Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Xbox 360 Review - No Spoilers

Welcome to my first ever review of RPG games that deserve to be talked about! Look for more various reviews from older games to the newer ones I have chosen to play and enjoy. In these reviews I will go over the main points that most reviewers go through, and a few additions of my own. I don’t believe in scoring a game per say I know some reviewers go by this and it works well, but I find explaining the various key points should be enough on it’s own.

Let’s start out first with the -  Main setting and concept of the game:

The storyline and setting itself comes from the fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski from Poland who has brought the main character Geralt of Rivia and the Witchers into existent. I have personally read the set of short stories “The Last Wish” and I highly recommend it. Taking that into account a company known as CD Projekt Red took up the challenge to bring the world of the Witcher and Geralt to life. After reading the book and playing the game I will say they have done an amazing job and my hats off to them by keeping even the smallest details correct.

Originally set on the PC the Witcher 1 and 2 became a RPG hit. Mind you this is not a tale like Mass Effect or Skyrim this is a gritty and detailed world full of monsters, political intrigue and surprises at every turn. The game itself is an adult oriented adventure, with that in mind expect to see nudity and you will here a lot of swearing. This in no way takes away from the game or spoils it by saying hey look what we can do. I found that everything in the game just breaths life into existence and brings the setting and tale of the Witcher to its fullest.


The story follows as you take on the role of Geralt of Rivia also known as the White Wolf or the Witcher. The Witcher’s are monster hunters and mutants. They are trained to face the deadliest of opponents using potions and there swords. Geralt carries a silver sword for fighting monsters and an iron or steel sword for his human encounters. 


In the first game you saved and became allies with King Foltest and now he wishes you by his side. Now as a bodyguard to the King you begin the game in midst of a war Through certain events you are framed for the Kings death and must make your way to various parts of the land to find the killer also known as the Kingslayer (what an awesome name, ok geeking out here). Along the way you will fight monsters for gold and meet various characters who will help or hinder your progress. Beyond the hunt for the Kingslayer you come upon a vast story of itself with a lot of political intrigue and the various reasons why certain things are the way they are in the world.

Now on to the -  Graphics and sound:

As I stated above both the Witcher 1 and 2 were first able to play by the PC only. Doing some research in order to see the game at it’s fullest you need a very beefy machine in order to play on Ultra settings. With that said bringing the game to the Xbox 360 was an amazing move. They say that basically it plays out as if it was on medium settings for the PC. I found a few issues especially in Chapt 2 in the dwarven city but beyond that nothing that hindered my gaming experience. CD Projekt Red did an excellent job with porting this game to the Xbox and I would say from my opinion I have yet to see a better game that looks as beautiful as this.


The details on the clothing, armor and architecture is outstanding. The forests, waterfalls, mountains, castles, and even towns really bring the grittiness and detail of the world to a full closure. The expressions on the various characters from the NPC’s to our main character Geralt come off with a very real approach. Of course the blood, magic, combat and sexual relations graphics can be very intense and really bring that realism of the setting to the table. All in all I was very impressed by the port to console and the engine used to bring the graphics to the Xbox is amazing.

The sound quality is a story of its own and the only complaint I had was not all of it was balanced. With a little tweaking this solved the problem though, but when you begin you find some characters are too soft spoken while the music may be turned up to high. Beyond that the voice acting is excellent and not one character brings any for lack of better words cheesiness to the game. The magic and combat sounds as it should from steel on steel to the screaming of the monsters. I found myself wandering at night in the forests waiting to jump when a monster would come crashing out of the trees at me. Using my Turtle Beach headphones I got to experience an amazing set of sounds and music and I highly recommend any headphones when playing this game.

Let’s check out those -  Controls and the play-ability:

Before I get into this subject let me begin by stating this is a thinking game for an RPGist. In other games you can pause or hit a button to heal while in combat, which unless were talking about a spell takes the realism away in my opinion. Before you enter combat you enhance yourself by taking potions that can give resistances, bring back health over time, or even add damage to your combat. You also can put oils on your swords that have various features. I found this a much change of pace from other RPG’s and a welcome at that. It really makes you think and not rely on button mashing.

Now for the play-ability and controls of the Witcher 2, which I will say when I first played the demo at PAX I was a little daunted. After playing it fully through and getting the hang of it however it was easy to pick up and stay with. You have your light and strong attacks and combining them works great in combat. Your spells work off a slow time mechanism for choosing which to cast also where you can also choose a trap or bomb to use. (Crazy Witchers and all there gadgets) The combat alone is solid and smooth! Not once did I feel cheated and when I died (and yes you will at times) I went so far to fault my self for not parrying, dodging or running in at the wrong time. 


Now like a PC I highly recommend saving before a battle or when you know something you may want to do over may be coming up. The reason I say this auto-save can be a little frustrating, where sometimes you’re back in the spot you want to be and at other times your way back then you wanted and have to do various parts all over again. I found that just saving at these times or after I did something I wanted to keep worked out very well and wasn't frustrating in the least.

To what will be my favorite section - Just how much RPG are we talking about?:

The title may be a little confusing but you will soon understand what I mean by this. Now when I play an RPG there are a four key elements I search for. These elements consist of Customization options, Gear and Loot, Side quests and Choices, with these elements in place I find myself drawn into the world or setting and wanting to plunge deeper within to enjoy these aspects to there fullest.

Will start first with the customization options, now keep in mind you are Geralt of Rivia. You’re following his story but I’ll get deeper into that in my choices section.  There really isn’t a lot of customization when it’s comes to the Witcher 2, sure you can change the hair and the various armor or trophies to give a new look, but beyond that we are not talking about other games where you can choose to look how you want to look ect. Does this take away from my gaming experience? Not in the least because you’re so deep in the story and what follows your hardly thinking about how you want Geralt to look, he is just a bad-ass on his own anyway.

When it comes to gear and loot in terms of weapons and armor there is some good choices, but this is nothing like other RPGs. Some things can be found by quests or such but most times you will be having someone craft things for you. This brings me to all the gathering you will be doing, either by picking various herbs or taking monster parts. This will be a big part of the game, and using these will craft potions, bombs, and your gear which will be very useful in the long run.

What can I say about side quests? I will say there isn’t a huge amount but just enough where you feel that it isn’t an over abundance and each one fits well in the chapter you are currently in. Side quests can range from the various Witcher duties of hunting monsters and destroying nests to brawling matches which are very fun on there own. In my opinion they come off to me well created and I made sure to complete almost every one.

Let me say when it comes to choices one word speaks above all else…Wow! The Witcher 2 is not about black and white there is a dominant grey area when it comes to choosing various outcomes. This works great when it comes to telling this dark tale of sword and sorcery. In Chapt 1 the choices you make have a huge impact to the rest of the game. I have to do another play through to see the other side of Chapt 2 and the characters I was unable to interact not to mention quests I never even seen. That to me brings a lot to the table not only do I want to play again but it really makes me stop to think when a choice is brought before me and what the outcome could be.

My last section -  Does this become part of my library or will I be trading it in?:

Without a doubt this will stay in my library! The Witcher 2 is amazing and I can say I would easily play this months down the road again just to experience it in all it's glory. I highly recommend this game to my fellow RPG gamers out there and I have a feeling you will love it as much as myself.

I hope you enjoyed my first review and my grammar didn't bleed your eyes too much. I look forward to presenting more reviews and while you’re here be sure to check out my various short tales that I also write on this blog.

Thank you and Blessings to all,

-B