Review by: Todd Brakke

In 2007 The Witcher came in largely under the radar to a heap of critical acclaim, acclaim that included an Editor's Choice award from Gameshark. This past week I've had some time to play around with a preview build of the sequel, the aptly named Assassins of Kings, which included the game's prologue and first chapter. It's safe to say if you wanted more of The Witcher, only bigger and much, much prettier, then The Witcher 2 is well worth keeping an eye on as the May 17th release day approaches.

When we last left our heroic protagonist, Geralt of Rivia, he had just saved the life of King Foltest of Temeria from an assassination attempt. This came immediately on the heels of a campaign that pitted the Scoia'tael (militant elves) against a chivalric, but racist organization known as the Order of the Flaming Rose. In the midst of fighting and whoring your way through the world, you made a series of difficult choices that determined how this conflict ended and how the king dealt with the situation, while at the same time vanquishing a larger, related threat. The Witcher 2 picks up shortly after these events, placing Geralt and his ever-present sorceress companion, Triss, in direct support of Foltest who is now facing down a new threat to his crown. No rest for the weary and all that.

One thing that's clear from this preview build is that CD Projekt wanted to improve the experience and broaden the scope of the franchise, without changing the core of what made the first game special. Players of the first game will have some new controls and content to learn, but will jump in already having a firm grasp of the fundamentals. The low-fantasy setting is much as you might remember it. It’s a world that shows off all the ugliest aspects of human nature and pulls no punches when it comes to man’s brutality and depravity. As Geralt, you still wield two swords (a silver one for monsters and a steel sword for the sentient beings). You still craft potions, gain talents with each level to improve character skills (although with a new set of skill trees), learn and improve on five basic spells (plus an unlockable sixth spell), and make decisions in dialog without necessarily knowing the "right" choice. More importantly, at your core, you're still a monster hunter for hire. Geralt was never a prototypical sword-swinging fantasy hero. He's a monster detective who gets paid a fair wage for his services, hunting down and eliminating the threat from monsters that ordinary men cannot hope to stand against. From what I've played so far, this identity remains firmly intact.

What's different this time around is the level of refinement as no system goes completely untouched. Combat has been revamped from the somewhat repetitive click fest of the first game to a more arcade-like experience that, at times, feels like it would be more at home on a gamepad. The fast, power, and group combat styles of the first game are long gone. You now make swift or power attacks using the left and right mouse buttons, using the keyboard to direct Geralt towards a particular opponent. You must also manually adopt a parry posture if you want to absorb an adversary's attacks. Though different and definitely arcadey, it's ultimately effective given that the first game's combat model was not its strong-suit. That said, you also have to make such frequent use of a specific tumble animation to quickly move into or out of danger that even after just a few hours with the preview build I found myself wishing Geralt had a few other dodgy moves in his repertoire rather than somersaulting around the battlefield like an Olympic gymnast.