The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

Sequel to the highly acclaimed The Witcher, part 2 takes us further along the story of Geralt of Rivia, the effeminate monster hunter, servant of witches. In this game the colours appear to be somewhat more alive than in the first game and the camera defaults to a third person view, which can make combat awkward in tight places. On the highest difficulty I found the combat to be a bit more challenging than in TW1, but nothing to write home about. While I found that winning in combat is still mostly about the equipment carried the combat itself seems better than in TW1. Unlike in the first part, the second mostly offers us the feeling of travelling through canyons, limiting any feel of an actual open world. At least some of the choices we've made in the first game seem to be flat out ignored in the second, which I found detracted immensely from my enjoyment of the game. Despite not being a bad game by any standard, my enjoyment of it was markedly inferior than what I experienced in the first game. While still worth a playthrough, if I had to choose I would recommend the first game over this one without a second thought.

Some will take issue with the number of things that have been changed from the original, but if you can overlook The Witcher 2's minor flaws and set aside your nostalgia, you'll find a game every bit as enjoyable as its predecessor. First off, this game won't run well for everyone. It requires a fairly powerful system, and running it in higher resolutions than it can handle can lead to both the combat and quick-time events being sluggish and unresponsive. Perhaps one of the more divisive "features" in gaming, QTEs (quick-time events) find their way into several sequences, most notably near the beginning. The prompts can be a bit small and hard to read which complicates some sequences unnecessarily, but overall it proves to be a minor annoyance for most. Older players may have some difficulty with the rapid clicking, though problems with QTEs are more likely a result of a sub-par computer struggling to catch up. Combat has been changed to give you the player a more active role, which means thinking one sword strike ahead and actively maneuvering Geralt in order to avoid being surrounded and overwhelmed. The change may surprise new players because it's difficult to learn initially, but once you've made your way through the first act you'll find yourself merrilly slicing up most of your foes with relative ease. The graphics are absolutely beautiful, but even more so the aesthetic sense of the layout; a great deal of care has been taken in crafting even the forest of the first act, and what begins as random trees eventually becomes so familiar that you'll soon begin recognizing the distinct areas. The lighting is especially fantastic, adding a dramatic veil of color to several scenes without being over-the-top. Choice was a big factor in the original Witcher game, and it went through a great deal of trouble to create flawed characters and grey areas of morality. The Witcher 2 exceeds the original in this regard, providing choice after choice, never clear-cut good or evil, that leads to several different endings. Endings aren't prettied up cutscenes where you're told by a narrator what every one of your decisions ended up meaning, but rather a playable epilogue where the main story is neatly tied up and the results of many of your decisions left up in the air. You can choose who lives and who dies, but you presumably won't know what that means for the story until The Witcher 3 rolls around. The Witcher 2 isn't the longest game to ever come out, but you can only experience the full game after two playthroughs. The second half is completely different based on your decisions, and you'll meet different characters who will show you another side of the story and may even end up changing some your mind about some of the decisions you made near the end the first time. Whereas the first Witcher was only tied to the books in superficial ways, the characters and plots of the books have been made an important part of The Witcher 2. Don't fret if you're unfamiliar with them though, because everything you need to know is revealed through flashbacks as Geralt recovers his memory. The result of all of this is that you really get a better taste for the lore and history of the Witcher universe, and it helps connect you to the plot in a meaningful way. If you can overlook its few flaws, this game will deliver like no other game has in a long, long time and compel you to start a new game immediately upon finishing. Absolutely recommended.

ITA: Non buono come il terzo gioco, ma anni luce lontano dal legnoso primo Witcher. AoK offre una sfida difficile nel combattimento basato sull'azione libera, i controlli sono fluidi e reattivi anche se non intuitivi (bisogna abituarsi ad essi). La storia è, come sempre, molto interessante e profonda, e molti aspetti della politica e dei problemi sociali (migrazione, discriminazione, razzismo, ecc.) sono ampiamente sfruttati in "reali" casi di vita che si possono vedere attraverso gli occhi di Geralt, e il giocatore è spesso in grado di interagire con essi in qualche modo. Tuttavia, l'inventario è difficile da usare attraverso un controller e questo interrompe l'immersione a causa del mettere in pausa troppe volte solo per usare qualcosa; un problema migliorato (ma non del tutto risolto) in The Witcher 3. I miglioramenti rispetto al primo gioco di The Witcher sono vasti e apprezzati. Intensivo anche per l'hardware PC di oggi,ha una grafica buona a mio parere, ma i colori sono troppo saturi. ENG: Not as good as the third game, but light years away from the cluncky first Witcher. AoK offers challenging difficulty in free action-based combat, the controls are fluid and responsive altough not intuitive (you have to get used to it). The story is, as always, really interesting and deep, and many aspects of the politics and social problems (migration, discrimination, racism etc.) are extensively thrown into "real" life-cases that you can see through Geralt's eyes, and you are often able to interact with (in same ways). For the cons, though, inventory is difficult to use through a controller and this often breaks the immersion resulting in pausing fights too many times just to use something; a problem improved (but not entirely addressed) in The Witcher 3. However, the improvements over the first Witcher game are vast and appreciated. Intensive even for today's PC hardware, this DirectX9 title has really good graphics in my opinion but colors are a bit oversaturated.

I happend to play The Witcher 2 after part 3 and part 1 (in that order). It is really impressive what the developers have archieved and how they improved the game in each iteration, keeping the good stuff and pruning the things which did not work. In the beginning, the story seems to be just Geralt versus some super-villain, but it unfold to a much larger scale. Soon Geralt is caught in political intrigues and has to choose between factions, his friends and morales. At key points, your decisions really make a difference and from time to time a cut-scene will tell of the consequences. I enjoyed the dialogs, the acted-out key-dialogs just as well as the personal dialogs. They never feel empty but you always get a better picture of the world or the characters. (This became even more apparent because I happend to play Ghost Recon Breakpoint at the same time. Its dialogs are similar in style to The Witcher but are a big bore because the characters there just babble shallow nonsense.) The journal which is constantly written on by Dandelion also adds much to background, though I found reading it a bit uncomfortable on a large modern screen. I did it anyway because the writing is good. Battles have much improved from The Witcher 1, where they were just a click-mess. I preferred the dodge and hit style of fighting. I suppose this is the most effective style. Sadly this makes blocking, spells except Quen (shield) and an occasional Aard (stun), traps and daggers fairly useless. Also most alchemy seemed useless to me and I only ever used two potions Swallow (healing) and Cat (night vision) leaving most of the alchemy skill tree undeveloped. CD Project RED adressed those problems in The Witcher 3. If had had to name the thing which I liked least, then its the games over-reliance on the mouse. Looting, climing and a few other actions require clicking and it never felt good. I don't know why they did not make the space bar an alias for that. That said: just buy it already!

The game looks beautiful even now. All the settings and characters, armors are well done and walking around the world feels incredibly immersive. The story is complex and well-paced. It's full of interesting characters and an uncompromising look at a world that's divisive and bubbling with conflict. Witcher 2 doesn't shy away from the harsh topics like religion, racism and my favorite part of the story is how it focuses on the overarching story as well as the impact of the grand decisions on the common people. Combat is vastly improved from the first game. It still feels a bit mindless at times, but a lot more enjoyable. My favorite thing about the first game, alchemy is back and the system is much more organized and refined. It's also a lot more useful and necessary this time around. My biggest complaint about the game is it doesn't have the same charm of the first game. As flawed and outdated as that game was, the locations were memorable and there's a nostalgia when remembering of Temple Quarters or the Outskirts. I've already forgotten places from Witcher 2 few months from playing it. Rating: 90