The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 Will Not Hold Your Hand

And that's a good thing.

January 26, 2012

Walking down the same path as Dark Souls, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings on Xbox 360 takes a bold stance with its difficulty and complexity. Full of vague character references, sex, precise combat, tight controls, and tough enemies, the fantasy world lives and breathes with or without you. There's no hand-holding, and knowing how well its PC counterpart turned out, this unapologetic RPG is exactly what Xbox 360 needs.

This takes place in the tutorial, no really.

Gamers love to debate the differences between hardcore and casual games. While neither category holds a real definition, there seems to be an understanding among gamers as to what's what. Forget the term hardcore, The Witcher 2 doesn't care about categories. It'll let you hang out in its world, but don't expect any handouts. The Witcher 2 might be the first case where a player can call a game "PC-ized" (in contrast to the negative connotation of "consolized"), meaning it's optimized for the complexities of the mouse and keyboard, but adapted for controller play without sacrificing gameplay intricacies.

In fact, the The Witcher 2 needs every button on the Xbox 360 controller. Not only does every button have a function (down to tapping the back button and clicking both the right and left sticks), combat requires a timed precision rarely found in modern RPGs saturated with action. The tutorial is a requirement, not an option. Every odd combo of brewing potions, using magic, and knowing when to throw a riposte plays a critical role in the simplest altercations in The Witcher 2.

This guy asked too many story questions.

Mastery of the controls is hardly impossible, but every tactic at the witcher's disposal is a requirement. Bombs, traps, parries, magic, and potions all play into battle. Once you understand combat, the updated camera and accessible movement flow allow players to step into the fantastic world conjured by Andrzej Sapkowski, the original creator of the Witcher stories. The tale follows Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter, or witcher, as the lore goes. Geralt has cat-like eyes to see in the dark and drinks potions that toxify his system with inhuman powers. Get used to dozens of character names, obscure location references, and a world brimming with life. Like the control scheme, the narrative doesn't hold back regardless of whether or not you can wrap your head around what's happening.

Should PC players step back into the world of Temeria? That depends. If you conquered The Witcher 2 last year, this "Enhanced Edition" does offer new content. Once you hit Loc Muinne in Act III, Geralt finds two new quest lines (depending on his choice between Roche and Iorveth in Act 2). Fighting through the bad guys and monsters of the new quest line leads to a cool new style of movie, another addition to the Xbox 360 version. The camera swoops through a static point in time, showcasing the chaos of a specific moment, while narration explains the story surrounding the action. While these additional clips are subtle, they positively build upon the tale in new ways.

"Don't you know who I am?"

CD Projekt Red dumbs nothing down in their adaptation of The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360. Sure there's an animated vignette explaining what a witcher is, but the burden is on the player to catch up with the world's lore, figure out which characters are connected, and learn how to survive in combat beyond an enemy or two. Hopefully this version opens the door for more hardcore content to jump from the mouse and 101-button keyboard to the 18 inputs on an Xbox 360 controller. It can be done.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition comes to Xbox 360 AND ps3 on April 17.