Witcher 2 quite simply features the best-directed story of any videogame.
This does seem like hollow praise seeing as most games’ stories have less depth than a Peppa Pig episode. So I will go one further: Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings is narratively better than most films I’ve ever watched.
At first I was a bit worried because the protagonist, Geralt, is struck with amnesia. This is a pretty standard plot device for a game, feeling as predictable as a ‘the butler did it’ moment, and there are very few games that pull it off well.
This is the only misstep that the game makes and, after the brutal tutorial which accustoms you to what is to come, the story has you guessing at every point.
It starts in earnest with Geralt being tortured with no explanation as to why. Rather than just spit it out the game treats us with the kind of respect not usually reserved for gamers and, instead, the storyline is tackled through a series of flashbacks that are controlled by the player. Given this choice of exposé it is strange that they would have given Geralt amnesia at all, given that the amnesia slant is typically used to justify why the protagonist is as unfamiliar with the game world as the player. Regardless, each of the vignettes detailing why Geralt is in this predicament are well-paced with a slow build-up that doesn’t rush anything, sets the mood of the world and starts to tell a story unlike that of any other RPG out there.
In most RPGs Good and Evil are clearly defined. A character’s intent is easy to read by the task they bequeath you. If a man wants you to rob someone then he is a Bad Person; if another wants you to collect some berries then their intent will – at worst – be neutral; if you see a large group of aggressors picking on a defenceless person then they are bullies waiting to be taught a lesson. In Witcher 2 none of this is necessarily true. Time and again a seemingly innocent or noble request can leave you a victim of some unpredicted malice. It makes you question every decision you make, especially as actions and choices can have a wider impact on the story. It can be jarring to find out that your fetch quest is actually going to result in a woman poisoning her husband after years of abuse at his hands, so much so that you actually become suspicious of each character’s motivations.
And, as in my case, you can become quite an awful person.
The exact moment this happened to me came when, at around the 12 hour mark, I came across a tortured soul of a soldier. The soldier was complaining of being chased by spirits and that he had become a hollow shell of his former self. After going through the dialogue I then completely ignored him.
I had become jaded, tired of people leading me into ambushes or conning me into rescuing murderers and sneering at me for any perceived good deed. I had reached the point where I preferred the company of trolls.
And the truth is… well, the truth I told myself to justify the fact that I was being a massive arsehole was that he worked for a faction I didn’t really trust and so far they had done nothing but fool me. I won’t actually spoil what happened when I stumbled across the quest many hours later as that would ruin this delightfully twisted side quest, but I will say that I came off even worse in its resolution.
This is what makes Witcher 2 great: these moments where decisions have an impact not only in the microcosm of that quest but also in the overall game and on the moral composition of the player themselves. Nor are there ever any easy decisions (unless you are some kind of psychopath). Do you take  revenge on the man who murdered the team which rescued Geralt from imprisonment and raped his way through the main storyline? In any other game the response would be a resounding ‘yes’, however in this game the person could also be the only one able to clear Geralt’s name, reunite warring countries and secure a legacy for Geralt’s dead patron. The answer is no longer as simple.
I cannot think of another game that conjures up these kinds of questions and makes you worry about the choices you are going to make. Make no mistake, some of them will result in the story taking a completely different turn by the end of the game with whole swathes of content being locked out from a player. This is a brave decision on the developer’s part and one they should be commended for.
It is unfortunate then, that Witcher 2’s combat never quite seems to gel. Even with the apparent Enhanced Edition changes made to the introduction in order to ease players into the combat the experience remains daunting. There are five distinct spells that are not communicated well, a multitude of bombs and traps that the control system doesn’t give you enough time to practice with, and the melee gameplay’s depths are hinted at but not shown in action until the player has had the chance to suffer a lot of death. Normally a game that obfuscates its systems would earn my praise but with a learning curve shaped like a fairground wall of death it is hard to level up your own thumb skills without getting repeatedly killed by the first characters you encounter in the game. As you increase Geralt’s abilities through the skill trees you will have moments where you will be jumping from enemy to enemy dealing death blows at regular intervals but you will also have moments where Geralt will fail to connect and stumble over level geometry. To be fair, though, the generous save system and the alchemy perks that you can apply to your character and your weapons helps ease some of the awkwardness and I never ended up throwing my hands in the air in frustration with them. No, those moments of wanting to give up were saved for the boss fights.
Witcher 2 commits its worst sin here, after sidestepping so many narrative stereotypes, by presenting very painful boss battles.
Each of the bosses is immune to pretty much all poisons and traps as well as most of the magic spells that Geralt can use, and they cannot be countered or parried like standard enemies. This means that any tactics or skills employed during regular combat have to be defenestrated in favour of a lot of rolling around and hastily stabbing bosses when they aren’t looking. I placed most of my skills into sword mastery and still had to employ this tactic so I can’t imagine how people who specialised in the arcane or alchemy trees faired against these setpieces.
Yet despite every cursed word uttered against the boss design I forced my way through such moments, because Witcher 2 is just worth it.
