while not universally perfect, reaches a level rarely seen, and the characters are all complex, with hidden desires, shifting motives, weaknesses, and prejudices. No two characters have the same personality, and it creates a twisted-yet-cohesive role-playing experience. The combat system is a see-saw balancing skill and tactical response with careful preparation and a deep understanding of what resources are and are not worth using. Unlike many other games, you cannot chug potions to buff yourself during combat. You can only use potions and blade oils to prepare for combat, but once the fight starts, you have to use your agility, traps, bombs, and swords to outwit enemies. The combat on Dark difficulty is especially merciless, and I highly recommend it to Dark Souls aficionados looking for a similar- if less complex and difficult- alternative. The game's story is so expertly told that I can't believe hollywood hasn't already bastardized it into a shameful Michael Bay disaster by now. Geralt has been framed for the murder of a king, and has to go on the run to clear his name. Boom. Love it.

I'll leave my review to the point, I'll try not to make it too lengthy. I picked this game up in anticipation for Witcher 3 but only recently got around to starting it. I wish I booted it up immediately after finishing the first game. Right off, the game looks beautiful. The first game was fantastic because of gameplay and story, but graphics left some to be desired; not so with this game. I plain don't care that this game has no fast-travel system because it is a joy just to walk and see the wonderfully crafted world. Watching light effects in the forest (particularly at dusk and dawn), well designed landscapes, character faces, and everything else make this game worth the reasonable price tag. Graphics aside, the gameplay mechanics are much more polished and overall nicer. Combat is a little different but I found easier to get into (less spammy). I think most people will find it to be a nice evolution if they can get past the fact stances are no longer in there. This did cause a minor annoyance with combat, you can't just swing your sword and hit everything in front of you (using the group fight setting they had in the first game) so large group fights you have to be very defensive and tactically retreat often. Once I got used to it I actually came to like it. Creates more "realism". Ultimately, even a witcher probably can't just jump in the middle of 15 drowners and not take some serious hits, with this thats exactly what happens. I also really appreciated the dev not watering down their alchemy mechanic. Great that you can use it anywhere though! The alchemy is a large part of what sets this game apart from others. You have to find ingredients containing the base compounds you need + a recipe, and off you go making potions. However, you can only have so many effects at once (potions give toxicity, if a potion brings you over max you can't use it until existing potions wear off). The other feature being that you can't just pop a potion just anywhere (like pretty much every other RPG out there), you have to plan. If you know a fight is coming up, take your health regeneration and strength potions now because you simply can't mid fight. This adds real challenge to the game without making the player feel cheated (i.e. just make the boss have more health or unbelievably strong attacks), compared to something like Skyrim where you can just pause a fight to eat 10 pounds of beef and drink a health potion. Last note, I absolutely loved the story. It's not always clear how the decisions you make will effect the game world, making each decision harder. Plus they did a good job making characters you love (or hate if they're a real arse), something lacking in some titles lately. This story grips you and you care about how things turn out. tl:dr If you liked the first game you will like this one for sure. If you are new to the series it will probably be a little weird at first getting used to alchemy and combat as well as preparing before a fight. Get into the story and explore the dialogue, there's a lot going on and a lot of information to digest.

I really liked Witcher 1. Unfortunately, the game engine for the sequel has been completely redone in a way that made me give up on trying to finish. The first major issue is that the game controls are very awkward (keyboard + mouse). It started with the game not accepting keyboard input - although I had ticked the box in the setup menu. The solution I found for switching from game controller to keyboard was to open the dialogue for remapping keys, making some changes, and saving the result. Next, Geralt's movements using the mouse were so jerky I felt seasick - setting the mouse sensitivity to the lowest level and disabling some graphics options made it barely tolerable. The second major issue is the perspective. I played Witcher 1 in isometric view which gives a nice overview in battle. Witcher 2 does not have this option. Instead, the camera follows Geralt around from behind. So most of the time you cannot see what is directly in front of you because Geralt's head is in the way. The only thing that is even worse is if you back up against a wall and the camera suddenly moves up to look down on Geralt. In a fight, this can be lethal when you lose track of your enemies and need precious seconds ro readjust the view. I can accept isometric perspective or first person but not this. The jerky movement and random camera mean that combat is unnecessarily hard. You spend time struggling with the controls instead of actually interacting with the game and making tactical decisions. I nearly gave up during the tutorial because of this, but the game itself is slightly more forgiving. Other reviews also complain about the poor inventory management and how you now need to rest to use alchemy. While I also found Witcher 1 better in this regard, they are not game-breaking issues for me. The alchemy thing is even arguably closer to how Geralt uses potions in the novels. I am still giving this game 2 stars for having an interesting story (as far as I got) and good graphics.

I finished the game and here are my thoughts below. Some spoilers for this game are mentioned in this review. What I enjoyed: 1. Story - I loved how I had to choose between the human named Vernon Roche and the elf named Iorveth. Both choices had their merits. Roche was the soldier who released Geralt (the protagonist played by the gamer) from execution for a crime Geralt didn't do. Whereas Roche saved Geralt, Iorveth is trying to save his race and help a certain female create an idealistic state. In short, I had to choose between paying off my debt to Roche (Roche path) or helping Iorveth create a state where non - humans (elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings) live in peace with humans (Iorveth path). 2. Graphics - They are beautiful and immerses the gamer into the game. 3. Gameplay - A massive improvement over The Witcher 1. It is hard for me to describe it, but playing it feels more graceful and fluid. 4. Music - The quality and purpose of the music did immerse me into the game. It speaks for itself. What I didn't like: 1. Why wasn't Cynthia, the Nilfgaardian sorceress and spy, on the Roche path? She is mentioned by Roche, but there is no scene on the path with her in it. The only reason I choose the Iorveth path is to spend some time with her. She is my favorite character in The Witcher game trilogy!

I am a little bit ambivalent when it comes to this game. On one side I really like it, on the other hand it has its unnecessary flaws. My biggest grievances regarding this game are all the game padding in the form of boring inventory and equipment management, bad balancing at times, and a couple of QTE's. Luckily there are mods that set all inventory items weight to 0, and thereby removes this game padding from the equation. Just do not use "Geralt's Improved Quality of Life" on Iorveth's path: The mod have messed too much with the balance of the game and makes at least sorceror (practically) invincible! QTE's are something that I hate a lot, but at least there are not many of them in this game. On one side I would say that there are FAR to many cut scenes and video sequences in this game, but on the other hand I can see that they are necessary to present the story and background information. So it might be considered a necessary evil? I guesstimate that I spent ca.75 hours playing through the first game. Approximately the same time I used to play through this game. And even if I had the time to get bored at times playing through the first game, I did not have the time to get (nearly) as bored playing through this game. Possibly because there was not as much walking back and forth in this game as in the first one. There was also more variation in monsters and enemies in this game compared to the first game. The crafting is also something that I find is more game padding than usefull: The work and time you have to put into get items crafted, often does not pay off since you often find better items shortly afterwords anyways... I found the fighting OK but at times frustrating: In the first game Geralt could dodge and jump over enemies, but in this game you are to often blocked, overpowered and killed! If I could I would probably have given this game 7/10. But since I can not, 3/5 would have been too low. Even if 4/5 is too much, it is "less wrong" than just 3/5...