The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings defies all expectations from a game made in the modern era of video games. It's unforgiving, doesn't hold your hand, is surprisingly deep, and weaves a narrative so tightly woven; it makes Bioware's Dragon Age 2 blush in utter embarrassment.
The Witcher 2 thrusts you into the life of Geralt of Rivia, a genetically modified human whose main occupation involves monster slaying. Witchers are relatively rare and mysterious and as such, are not looked upon favorably by most of the world's populace, although many turn to Witchers in times of need. It's refreshing to be considered as a "necessary evil" of sorts, a person whose value is clear to many, but whose presence is disdainful as well.
The world of the Witcher is well, not very pleasant. Civil unrest is pervasive, and racism amongst humans towards the elves and dwarves is a constant powder keg just waiting to be lit. The Northern Kingdoms of which the game takes place in, has seen many a conflict in the years before, and with mysterious assassins cutting down kings without retribution, the situation becomes ever more precarious.
As the game begins, Geralt is not in a good way, being imprisoned in a castle's dungeon and framed for the murder of a king whom he was "hired" to protect. Soon after, our hero is brought to an interrogation room where we meet one of the potential main characters of the game, Vernon Roche. The interrogation sequence is actually quite clever, because it's used as a framing device for setting up the tutorial and main story.
It is here that the game seems to inspire some of its most fiery criticism. The prologue is well written and sets up the story perfectly, but the game's penchant to placing you in situations where you face "almost" overwhelming odds becomes readily apparent. As a tutorial, this might be seen as being excessively difficult, but once you learn the combat and get a feel for how many enemies you should be fighting at a time, this becomes less of a problem.
The combat, by and large, is miles ahead of the original Witcher. Whereas in the Witcher 1, CD Projekt kinda ham fisted a real-time combat system over an engine that clearly couldn't keep up, The Witcher 2 builds an entirely new system from the ground up. It's pretty standard fair, left-click for quick, light attacks, and right clicks for slow, strong attacks. There's also a blocking and parrying system included, but in an odd design choice, parrying only becomes effective when you level it up through the game's tech tree which admittedly takes a little while to rank up to.
The primary method of vanquishing your foes is by sword. As such, you're given two types of swords to use, steel (for humans, elves, dwarves) and silver (for monsters and the like). There's an upgrade system included as well. Swords can have different runes or oils applied to them for special buffs, some permanent, others temporary. The same applies for armor. You'll mostly be upgrading your chest armor, as I did not change any of the other pieces throughout my entire experience.
Other methods include a magic system, which features five different signs, or spells, to choose from. These signs range from fire and air attacks, to defensive shields and paralyzing traps. Each sign adheres to an overarching "mana" bar which increases as you level up.
In addition to swords and magic, you can mix potions and forge traps/bombs. Each potion/bomb/trap has its specific formula/diagram that requires a certain amount of ingredients of which you can discover in the world or buy from vendors. On the lower difficulties, these skills are not necessary to use except in specific circumstances where a quest requires it. On top of that, the game has a toxicity meter, so you can only use a very limited amount of potions at a time before serious side effects, like blurred vision or actual stat decreases, start to take effect.
Alright, past the mechanics of the combat system, this game looks spectacular. It's a commonly known fact that PC games are (usually) graphically superior towards its console brethren, but The Witcher 2 is an amazing display of what the future of games can look like. That beauty comes at a bit of a cost however. My PC is stacked a bit better than most, but I could only run it smoothly on high settings after tweaking a few settings and running an additional outside program. Once I did that, the game ran quite well, approaching 60 fps in non-action sequences. When action would come rearing its head, the game would dip down to around 30-40, an acceptable drop, considering my hardware.
The narrative of the Witcher 2 is where it really shines. In recent years, RPGs have become saddled with the prospect of having to contend with the problems of how to create believable worlds and characters with realistic personalities and ambitions, and creating events that allow the player to somehow shape future events. Video game developer Bioware with its Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, have become in the public eye, the best example to showcase these types of games where player choice is the most important design decision.
The folks at CD Projekt had something to say about that. They've created a world where each decision you make is unclear. There are no "good" and "bad" guys really. Each character has their own motivation for doing what they do. Nobody is all good, no decision is ever binary. CD Projekt is one of the first (or perhaps even the first) to create a world that is not defined by shades of blue and red, but rather by grey. Unlike Bioware, which usually offers an illusion of choice, CD Projekt masterfully crafts morally ambiguous dilemmas like no other. In fact, there's a branch in the story at around a third of the way in that'll lock you out of an entire chapters worth of content depending on how you choose your alliances.
The locales you visit during your travels are wonderfully rendered. From the dim, hopeless dungeons of a Temerian castle, to the luscious forests and murky lagoons of Flotsam, each location has something unique to offer in terms of ambiance. Likewise, the soundtrack provides a beautiful backdrop towards each location and major story event.
The Witcher 2 is, quite simply, a masterpiece but also a relic. You get the feeling that nobody else can make a game like this anymore. Yes, I know, what about Skyrim you say. I love the Elder Scrolls games and spent more time playing and modding those games then most people should. I don't think Bethesda has the sort chops to make a game like this. CD Projekt has a wonderful trump card up its sleeve. They're not apart of Western game design, nor Eastern. They have the unique sensibility of being influenced by the PC RPGs of yore, your Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment. It's this sensibility that allows the Witcher to be a special as it is, and for that, CD Projekt has my thanks.
I sincerely think that, if ever given the chance, you should play this game. It's more than a game, it's a history lesson. This is what happens when you pay heed to your elders and make a game like they use to.
I only hope there are more of these to come someday.