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    The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

    Game » consists of 16 releases. Released May 17, 2011

    The sequel to 2007's critically acclaimed role-playing game, The Witcher. Players again take control of Geralt of Rivia in this story-focused adventure.

    fenster's The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition (PC) review

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    Witcher 2 Review

    The Witcher 2 is a narrative driven action RPG by Polish developers CD Projekt Red. To be reductive, it contains a lot of action-like RPG combat and deep mechanics common to Bethesda games, but is also extremely narrative driven to the tune of something Bioware might put out. Over the course of the game, much of the Witcher's many turning gears become an immensely enjoyable machine, though it jumps to a rough start and could use a more enjoyable combat system. I did play with the Combat Rebalance mod, which allegedly makes the combat better; truly I think it just made it more trivial, but those may be two sides of the same coin in this case.

    I started Witcher 2 having never played the Witcher 1, and generally not knowing what the game was about or how it worked. Let me be blunt -- that is the absolute worst way to start the Witcher 2. The game does offer an overall useless tutorial (if you have the Enhanced Edition), but otherwise it throws you right into a pretty hot mess. Very little is explained in the way of combat mechanics, the many systems at your control (things like potions, crafting, magic abilities), and the context of the warring monarchs and their mysterious assassin which are central to its plotline. Overall, it’s a little daunting to start. That said, I highly recommend you persevere; lying on the other side is a huge payoff.

    What makes Witcher 2 shine is the well crafted, incredibly epic story of politicking and sorcery. What’s even more impressive is the dynamic way in which it is presented to you; very few games give you the sense of control over the story the way Witcher does. The game is divided into 3 acts, and the second act can be completely different based on decisions you make in the first act. You will start in a different location, have different characters to interact with, and different quests. Even more impressive is that Witcher 2 does a good job of staying away from the typical good/bad archetypes; characters usually feel complex and your decisions almost always fall into a gray area. It never feels like the game is pushing you one direction or the other; sometimes being the bad guy pays off...other times, not so much.

    The plot itself is very interesting, though you won’t find anything revolutionary about it. Voice acting is typically well done, which is good because there is a LOT of it. At least half the game can easily be spent talking to characters and fleshing out the world in which Witcher 2 takes place. Cutscenes are serviceable, but nothing extraordinary. Like many games of this scope, much of the Witcher 2 lacks a certain polish -- the game certainly looks beautiful, but animations are often clunky and transitions are not done well.

    Lacking the most polish, certainly, is the combat. Combat in Witcher 2 feels mostly like a buffer between unlocking more of the story. With the Combat Rebalance mod, parrying is automatic and after some initial struggle, I quickly learned to spam the same ability over and over again, accented by mashing attack and rolling around. I easily beat 95% of encounters this way. While you have a lot of options in terms of equipment etc., the majority is useless or unnecessary and I would have liked a little more variety in loot and spells. I wouldn’t say the combat is outright bad, but it is certainly mediocre and not the highlight here.

    Overall, while there is a lot to nitpick about Witcher 2, I highly enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful game which offers up one of the most interesting stories you can find in the medium. Decisions are impactful and rewarding, even if combat is not. If you like Skyrim, or Mass Effect, and wish there was a game which blended the two together into a great PC game, look no further than Witcher 2.

    Other reviews for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition (PC)

      An improvement on the first title, but with lingering issues. 0

      The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings is part of a series I bounced off of at first. Some of them were due to bugs – like one where The Witcher would crash whenever I walked into a particular quest-giver’s hut. Some of them were because of the combat, and how the game handled the combat with rhythmic mouse clicks (more on this later). Some of this was due to the re-use of character models and portraits to enough of an extent that it made the game lifeless and hard to navigate.What kept me...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

      Feels like I waited too long to play this one 0

      I started this game the day after I finished the first Witcher game and I immediately didn't like it, everything they changed felt wrong and this game was frustratingly hard right off the bat; mostly because of how different the two games are. I never felt the need to gear up or grind levels in the first game, while these things are almost required here, especially at the start of the game where you are incredibly weak. as the game goes on and you get more powerful, things seem to get too easy w...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

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