Maybe I’m unfairly judging the game from a 2013 perspective but I was very unimpressed. Resurrection was startlingly short and (with the exception of some meaningless puzzles near the end) easy. I think I got to the ½ way mark in a single sitting. There’s maybe 6 hours of play here. The point and click object style of the game had me accidentally solving puzzles before I even knew the problem. Perhaps due to the game auto-selecting the right object from your inventory as soon as you engage with a puzzle. No i.d. on objects means you’re picking up random stuff because you can with no idea what it is or what it’s for. There really is no story line and the end game is over so fast you barely know it happened. It is basically a hidden object game with almost no obstacles that don’t involve clicking on the hidden hot spot with the right things in your inventory. The mercilessly repetitive ambient sounds had me playing on mute. But from GOG, on sale, the game was less than a latte but I’m not sure which would give you more lasting enjoyment.
Starts fun, get’s nasty too quick, IMO (3 is a nightmare, especially for aracnaphobes) then gets fun again for several levels & culminates in one of the most disappointing endgames I’ve ever encountered. The “Boss” may be the dumbest game villain ever imagined. The endgame has noting to do with the skill building and you’ve worked on for the whole game. Success comes down to the random chance movements of AI monsters. Endgame aside, it's a lot of fun. I’ll admit to hint peaking, as there are some incredibly obscure puzzles around the ¾ mark, otherwise a nice balance of battle & brains. The designers cleverly manipulate basic ingredients into a wide range of puzzles. I suspect I will get far more fun out of the included dungeon editor than the game itself in the long run. Expect to die dozens of times. Toward the end of the game there are very lethal traps & monsters that you will not learn how to overcome without several reincarnation experiences. Save often and get used to hearing your PC’s death scream. Even the most powerful monsters are easily defeated if you strategically retreat to a place where you can do the strike-doge do-se-do. Death comes quick when you’re cornered. I don’t think I’ll remember much about this game six months from now but for a week it was a compelling bit of fun.
Perhaps gamers more accustomed to 1st-person slashers will mock my frustration with Witcher 2. All my time with Assassin’s Creed and the like have not prepared me for surviving in this game. I loved Witcher 1, thrilled by the rich environment, non-linear play, and the complexity of the story and NPCs. I wrote a glowing review here on GOG last year. I’ve been drooling over the previews for W2 for months. The soundtrack sounds great. The cut scenes and environmental graphics (what little I saw of them) look terrific. BUT… After wasting an afternoon trying to complete the tutorial mission on the barricades I gave up. With the exception of the crazy queen-bug scene, I made it through Witcher 1 with only 2 or 3 “deaths”. I lost track after about 20 demises on the Witcher 2 tutorial. I guess in an attempt to “action-up” the game the designers have transformed the combat into a whirl of swords and blood splashes. Geralt spends so much time spinning and swinging with the blurry camera sweeping in all directions it’s impossible to get orientated. The “tutorial” flashes HUD instructions in tiny 10 point font for an instant occasionally, but these are next to useless. It is possible to turn off the sickening motion blur “feature” in the game settings and slow down the camera—if not I wouldn’t have played as long as I did. But it’s still a dizzying and disorientating chaos. Gone is the point and click navigation that made getting around in W1 so easy. Now you must sit with your fingers permanently glued to the W A D keys. I might have lasted longer if the game would recognize my game controller. Despite tinkering with emulators and drivers for a few hours Witcher would not recognize the controller despite it having a game pad control settings window in the options menu. I know $20 or so will buy a universal emulator, but right now I feel like that’s just throwing good money after bad. Perhaps it’s made worse by playing a couple months in the boundless world of Assassin’s Creed but I find it laughable that our superhero mutant still gets hung up on ground obstructions a child of 6 would simply step over. So I’m not really judging the game here, I’m simply warning other potential buyers that Witcher 2 is a very different gameplay environment. After several hours of dying over and over in the same introductory scene I’m left disappointed, frustrated, and nauseous. I’m sure gamers more experienced with 1st-person shooter/slasher games will do just fine, but for me I’m giving it up as a loss. So buyer beware, W2 is a very different game than W1!
