The Witcher 2 is simply one of the best RPGs the market has seen in years.
The award-winning game franchise from CD Projekt Red returns for a second installment with jaw-dropping graphics and rich storyline that will get players hooked instantly. Play the role of Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer – a witcher – as he battles new monsters, engage new enemies, and recovers more of the lost memories of his past and identity.
The game introduces new quests, mechanics, skills, and weapons to enhance the overall feel of the game. Players will find Geralt accompanied by familiar faces from the previous game – Zoltan, Dandelion, and Triss Merigold – and new faces alike.
Here’s a short The Witcher 2 review to give a quick overview of what you should expect on The Witcher 2 gameplay, storyline, and characters on this new installment of the highly-acclaimed RPG trilogy.
The Witcher 2 Review: Storyline
Bald is badass. The attack on King Demavend intro cinematic of the game.
The story of The Witcher 2 takes place right after the final cut scene from the first game where an assassin attacks King Foltest in his own palace. After beating the assailant, Geralt noticed that the attacker has witcher-like attributes. A string of royal assassinations occurs, starting with the assault on King Demavend in the opening cinematic of the game, introducing the story of The Witcher 2.
The Witcher Ending Cinematic
After serving King Foltest for some time, Geralt chose to dedicate his loyalty to the king. However, the king becomes the target again of another assassin attempt, and this time, it did the trick. Circumstances turned the tides against Geralt and he’s now accused as the assassin of kings. Geralt is then set on a quest to clear his name and discover the hands behind the heinous acts.
The story of the first game is not really essential to understand what’s happening in The Witcher 2. However, if you're curious, CDPR provided a short clip summarizing the events of the first witcher game.
The Witcher 2 Review: Gameplay
The Witcher 2 gameplay introduces a lot of changes compared to the first game. The game mechanics are a little complicated at first, but can be fully mastered before finishing the first act.
Choices and Consequences
RPGs should be based heavily on decision-making, and this game does it right. Player choices affect the chain of events throughout the game: life or death, give or take, dive in or hold ground – choices will appeal to your moral and political stand, so you better be mentally and emotionally prepared. Some quests will make you choose between killing and sparing a person (or monster) and your decision will affect the events and people related to that quest.
It’s highly advisable to save your game often since the in-game choices lead to different paths. You might want to backtrack your save games and choose a different path just to see the other outcomes it might lead to.
Characters
The main cast of The Witcher 2. Some are friends and some are foes.
New faces will appear every now and then, but don't get intimidated. Knowing a handful is enough to understand the whole plot and their roles in the story. Read journals if you’d like to know more about the lore of the game.
Aside from NPCs, you’ll get to meet new and recurring creatures like harpies, nekkers, wraiths, gargoyles, golems, and more. Also, keep your blades sharp and prepare for a dragon encounter. It’s really something to look forward to.
NPCs make the game's mood livelier. You’ll meet drunkards saying funny lines, poker-faced guards who seem to not have a care in the world, mages going amok, fat kings, and hot witches; each has a different personality like Snow White’s seven dwarves. CDPR really spent time making each character count by making their reactions and facial expressions amazingly convincing.
Similar to its RPG predecessors, certain conversations in the game have added options where Geralt can use intimidation or persuasion ability (or even bribe them) to get what he wants. The more often he uses a specific conversation skill, the higher its chance of succeeding in subsequent dialogues.
Skill Tree
Every time Geralt levels up, he gets a talent point that can be spent on a skill. You can use it right away or just save it for later use. The Witcher 2 introduces a new skill tree branching into four distinct areas:
- Training: Contains basic abilities required of a witcher like energy regeneration, endurance, and parrying abilities. Players need to invest at least 6 talent points in this tree first before they can access the other three.
- Swordsmanship: For players whose style is getting up close and personal. It increases sword damage in combat, critical hit probability, and blocking.
- Alchemy: Primarily affects the effectiveness and duration of potions mixed and imbibed.
- Magic: Improves the players’ ability in using Aard, Axii, Igni, Yrden, and Quen
It takes to be a witcher to be able to walk calmly while everything else is burning and everyone is killing each other.
Talents can be upgraded twice for more powerful effects and bonuses. The most powerful ones can be found at the end of each branch. Be careful how you spend points because they cannot be unlearned.
Each branch also has a talent called Adrenaline Ability that synergizes with your other skills. Sadly, there’s a limit on the amount of talent points that can be acquired all throughout the game. It’s okay that grinding doesn’t work because the story is what’s important.
Combat
Many of those who played the first witcher game complained about the new combat system implemented by CDPR. Creators said they patterned the combat system to that of Dark Souls to make the game more challenging, which in turn really made things difficult in The Witcher 2.
It’s not big – it’s gargantuan. Geralt’s sword looks like a toothpick against the Kayran.
