Not sure if this is legit or not because it wasn't really announced or anything but Witcher 2 is free right now for Xbox 360. You can also play it on Xbox One with the recent backwards compatibility update.

@colourful_hippie: saw it on twitter as well. To me it's a classic game so highly recommend it to people who like RPGs.

See, the most reputable sources too:

@colourful_hippie: Thanks for the tip

It's legit, Major Nelson and CDPR's Twitter account both confirmed it. It was a little weird because apparently The Witcher 2 was available for free on the X360 marketplace since the 20th or something,

Unfortunately the offer is only available in a few countries: I think the list is the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, but I cbf looking it up again right now. I'm a little bummed about this because Australia's not on that list, and I put over 200 hours into The Witcher 3 between the new year and now, which has made me curious about this game. Weirdly, I don't think I can even buy the game online in my region at the moment -- I guess I'd have to go out into the world and find a physical disc (not the form I want my Xbox games in) if I wanted to play it. :(

Also weird is the amount of distressed PS4 owners tweeting at CDPR asking why the game is only coming to the 'Bone and not the PS4, as though they have no clue about backwards compatibility and think this is an actual port or something. :S

I'm playing through it right now, it's really good! For free it's exceptional! Check it out.

And even with PS4 BC it still wouldn't work since The Witcher 2 never came out on the PS3. A good get for Xbox Gold members who never tried Witcher though. What a fantastic game.

@probablytuna: huh, just noticed that. The original is still only on the PC, too. I wonder if they'll remaster either/both games, maybe for a GOTY trilogy thing.

IS NOW! Click on the green "Buy Game" label on the left, the download link in the downloads list seems to be bugged. Thanks to Kotaku Australia for figuring this out.

Man, I might be just a little too excited about getting The Witcher 2 for free on the Bone. :P

It's a damn fine game, definitely worth playing. It feels way tighter than 3 due to the linear story, with the only dragging bits hitting midway through act 2.

That is a great price for one of the best RPGs.

Is it really free or just games with gold?

@oursin_360: It's legit free. This isn't a part of "Games with Gold".

How's the performance on Xbox One?

This is a must try for anyone who hasn't played a Witcher game, especially those bothered by the "perfect angelic savior of humanity" / "selfish destructive embodiment of pure evil" type of "choice" most games give you regarding morality.

There's almost no good or evil, right or wrong choices in Witcher games. No black and white, only shades of gray, and it's welcome change from so many other games.

If you like the action RPG genre, and you're drawn to darker fantasy tales such as Game of Thrones, check it out.

Witcher 2 was wayyyy better than Witcher 3. I also happen to think it's one of the best RPG's ever made. Very happy to hear it's going to be played by even more people now. Witcher 3 really fails as an open world game with it's primitive laughably bad combat, and terrible structure. The very "gamey" aspects such as it's quest system are also pretty cringe worthy.

Weird, but cool. One of the best games of the previous generation.

Hm, how how many hours would a thorough playthrough of The Witcher 2 take? I'm kinda keen to jump in and see how the back compat holds up, but after the amount of time I just spent in The Witcher 3, I'm a little apprehensive about plunging yet more hours into a Witcher game.

@fnrslvr: It's much shorter. 30 hours for a first playthrough maybe.

@hayt: thanks, installing now.

I guess I'll answer some questions about performance when I have it running, if nobody else has already done so by then. (Not that I can contrast it with the unemulated 360 or PC version, since I played neither of those.)

Okay, time to dust off my Elite.

oh man thank you i was going crazy trying to find the right page

the way the browser version of the xbox store just randomly jumps from region to region is VERY frustrating

I'm just gonna drop this here, the game is not free currently but it's crazy cheap on Xbox right now, I bought it for an equivalent of less then three USD (in EU). Also it got an "One X Enhanced" support recently so for people like me, who never played it, this is perfect. Check your local store page!