Easily one of the best PC games released in the latest years. Easily one of the best surprises, too - you will see more passion and talent from those 'noobs' from Poland than you would in most of the AAA studios, combined. The sheer idea to be a rather indie studio and create a game like this, polish it (word origin nudges me weirdly here) and bring it to the extent it is available today, is remarkable and admiring.

I have spent countless hours in the summer of 2011 playing and replaying the game. Because you don't get one strict and direct walkthrough; in fact, you can play 2 completely different storylines and make choices that will result in 16 (!) different endings. Mind you, I haven't seen them all (yet), but some craze at some point in the future might make me want to do so.

Witcher 2 is an action-adventure RPG - you will see a lot of combat, and the combat mechanics will matter when you face tougher foes. You need a strategy to survive - button mashing won't help you. You can master either of the 3 skill paths - Magic, Alchemy and Swordmanship and use your signs, potions and gear in order to kick every monster and merc's a** in the beautiful world of Witcher 2.

Speaking of beauty, as long as you have a powerful enough PC to push the game hard, you can't fail to notice how lovely it is made - the whole world looks like it is living and breathing, with NPCs having their own business throughout the day and sleep at night, lights, shadows and colours that make it all look hell pretty - the game might be 2011, but it still easily competes with some weaker attempts from more recent times.

Everything in this game screams for maturity - from the portrayal of the storyline to some rather odd moments in the game - you might think nudity is not appropriate for games, but if you are old enough to think about it normally, you'll see there's nothing bad in a beautiful love scene like in any other movie. And indeed, the fantasy world of Witcher 2 is not a fantasy world meant for putting kids to sleep - it can easily be described as an alternative Middle Ages where humans have all their present strong and weak qualities, and the legends about the monsters lurking outside of the village at night turn out to actually be there for real.

Comparing it to the first installment of the series, I would say I prefer Witcher 2 over it's predecessor, even though I wouldn't deny it either. Everything looks better thought of and finished in the follow-up, but the truth is, the Witcher 1 forged the path for the developers to get together and release a game like this. If you wonder, definitely play the first one first, but come back here when you've finished it.

If you are at least a tiny little bit fan of books, don't think twice and grab yourself a copy of the Witcher stories- Andrzej Sapkowski is the mastermind of this world (book came first, then the game). Stories are not necessarily strictly connected between the books and the game, they are loosely situated in the same world, with the main protagonist being the white-haired cold-blooded and serious monster killer Geralt of Rivia. Who, by the way, is already one of my most favourite characters overall.

In a few words - if you don't have the game yet and you are a fan of RPG, deep and mature stories and beautiful graphics: get it, get it now.



P.S. Devs are real nowadays heroes as they release a ton of free downloadable content and updates AFTER the game is released. Yep, you get all those DLCs you pay for in the other games for free - and they added the Enhanced edition for free for all early purchasers too. They are also known for bashing the mandatory nowadays DRM too - if you buy the game retail, you just need the disc to play it. Like in the good old days.

P.S. 2 I own the retail Collector's Edition of the game and I just had to buy it again on Steam. I don't mind it at all, I would put my money for those guys any day, as long as they keep releasing games like this (blink blink: Witcher 3, blink blink: Cyberpunk).