Review: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Time for more Witching.

Developer: CD Projekt RED
Publisher: Atari 
Platforms:  PC 

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is the sequel to the critically acclaimed role playing game of 2007, the Witcher. As with the Witcher, the sequel is based on the book series of the same name written by Polish author Andrzej Spakowski. Don’t even ask me to say that out loud either. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is no longer based Aurora Engine from BioWare instead CD Projekt has custom built their own engine from the ground up. The result of their hard work is gorgeous RPG that even on its lowest settings puts quite a few of the current generation games to shame. Piece of advice though turn off ubersampling, all I’ve seen it do is cause lag and problems.

The Witcher 2 once again follows the adventures of the amnesic monster slayer Geralt of Rivia, whom is one of the last of the specialized monster hunters known as Witchers. The game picks up about a month after the end of the original, and see’s Geralt acting as King Foltests personal bodyguard in the prologue/tutorial. I will say the tutorial of the Witcher 2 is one of the more brutal ones I’ve seen. Depending on the difficulty you can die several times just during the prologue. Also the vital information needed from the tutorial may be obscured or skipped altogether, so I fully recommend you consult and read the game’s journal tutorial section to make sure you take advantage of all the game has to offer.

One of the biggest changes from the original game is that the combat system has been completely redone. The combat is far more action oriented in this game as opposed to the click combo’s found in the Witcher. The result is a combat experience that is leaps and bounds above the Witcher 1 in terms of fun factor, and I feel a step in the right direction for the series. Swordsmanship is the first branch of combat in which you will now find your sword attacks condensed into light attacks & heavy attacks which you can chain together to form devastating combo’s. Signs and Alchemy form the other two branches of combat you’ll find in the Witcher 2, with signs being the form of magic that Geralt uses, and the Alchemy being a fun chemistry set for you to experiment and play with.

You can’t drink potions in combat, rather you must prepare beforehand. Swordsmanship, Signs, and Alchemy together form a unique combat experience that will be so varied depending on your leveling choices that you just won’t find it anywhere else. I personally prefer the jumping into combat, beating people over the head so I went with Swordsmanship. I will say that the only aspects I found frustrating in terms of combat was the lock on system being flawed against multiple opponents, and the fact it was hard to gauge just how slow some of Geralt’s quick attacks were, leaving me open to bitter reprisals.

One thing that sets apart The Witcher 2 from other RPG’s to come out in recent memory is how mature the focus of the game itself is. Its maturity stems from the fact the world is so well realized, that characters feel alive and realistic. Every character looks like they belong in the time period the game is set in, the only ones seemingly out of place in terms of being too beautiful are the sorceresses, and they supposedly use magic to enhance their appearance. Iorveth and Roche are definitely the stand out characters for me in regards to how well acted they both are.

The voice acting is also superb, breathing life into each character, though there are a few sore spots when it comes to the voice acting, and I’m looking at you Dandelion. The complex political schemes going on in the background really help to enhance the maturity of the storyline, and make me feel like I’m in “Game of Thrones.” There are more than a few twists and turns awaiting you in the storyline, so be prepared for those moments where you facepalm after being betrayed and say to yourself “Really?” because it’s definitely here.

The focus on black & white levels of good and evil isn’t found in The Witcher 2, rather a lot of its characters are flawed and believable, and none of the choices found in the game boil down to saint hood or eating the flesh of babies. I find this complex morality in the Witcher 2 a refreshing change from the same tired duality that most RPG’s tend to focus on these days. There are hard choices in this game, and they actually matter. One choice in particular will actually split the narrative, and completely change the setting of the second chapter which I find to be very impressive and easily one of the biggest reasons to at least play this game twice.

Another thing of note, even though Geralt is a character with his own story and his own looks he still changes over the course of the game. Depending how you respond to people in conversations and choices you make, he can act completely different from one play through to the next. I found this to be a really good move on the part of CD Projekt, as it made me get invested in my own personal Geralt of Rivia.

The game’s storyline will run you about 15 hours if you rush through and do nothing else, while adding side quests and the exploring will take it up to about 40 hours. I found myself getting lost exploring, doing quests, on my second play through, trying to uncover things I’d merely brushed aside in the first time through, and I can definitely say the Witcher’s world is one of my favorites. A game that actually makes me like Elves, I never thought I’d find such a game, but here it is.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is an incredible RPG, and one of the best PC games made to date. I can easily say this will go down in my top ten of games when all is said and done. If you’re a fan of RPG’s then this is definitely your game and you’d be doing yourself a huge disservice by not getting it. After all, Obama has it why don’t you? Thanks for sticking with me and have a good one.

Galaxy Minute

- Memorable and interesting characters, with Iorveth and Vernon Roche being the stand outs for me.

- Mature storyline with twists and turns that will keep you playing again and again just to see all the different scenarios, and a staggering 16 endings.

- A great action oriented combat system that makes it fun to hack and slash away at enemies, especially in Chapter 3 just to see how far you’ve come, and setting people on fire with Ignii is too much fun.

- Some of the storylines flashbacks and Geralt’s past may go over your head unless you’ve actually read the original novels.

- A game where choice actually matter’s, so much so you should definitely play it more than once just to see how different it could play out for you with different choices made.

By: Cameron Ellis

Purchase: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings from Amazon.