As an experience the final chapter is emotionally exhausting. It is made clear that no single character is sacred and nor are any principles you may try and adhere to. Characters you may have sworn to kill will reveal deeper reasons for their actions, reasons that actually make sense. In my own personal story, after witnessing so much murder and torture I treated anyone who didn’t have their head stuck on a pike as a survivor and regardless of what they had done I appreciated that they had probably had to do it. The amount of story and development of the course of one game and the emotional investment I ended up having in the characters puts both of the Mass Effect games I have played to shame.
Witcher 2 is a mature game. It deserves its 18 rating for all its sex and violence but, unlike other games with the same ‘accolade’, Witcher 2 deserves praise for not getting bogged down in it. As a result, slightly clumsy combat aside, I would say that it is one of the best Western RPGs ever made.
Play it now.
Comments
18 responses to “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – review”
Wow, I can understand when no one comments on Haunt as, quite frankly, that is no one's target audience. But Witcher 2, I mean, surely there is someone out there who has played this? It was number 1 in the UK all platforms chart for a week.
Not even for the B*Witched reference?
Everybody's holidaying and off teh internets.
Yeah, it's the midsummer fire festival in World of Warcraft*. Also, Saint-Jean here in Quebec. But that was during the weekend.
Don't worry about lack of comments AJ, it's most of the time purely coincidental if, say, I happen to comment on something new. Lately, I've been reading many things that left me in a blank state. I guess it might have to do with my new job. O yeah, btw, I'm now private security officer. Fun, right? Little stressful, still meeting some new clients and whatnot, going through interviews… BUT I DIGRESS. Where was I? O yeah, Not that the pieces didn't register, just that I can't think of having anything to ask/respond/argue/expand about. Which isn't a bad thing. Won't mean I won't ever come back to an article and then come up with something brilliant or stupid or boring or interesting that I'll deem worthy to mention anyway. Still given the piece at hand – or heck, just in general – I know what you mean.
Also, hey it's Canada Day this weekend. MORE HOLIDAYS (aka: probably gonna work 20+ hours like last weekend).
*I don't count WoW as ''being on the internets'' even though it uses the internets.
But, holiday is the best time to play video games!
You should play Witcher 2, it took me 50 hours to get through the game without doing all the side quests and there is are a ton of reasons to replay. Stop playing WoW for gawd's sake.
50 hours!
Of late I've been proud to get through a game with a 14-18 hour playtime. I've actually been looking up games from my collection on howlongtobeat.com and thinking "okay, I can get through this in a week, maybe two".
That said… I always moan about this stuff and then as soon as a Fallout game comes out I don't emerge until over 100 hours have been sunk.
In the week where I finished Witcher 2, I also started playing Dragon's Dogma. My Raptr account says that I played 100 hrs of games in that week… I did not do a lot of sleeping.
Have been going through a pallette cleanser and playing a bunch of light games as well as 'Outernauts' a F2P Facebook game by Insomniac
I cannot function on a lack of sleep any more… fuck you, getting old. Er.
I chose not to reply because /of/ the B*Witched reference. You monster.
Also, all I really have to say about Witcher 2 is "I really want to play it once I've finished the first one". This sounds right up my ally, though, and it sounds like they've addressed some of the weaknesses of the first game. Including those classy titty cards.
Do you think you need to play the first one to get this one?
If not I’ll jump in.
I haven't played the first Witcher and I didn't feel at a loss.
Didnt enjoy the first one all that much, but heard only excessively positive comments on this one. I got a copy on my desk, but I guess I’m waiting on long boring winter nights to boot it up.
I hope the use of traps is not too stronger encouraged. I dont like that kind of approach to battle. I’d rather jump in head on or avoid it altogether. I also had a very rough time in the first one getting attached to the playable protagonist, so I’m looking forward to see production’s approach on this one..
I barely used traps at all as I found them a pain to use. That was just my style of play though. As for preparation, I am afraid there is still a fair bit pre-battle stuff like having to use potions and oils.
Geralt is a pretty good cypher but I can imagine that it could be a bit awkward if you just don't like him.
I would suggest you get round to playing soon it is well worth it.
[…] few other games attempting to tell a story are capable of. Off the top of my head there is only The Witcher 2Â which has been able to do this, and as a result Spec Ops deserves similar […]
Playing Witcher 3 right now and that is a good game too.
I’ve not played it myself, but I think AJ is playing it at the moment and thinks quite highly of it…
Why I’m Not Interested in Witcher 3:
Eh, got kinda bored with the previous one.
I’ll be honest, I enjoyed the 1st one but stalled halfway through and never went back to it, whilst I played the first hour of the 2nd one and found the tutorial combat arena so utterly awful I wasn’t particularly enticed to continue. But I feel I should give 2 a fairer shake, and some of what’s being talked about in relation to 3 sounds much more up my street than, say, DA:I or Skyrim. :)
Yeah, I started Witcher 3 and it took me about 4-6 hours before I was really into it. Unlike Witcher 2, the opening to W3 is really slow and a lot of the quests you do initially have little impact and don’t present the ‘greyness’ of its predecessor.
That all changed around one of the big quests in Velen and I am definitely in love with the game. The open world works too, I love the lived in nature of it all and the fact the seemingly insignificant side quest actually unravel into fascinating little vignettes.
The writing really is fantastic.
That said, the combat is still a little off.