The second issue is that, for a system that’s so clearly about rhythm and timing, it’s enormously frustrating that certain animations have to play out before you can commit to your next swing. It’s a relief when that happens, but it really should have been the difficulty of the opening that was addressed, not that of the rest of the game. Yet your enemies never quite scale up in the same way, meaning that by midway through Chapter 2 the difficulty problems have largely ironed themselves out. After the first few hours your skill tree opens up, and suddenly, with each level, you’re an increasingly formidable opponent. This is one of a very special few games that manages to get easier the further you progress into it. Switch down to ‘easy’, as you can do at any point, and you’re left with the opposite problem: you can win most battles by buffing with a defensive spell, then hammering the left and right mouse buttons until everyone around you has crimson goo spilling from their insides. The first is that The Witcher 2 is sometimes just too bloody hard, with some early fights taking five or ten attempts on anything but the lowest difficulty setting. When this works, it makes for some tense, invigorating sequences as you engage in a knife-edge battle for control. Additionally, it encourages more creative battle techniques, asking you to dodge and parry incoming attacks, as well as employing a selection of spells with which to fend off your foes. Dropping the original game’s light and heavy fighting stances, its two-button attack setup allows for fluid change between small and large blows. It’s these moments - a tender glance between characters, a drunken party around a campfire, or the ominous sight of men and women hanging from nooses - that showcase The Witcher 2 at its best. But it’s also capable of capturing the nuance of a particular moment - something far too few games manage. The engine is capable of rendering enormous, majestic battles, and vistas that stretch far into the distance. On its highest settings it truly is a sight to behold, creating one of the most visually beautiful games we’ve ever seen - but even with the detail scaled back, the art design holds its own. This is often a tremendously atmospheric game, helped in large by CD Projekt’s spectacular RED Engine. As you stand in the town’s square while crows gather around two corpses hanging by the neck from the gallows, you certainly feel it. Flotsam itself is largely a safe place, though it’s anything but welcoming. Flotsam’s leader is stubbornly prejudiced, convinced that the non-humans will take up arms against his people when the time comes. Nearby, non-humans are relegated to their own shabby part of the town. The town’s leader slurs hateful words to the rowdy rabble of an audience, one filled with thugs and prostitutes. You arrive to the scene of an execution of four townspeople - two of whom you know to be innocent. Your search begins in the town of Flotsam - a typical fantasy settlement, but one where things have gone awry. The bulk of the main quest instead involves a hunt for the King’s murderer - a giant beast of a man who’s framed Geralt for the assassination. The Witcher 2 continues the first game’s amnesia theme, although this time around it’s largely relegated to an ongoing sub-plot in which Geralt attempts to rescue memories of the time before the first game’s events. In it, you played as Geralt - a monster slayer known as a “witcher” - who’d lost his memory after a savage attack. The Witcher was a commendable effort - flawed in a great many ways, but still engrossing, and still able to demonstrate a deep understanding of how roleplaying games work. It’s the sequel to CD Projekt’s 2007 debut, based on a series of short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski. The truth, however, lies somewhere in between. There are occasions when The Witcher 2 feels like the greatest RPG of the current generation, and others when it feels like a crushing disappointment, abjectly ruined by shabby design decisions and ludicrous technical hiccups. That’s an important thing to keep in mind throughout its 20 or 30 hours of play time. The Witcher 2 is an ambitious game that doesn’t quite meet its own high standards. The best RPG of the current generation? With a bit more care, it could have been." It’s a disappointment because it largely succeeds in that goal while fluffing the basics. "If you can look past the balancing, pacing and technical issues, there is an extremely solid RPG here - nothing especially innovative, but definitely a game that sets out to be the most absorbing, rich and spectacular experience it possibly can be. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (PC) review
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