The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition

released on Apr 16, 2012

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition

released on Apr 16, 2012

An expanded game of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

All existing owners of The Witcher 2 received free upgrades to the Enhanced Edition, and could pre-load the update starting 11 April 2012. All new copies on PC and Xbox 360 shipped with the additional content on board. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition added over 10GB of new content, including four hours of gameplay, arena mode, new tutorial, 36 minutes of cinematics including a new intro created by Platige Image and an outro, as well as a host of fixes to gameplay and the interface.


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Enhanced Edition


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Every time I try playing this I have to turn it off because the starting dialogue alone is nauseating to listen to. I've never even reached full control of Geralt outside the tutorial.

A bit hard to rate this generally, it’s clunky and somewhat annoying at times but the foundation for an amazing story and excellent game are still there.

The Witcher 2 is CD Projekt Red’s turning point in creating what would soon become their magnum opus and, in its own right, a game that stands pretty well on it’s own two legs.

While it’s definitely flawed in the combat and exploration department, it undeniably delivers on the writing department with a good story and CD Projekt Red’s trademark RPG charm. I love when RPG games give you actual morally conflicting decision instead of “be nice or be evil”.

There are a few things that hindered my enjoyment here though. For starters, the difficulty curve is kind of crazy, this is by no means an impossible or hard game, but during the earlier levels it almost feels unfair how tanky some bosses and enemies are compared to Geralt. I spent a good chunk of time locked in a save, with sub optimal preparation having to power through a group or enemies or boss that would take me down in 2-3 hits.
Granted this may just be a skill issue and a lack of dedication on my part but considering most of the mid/late game challenges can just be powered through with one potion and spamming attacks, I did find it noticeable enough to make mention of it.

There are a few other elements that could have benefited from some fine tuning, and one such aspect that definitely shows its age are the forced QTE and stealth sections. I’m no stranger to linear gameplay and even I have to admit I’m a sucker for QTE’s and stealth sometimes.
Sadly I just thought it did not fit here and both mechanics suffered from a lot of jank. It kind of breaks the immersion but for a game released in 2011, I appreciate the effort and definitely understand the influence of the times when every game was trying to be a third person action/adventure title.

Overall, maybe didn’t like this as much as I thought I would but I can’t say I was disappointed. Despite a few hiccups in the side quest and gameplay departments I was fairly engaged with the main story and enjoyed most of the twists and characters.
Some sections are definitely stronger than others, but the Witcher 2 still delivers a pretty satisfying roleplaying package complete with action, romance and adventure. It may not be great just yet, but it sets an excellent foundation for fun gameplay loops and story denouements, which would soon be picked up, upgraded and expanded on all fronts by it’s legendary sequel, The Witcher 3.

Would recommend this to any RPG fan looking for a fun side adventure, or to any Witcher fan looking to get a deeper experience before they inevitably replay Witcher 3 for the 4th time.

What can I say that hasn't been said many times before? The writing is top tier. The voice acting is great. The choices you make have surprisingly big effects on how the plot plays out. The entire middle act of the game is totally different if you side with Roche instead of Iorveth or vice versa. The art style is interesting even if the graphics haven't aged all that well. The gameplay is passable. Just buy it and play it, ideally before The Witcher 3. But even if you've already played TW3, this game is still definitely worth your time.

i swear i will finish it one day

A massive improvement over Witcher 1. The combat is way more engaging, the writing is even better, the voice acting is improved, and the music is fantastic.
The Witcher 2 is definitely my favorite out of the three, it has its flaws sure. The backtracking is still there but its more bearable than 1, The combat while more engaging has massive difficulty spikes across all the difficulties (I finished it on normal, but tested it on easy, hard, and dark because I was baffled by how much damage I was taking), and graphically the game has a weird yellow filter that makes me nauseous at times.
I highly recommend this one over Witcher 1 and 3, but if you are starting the franchise for the first time skipping both and going to Three will be the best experience!