For one, there’s the inability to use potions during combat. Health also does not regenerate while in combat. Before plunging into combat, make sure you’ve drank all the potions and used any weapon stats amplifier you need.
Since you can’t drink health potions when in the brink of death, players should really opt for the smallest chance of getting hit. This leads to the most important thing in combat – rolling. Rolling is really useful to avoid enemy mobs and direct attacks. It gives you the chance to breathe, regroup and cast signs or shields before diving in again.
A new feature worth mentioning is the use of Adrenaline Abilities. Each skill tree has one: Heliotrope under the Magic tree, Mutant for Alchemy, and Combat Acumen for the school of Swordsmanship. Acquiring one of these allows you to make use of adrenaline, which appears as a new bar below the health and vigor on the upper left of the screen. It gains charge by hitting enemies with your sword for the Combat Acumen, casting signs for Heliotrope, and drinking toxic potions for Mutant. Once the meter is full, Geralt can unleash the power of the adrenaline ability by tapping a button indicated on the screen.
Geralt testing if his blade will cut through the heavily-armored Draug boss.
It really takes tons of patience and practice to learn the art of fighting in this game. Yes, it’s really challenging and even frustrating at times, but it’s not enough to make The WItcher 2 a letdown. It’s just a little experiment to make the overall gameplay more immersive and stimulating.
Other Features
The addition of mutagens in The Witcher 2 gameplay makes skill selection more complex. Mutagens are items triggering skills mutations. They can improve talents by adding bonuses like critical hit improvement, added vitality, armor increase, and damage bonuses. Only a few talents have mutagen slots available. These mutagens can be found as loot from defeated enemies or can be created as byproducts of mixing potions.
One can’t just rely on hacking and slashing to resolve conflicts. The addition of traps and bombs give more diversity and variety on combat tactics.
There are also new mini-games which add more avenues to earn in-game cash.
Buns. You’ll get to see a lot of them in the game.
And last but definitely, definitely not the least, the adult content in The Witcher 2 has been improved. No more fancy romance cards from the previous installment. Apparently, Geralt is not only a professional monster-slayer but also an absolute lady-killer. You can exploit his witcher prowess to dupe girls around town, so expect steamy, daring love scenes. There’s always an option to skip the cut scenes, but really, why would you?
The Witcher 2 Review: Graphics
The fiendish Flotsam forest. The game presents very detailed environment textures and realistic lighting.
The graphics has improved so much that it’s almost incomparable to the first game. The lighting, bloom, and shadows were given much attention, improving the way objects and characters appear. The environment is vividly detailed and masterfully designed to mimic actual objects and locations.
Visit the Flotsam forests, and you’ll feel its damp and dense greenery, intensifying the surprises you might come across your walk. You’ll always keep your guards up, ready for anything that might spring out of the bush. Caves are really dark and eerie, highlighting the necessity for a night vision potion. The panoramic city views are astounding and a real feast for the eyes.
The king is waiting in the battlefield. The first setting to greet you is indescribably stunning.
The creators really did an impressive job on this, dedicating their effort in making every minute detail count. The best thing is that you really don’t need a supercomputer to run the game. It’s still playable and still looks really good on mid and lower end PCs even without the eye candies.
The Witcher 2 Review: Sounds
Dandelion singing (in a wrong way). Still, the best pal Geralt has out there.
Sounds are as important as graphics; they go hand-in-hand to create the most atmospheric and vibrant game environments. The dialogues and voice acting are still highly commendable, making the characters some of the most memorable in PC gaming. Indulge in a bar while hearing soothing tavern music, or ask for a song from your friend Dandelion. Even the grunt, growl, and the howl of enemy monsters all contribute in making the world of The Witcher 2 eerie but lively.
The Verdict
Encounter with a gargoyle. These guys are stoned so don’t go messing with them.
Overall, The Witcher 2 is a very impressive game. It should be on top of the list of the best games ever created to date. Aside from presenting really exquisite graphics, it has a deep storyline influenced by politics, kinship, sense of duty and ethical choices. Only a handful of games can give players such freedom to choose on how the story should unfold before their eyes as they play on.
It deserves a 9.5/10 overall rating, the downside being the short time it takes to finish it which is only about 40-50 hours. It’s disappointing in a way that once the game is done, you’ll surely want for more. You can grab a digital copy of it on online stores. Average price is around $20, but it can get lower during sale. It’s affordable for a game that gives a lasting impression of how RPG should be delivered.
It’s a top of the line game and a must-play game for every RPG fan out there.
Read more about The Witcher franchise by checking these links:
The Witcher
What is The Witcher 3's Story All About? Here's The Full Story
The Witcher 3: Total Play Time 200 hours?
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review and Gameplay
The Witcher 3 Immensely Successful: Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher Role-playing Game Next for CD Projekt Red
