14 DAY TRIAL // 
The Witcher 2 is a game that the gaming world will be talking about for quite some time from now on because it's one of the rare titles that manage to be close to excellence in a number of categories, from narrative to graphics and art design to how choices are handled and combat.
It is not without any flaws, but they are small and on the periphery of the experience and the successes of The Witcher 2 are big enough for me to wait anxiously to see what the developers at CD Projekt RED can do with the third game in the series and how other developers can respond in the future.
Story
Geralt of Rivia is now in the service of King Foltest, the life of whom he saved at the end of the first game in the series, and it's a fate that he does not like much. By his side is lover and sorceress Triss although his other companions are nowhere in sight. I will not spoil any details, but after the explosive events of the Prologue our Witcher finds himself in a tough spot, blamed for one of the worst deeds one can do in a fantasy world and also slowly reclaiming the memories that have eluded him since the start of the first game.
The world that The Witcher 2 is based on was created, through a number of novels and short stories, by a Polish author called Andrzej Sapkowski, and at first sight it has a lot of similarities to similar Western fantasy work. But the world of The Witcher is dirtier, with a lot more moral ambiguity and a bigger focus on politics.
Everyone here is very self-centered and the most important characters Geralt meets are trying to screw him over, in one way or another. This makes his cynicism, now clearer than before, more believable.
Out Witcher might be a selfish man, but he has a set of principles and it's fascinating to see him talk to characters, both the idealist and the evil ones. The developers have imbued him with a dry and often hurtful humor and at times, especially when talking to Triss, Geralt seems like a man that the world has emptied on the inside, even if he can manage any threat in battle.
The dialog is mostly good, with humor thrown in sometimes and quite a bit of swearing, and the story managed to keep me interested enough to read all the Journal entries for characters and events.
In fact, one problem for the gamer that is in a hurry might be that some characters and situations get very small introductions on the first encounter and that one has to be patient in order to get the full picture.
The Witcher 2 also managed to be very good in terms of choices and I suspect that a lot of players will go through it (or at least the second half of it) more than one time to cover all the branching paths. Just keep in mind that there are no clear right or wrong choices in this game and that, when one path is chosen, one should try and stick to it whenever possible.
Gameplay
First, the basics: the game is played from third-person perspective, the main interactions are via a sword or other weapon, role-playing mechanics are used for leveling up purposes, there's potion crafting, there are spells and a pretty complex fighting system.
There are a lot of choices related to character development and the game plays pretty different depending on where the player puts his points, and it's now easier to use the various Signs that Geralt has while the potion section of the game is somewhat more trickier to use, with the best of the consumables also sporting significant side effects.
I played the swordsman as I mainly see Geralt, with my vision colored by the first game in the series, as primarily a fighter that only uses his potions and his magic as enhancements for his awesome sword-based skills but other paths seem to be equally powerful.
The Witcher 2 is a clear upgrade whether the first game created in the series by CD Projekt RED and it might be seen as the gold standard in mixing action and role playing for the coming years.
The biggest chance from the first game is in the combat. There are no more styles as in the first WItcher and the rhythm-based combat attacks from the first one have been significantly changed, meaning that there are no more confident assaults on enemies, initiated as soon as one sees them and that a lot more caution is needed when approaching all battles.
The Witcher 2 relies on one heavy attack, one quick attack and a parry move (make sure you upgrade that one as soon as possible) and makes the player think much more about how he approaches combat situations.
Coming from the first game, it feels much too demanding but, once a player goes past the Prologue (make sure not to skip any sections of it), the new system begins to feel natural and exciting, even though death is almost ever a possibility.
The one downside is the difficulty curve that comes associated with the combat. This is one of the only games I remember where the first two or three battles in the Prologue are tougher than anything you will encounter in the second half of the game, which could lead to a lot of players dropping the difficulty to Easy (as I have done for some time).
This is linked to Geralt's abilities, which evolve significantly as the game progresses and give him the tools to deal with complex challenges, but they are very little developed in the initial stages of the castle assault.
The game packs quite a few cutscenes, they are delivered using the game engine with some improvements to make it look even better than during the action scenes, and a lot of dialogue, although it seems that there are actually many people around who are ready to talk to a Witcher.
One element of the gameplay I dislike is the fact that there are now quite a few game mechanics that rely on Quick Time Events, some in a relatively simple and straightforward way and some not so much. My biggest issues are those instances where the QTEs are introduced in the middle of the action, as they are for the first time during a Dragon encounter, making it unnecessarily difficult for most gamers. There might be masochists that like trying a section out for 10 or 15 times before managing the perfect sequences of button presses, but most modern gamers do not fall in that category.
Other QTE appearances are less obnoxious, like those dealing with one punch-based combat and the mouse-based event that defines how arm wrestling is handled.
Graphics and audio
The Witcher 2 is built using an all-new game engine developed specifically for the title at CD Projekt RED and the results are impressive. The game looks better than any other role-playing game I laid my hands on recently and could give Crysis 2, the other PC powerhouse of this year, a run for its money. It's the kind of experience that should make those running it on Medium go out and spend money on a new graphics card to get it to High.
The art style used is also impressive, with a lot of small details on offer on faces, on equipment and in the game world. It is beautiful overall, a little alien at times and a little traditional at others. The Witcher 2 does not try to create something completely different from real medieval Earth and the interplay between the close to real and the otherworldly is very interesting.
The Witcher 2 also does wonderful things with light and its interplay with shadows, often mixing them to create places that can transmit a certain feeling to the gamer and enhance the on-screen action.
The voice acting is mostly well done, especially the lines for the main characters, and the actor who does Geralt is particularly good at expressing the exasperation that the character increasingly feels as his story develops.
In an otherwise fantastic presentation, music is maybe the most mundane part, which is not to say that is actually bad, just that for me it rarely rises beyond the adequate mark.
I personally didn't feel as engaged with an RPG and its universe since the days of my youth and my multiple playthroughs of Baldur's Gate 2 and it's delightful to get a game that can make me feel the same as that jewel of a game. All role-playing fans owe it to themselves to buy and play the game at least once, if not twice, to get all it can offer and gamers that are interested in other genres can also take a look at The Witcher 2 as one of the games that can show why the RPG genre has such long-standing, hardcore fans.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
