The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for PC and X360 is an action RPG, which is a sequel to a big hit based on the work of a Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

Story

The story in the second installment of The Witcher series takes off just after the events from the first game, so it continues the theme started by an assassination attempt on King Foltest that was foiled by Geralt. The whole thing quickly gets out of control, because of appearance of a mysterious man, known as the Kingslayer. The White Wolf gets caught into an intricate and dangerous political intrigue, and his decisions will shape the fate of the inhabitants of several kingdoms.

The game once again takes you into the world created by Andrzej Sapkowski, who decided to take a slightly different approach to fantasy genre than many other authors. Therefore, the universe of The Witcher is full of monsters, various races, and magical creatures, who, however, usually do not like humans and vice versa. This leads to many serious conflicts.

Gameplay

The developers faithfully recreated many places and characters from The Witcher novels and short stories, but also expanded the world with new elements. Players can visit a town called Flotsam and the adjacent forest, a dwarven city of Vergen, the Pontar Valley, and the ruins of an elven city of Loc Muinne.

You meet characters like Triss Merigold (a sorceress), Dandelion (a poet and Geralt’s friend), Zoltan (a dwarf and Geralt’s friend), Vernon Roche (member of the special forces of King Foltest), and Iorweth (commander of a Scoia'tael commando). Each of them has their own goals, beliefs, values, and personality, which are often reflected in cutscenes, conversations, and their comments. Many of the above characters can become your allies and travel with you - the developers also added many more secondary characters, however, you do not have full control over them. In combat they are controlled by artificial intelligence.

The Witcher 2 was built on an extensive system of moral choices, which lead to many different combinations of the game’s ending (16 in total). Geralt himself repeatedly expresses doubts about his own profession, that is tracking and hunting monsters. It is noteworthy that the story and the world of The Witcher 2 for PC and X360 is shaped not only by your decisions, but also by your choice of company. In addition to fighting, the witcher appreciates other entertainments, like flirting with women. In this installment you do not get cards with pictures for your conquests, but still you have opportunities to bring about bed scenes with some female characters.

Some major changes were made to combat system in The Witcher 2, which is now much more action-oriented. You can attack with a sword (fast or strong attack) and perform dodges and blocks. An extremely effective means of elimination of enemies is witcher’s magic, or so-called Signs. Traps and explosives, e.g. firecrackers, are a novelty that proves to be especially helpful at higher difficulty levels.

The Witcher 2 character development system is divided into three aspects - swordsfighting, magic, and alchemy. The rest of the character skills can be improved as they are being used (e.g. intimidating or effectively blocking hits) or by using objects of specific physical and magical qualities.

Technical aspects

The artwork is impressive, as the authors took care of creating amazing character models, richly detailed locations and breathtaking views. The towns are filled with conversing pedestrians, merchants, and residents, who often can be interacted with. In order to ensure full immersion there are no loading screens on entering buildings.

Last updated on 30 January 2024