Easily the best modern RPG I've ever played. What can I say that hasn't already been said? Excellent game play, a better talent system than the previous game, but still heavily biased towards sword combat, the most amazing story ever. The writers of the game outdid themselves, especially when crafting a story where your choices actually matter. Small, subtle things can change in this game based upon what might seem like a mundane decision by the player. You never know when a seemingly insignificant dialog option might have a huge impact on the game further down the road. The game is split into three Acts as opposed to the five Acts from the first game, but it does a great job at not making the game short. This is not a quick run-through by any means, even if you've previously beaten the game. Even though there are only three acts, none of them feels dragged out. Right about the time you start to feel like an area is becoming tiresome and repetitive, you are sent elsewhere. The pacing is superb. Anyhow, I'm not the best review writer in the world, so I'll cut short here with some parting thoughts. A lot of complaints against the game say it suffers from "consolitits" and while it's true that the game was developed with consoles in mind, if you keep your control scheme to keyboard and mouse, you will never notice. In fact, I recommend playing with keyboard and mouse. I've got an Xbox 360 controller specifically for my computer and I tried playing this game with it and the experience was severely lacking. Do yourself a favor and ditch the controller for this one.
One of the better RPGs I've ever played. It's extremely solid and memorable. What can I say that hasn't already been said? As great as this game is, I don't think I would care to play through a second time. It was great fun the first time through, but in the end, playing through a second time to choose a different path would feel mostly redundant. The game plays essentially the same regardless of the path you choose. No new areas unlock, you just get different interactions and dialog and slightly different third act and ending. However, the choices you make do carry over to The Witcher 2, but if you really want to start The Witcher 2 with a different decision in The Witcher, there are save game editors to allow you to do that without having to replay the whole thing. Just a few parting gripes: The game is incredibly easy. I played on the hardest difficulty level and I think I died once or twice through the entire thing. Also, the leveling system and talent tree are incredibly unbalanced. I put all of my points into sword skills and completely neglected signs (magic). In fact, there is no reason at all to ever put points into any of the sign skills since sword combat is much, much more effective. I would give this game a 9/10 stars, but since GOG has a 5 star rating system and I can't give it a 4.5 I give it a 5 instead. Definitely a solid RPG and worth every cent. I think most people will find some replay value in it even if I did not.
I had never heard of this game until I saw it listed as "Free" during the last GOG summer sale. I never pass up anything GOG is giving away so I nabbed it and tried it out right away. Initially, like most people seem to have done, I pegged it as a Portal clone. This is not at all accurate. It might have been Portal inspired, but gameplay is quite different and unique. I have never played anything quite like it. If you're looking for a game exploring the intricacies of real world electromagnetism then this game might disappoint you. The entire game relies on it's own set of physics that don't follow their real world counterparts. Personally, I was able to see past this because it is, after all, a game. Some might call this a weak point, but I see it for what it is -- an interesting game mechanic. Another aspect of this game that might be offputting to some is the heavily implied connection to the Eldritch Horrors but when all is said and done, they are mostly at the periphery of actual gameplay. Sure, you run across a Deep One or two and a few beasties inspired by Nyarlathotep, and you even find yourself under the gaze of a silhouetted C'thulu in the later stages of the game, but that's where it all ends. The designers of this game missed the mark on the "horror" part of "Eldritch horror" and I think that's a shame, but it's still great to see a revival of Lovecraftian inspired games. The story/plot of the game may be inspired by Lovecraft, but in the end it feels thin. The game could have had no story and no dialog and it would have felt much the same. There is virtually no character development for any character and ultimately you have no real care or concern about what happens to anyone, even the protagonist. Some characters are simply forgotten about and during the end game cinematic it's simply implied that they just died. That's it. No actual resolutions. The final negative I have to talk about is that the puzzles in the game all feel artificial and there for your benefit. This makes sense in the beginning Act of the game since you are in a test chamber, but even once you leave that test chamber, none of the puzzles ever have an organic feel to them. There is always this sense of artificial construction. With all of that said, these negatives all add up to an important, but ultimately minor shortcoming which brings the game down by one star. With a little bit of extra polish, this game could have been a real gem. Overall, I would still recommend this game to any puzzle platforming enthusiasts. Don't go in expecting an experience on the level of Portal and I think you will be quite pleased with this game.
UUW1 may possibly be the best game ever created. I won't repeat anything already said in other reviews here, but this game is a flawless 100 out of 100.
