![]() What's weird about The Witcher 2 is that the prologue is about the hardest bit in terms of how this combat system handles you. There are also some spells, but I'll come to that in a moment. You perform fast blows with left-click, heavier, slower blows with right-click, and blocking with E. Combat is real-time, and is reliant on you being nifty with your positioning and timing. While there's a lot of wandering about and chatting, and even a bit of shopping, The Witcher 2 is action-heavy, not least when it comes to fighting. It's quite a world, but it definitely doesn't welcome you in. Although there are villains, there's no Chosen One, no Ultimate Evil, just a lot of petty, powerful people squabbling under the shadow of magical weirdness, and all underwritten by the machinations of sorcerers, adventurers, assassins and other complicated, interested – and interesting – parties. To be honest, though, I tend to loathe standard modes of exposition in games, and I find the labyrinthine plotting of this game refreshing. As a player you are dropped into the middle of an ongoing story, with minimal exposition, and little reason to care about the characters that Geralt himself obvious does care about. This is one of the first points at which some of The Witcher 2's intended audience might start to feel a little uncomfortable. This means that The Witcher 2 has a relatively complicated plot, with numerous characters who are introduced with little scene-setting or explanation. Humans are warlike and prejudicial towards the dwindling older races, and also fight among themselves in a baroque, multi-factional struggle over land and power. While it's a standard fantasy set up with elves, dwarves, and humans, the dynamic between them is interesting. One of the defining characteristics of Sapkowski 's world is that it is morally ambiguous, and fraught with complex politics. All these elements go toward defining CD Projekt's games, in which we can watch over Geralt's shoulder as he slays monsters, cast spells, makes potions, collects herbs, has “romps” with sexy females, and a lot of other things that might happen in a world where a cynical magical mercenary with a warped-but-strong code of ethics makes his home. The Witcher himself is a chap called Geralt of Rivia, whose genetic mutations means that he is great at fighting, can make a little magic, and is popular with the ladies. Those stories have proven rather popular. Sapkowski created the character in the 1980s and then wrote a number of novels and short stories based on The Witcher's exploits. That story is set within the world of the titular Witcher, who is the creation of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. It's a huge bifurcation of plot, and means that pretty much everyone who enjoys this game through the first time is going to want to play it through a second time. Your choices have genuine impact in the game world, to the point where the tale told actually wholly diverges after the first chapter. ![]() ![]() The story is told mostly via dialogue scenes and cutscenes, of which there are many. There's a sizeable, linear story with dozens of quests, set across two distinct, large areas, and two other smaller intro and outro locales. There's level-based progression, which allows you to unlock skills via a large talent tree. There's more to it than simple admiration however, as it's tough to have an uncomplicated attitude towards this game. I'm getting ahead of myself, and giving away the critical conclusion about how much I admire this game. It's shorter than the original by some measure, but it is burning half as long to be twice as bright. The Witcher 2 is a collossal beast in terms of vision and complexity, and it has engrossed me for the past few days. I suppose the ambition of the developers for their work should have been clear after they relaunched their original game with the voice acting and character animation redone in 2008, to give us an Enhanced Edition, but even that was a pale creature when compared to the muscular effort of their most recent work. The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings is the sequel to 2007's wonky fantasy RPG, The Witcher, and it improves on that precarious foundation in almost every conceivable way. Right now it looks like most significant PC-only game of 2011. This is one of the most significant games of 2011. If something else needs go above the jump here, it should probably be this: The Witcher 2 is going end up being talked about for a very long time to come. What do I think? Well, I don't think I'll be putting any spoilers in this review, so you can read my thoughts on the subject with some degree of safety. ![]() I even had a little time to play through some of the alternate storyline stuff. ![]()
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