The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings

The Witcher 2 Assassin's of Kings was released on May 17, 2011 and was developed by the studio CD Projekt RED.  It is the second game in the Witcher series and will be followed up by the much anticipated The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which is expected to be released sometime in 2014.  The game was developed in the REDEngine by CD Projekt RED, allowing the developers to create nonlinear RPGs, instead of licensing out the Aurora game engine that was used in the development of its predecessor The Witcher.  As a result of the change in engines, CD Projekt RED was able to build the game without having to sacrifice gameplay, story, etc.

Geralt of Rivia

The Plot:

The plot of The Witcher 2 is a continuation of The Witcher that was released in 2007.  The player takes on the role of the famous Witcher Geralt of Rivia.  One month after the events of the first game, Geralt finds himself acting as the bodyguard for Foltest, king of Temeria as he attempts to put down a group of rebels that are holding two of Foltest's illegitimate children in a nearby castle town.  Once the assault on the castle is successful, Foltest is murdered by a large Witcher and Geralt is left to take the blame for the assassination.  From there, Geralt embarks on a mission to bring the true assassin to justice and clear his name.  Along the way, Geralt will meet other characters of either human, elven, or dwarven descent that will help Geralt during the  course of his journey.  In addition, other challenges such as giant monsters and curses will be presented to the witcher and must be resolved before Geralt can continue on his mission.

Geralt and King Foltest

Foltest murdered

The Setting:

In the world of The Witcher games, there are two primary groups of nations, the Northern Kingdoms and the Nilfgaardian Empire to the south of the kingdoms.  Over the years, Nilfgaard has attempted to conquer the Northern Kingdoms and prior to the events of the first game, the Northern Kingdoms had united to stop a major Nilfgaardian invasion.

The story of The Witcher 2 occurs across several locations in the Northern Kingdoms.  These locations involve a small trading post called Flotsam, a section of one nation called Upper Aedirn that is currently the site of a war between the kingdom of Kaedwen and the forces of Aedirn's crowned prince, and finally a town by the name of Loc Muinne.

The Player Makes The Story:

Throughout the course of the game the player will be placed in situations that will require Geralt to make a choice of how to resolve a situation, and at the end of each chapter Geralt will have to choose to either side with the humans or the elves.  Each time the player has to make a major decision, the story will branch off into a new direction and at the end of the game, the player's choices results in one of multiple endings.  Normally, games that have branching storylines don't actually result in unique multiple endings, however The Witcher 2 accomplishes this with incredible ease.  Finally each major decision made by the player has an effect in the story of The Witcher 2.  Most other games would only have the player's decisions affect the end of the game's story and the stories of future games.

The Gameplay:

Combat:

Combat in The Witcher 2 could be classified as a free flow style, where the player chains together his/her own combos using fast hits and heavy hits, although the game does not keep track of how many hits the player has landed.  To perform a fast strike the player uses the Left Mouse Button and to land a heavy strike the player uses the Right Mouse Button.  When fighting with swords there are two types of swords that Geralt can use.  The first sword is a steel sword which is meant to be used on human enemies.  The second sword is a silver sword that is meant to be used on most forms of monsters throughout the game.

 

Geralt fighting enemy humans

In addition to using swords, the witcher also has a large assortment of potions, traps, bombs, and projectile weapons that can be used to aid the witcher in battle.  The primary use for the potions are to increase various stats such as sword damage or vitality regeneration, while the traps, bombs, and projectiles can be used to inflict damage and status effects on enemies.  Each of these tools must be crafted either through alchemy or using a craftsman.

The final weapon in Geralt's arsenal is a group of five magic symbols that can be used to stun enemies, trap them in place, or protect Geralt from attacks.  Throughout the game the player will run across several occasions that will require the use of magic to continue in the story.  It is impossible to make it through the entire game with only using one style of combat.  This is interesting because other games will present the player with different ways to fight enemies, but the player can easily play through by using whichever combat style he/she chooses.

 

Inventory:

The inventory system for The Witcher 2 works in a similar way as the inventory in Skyrim.  Each item that the player can pick up has a set weight, such as 0.5; the player has a preset weight limit, about 250.  For every item that is picked up by the player, the weight of the object is added to the weight of the player's inventory.  For example if the player picks up an item that has a weight of 2 the weight of the player's inventory changes from 123/250 to 125/250.  If the weight of the player's inventory ever exceeds 250, then the player's movements will be unable to run and must drop items from his/her inventory if he/she wishes to run again.  Overall, this system helps to keep the player from keeping every item that is picked up over the course of the game and there are plenty of spaces for the player to either store excess items for a later period, or the player can sell whatever items he/she does not want.

The Inventory Screen

Leveling Up:

As the player progresses through the story, his/her character will receive experience points that will allow the player's level to increase.  When the player levels up, he/she will receive a skill point that can be spent in the Character Menu of the game.  In the Character Menu, there are three paths that the player can choose to evolve his/her character.  They could make Geralt a better swordsman, alchemist, or mage, however, for the first eight levels the player can only spend points on skills under the Witcher category, which is equivalent to basic training for Geralt.

The Character Menu

Once the player unlocks the other three paths, it would be wise to select one path to follow and spend all of your points on that skill tree.  This is primarily because of the level cap placed on the player.  After the player reaches level 35, the player character will stop receiving experience points from defeating enemies and completing quests.  As an example, whenever I play The Witcher 2 I tend to spend most of my points in the Swordsman skill tree.  As a result, my character becomes so powerful with a sword that no enemy, or group of enemies, can take more than a couple of swings from my swords before all enemies are defeated.

The Graphics:

The graphics for The Witcher 2 can easily be described with a few simple words: Amazing, Beautiful, Unreal, and Gorgeous.  Each and every character has incredible detail from head to toe, and the clothing on the characters actually seem like the kind of clothes that people would have worn in medieval times.  Each environment is well detailed as well, from cities and forests to war torn battle grounds.  Overall, the graphics of The Witcher 2 are better than most games that have been developed in the Unreal Game Engine.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, The Witcher 2 is a shining example of what makes an amazing game that will be remembered far into the future.  The use of an in house game engine has allowed the developers to do anything that they wanted when developing the game.  The branching storylines are well written and executed, all the systems such as combat, inventory, and character development flow perfectly together, and the graphics are unlike anything that I have ever seen in a videogame.  The first game was great and The Witcher 2: Assassins of  Kings was infinitely better.  That being said, you cannot call yourself a gamer unless you play this game.