The Witcher 2: Assassins of other RPG's

I got mine pre-ordered today, just in the nick of time!  Earlier this month I had done an Under the Radar segment about games that may have slipped under your radar or contain ground breaking features.  Imagine my surprise when the one game I'm dying to play this month had actually managed to slip under MY radar!

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is the follow-up to the sleeper hit of 2007, The Witcher.  With improved visuals, voice acting and animations/scripting that don't make me want to tear my eyes out and scream murder, this looks to be the game that is going to fill the RPG void left in my heart after Dragon Age: Origins.  I won't get started on DA2 and why I felt it was a massive disappointment, but my optimism for The Witcher 2 is unbridled and filled with sugar and rainbows.



Here's a video that hopefully explains why.

Do note, this is an Alpha video so all the voices are placeholders for purposes of the video.

BOSS BATTLE!

Although I am shamed to say it, I never actually completed the first Witcher.  Almost as soon as I had started the game, I realized how spoiled todays games have made me.  Watching the terrible scripting and animation during the constant cut scenes of the intro section of the game was making my eyes bleed and my boredom rise.  The voice acting, while fairly decent, was overlayed over the Polish version of the game in my Steam Directors cut edition, making the already poor animations even more of a hassle to deal with.  But, the combat felt fantastic - it really did feel like I had control over it.  The game itself played a lot like Dragon Age as far as dialogue making decisions is concerned, although, as the video mentions, it really had very little impact on the world itself.  This looks like it's changing with the sequel.  Having followed the game for quite some time, it really does look like they've tweaked and fixed virtually every grievance I had with the first game.  This is definitely the sign of a good developer and I can't wait to get my paws on this one.

If you were a fan of Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls or even the original Witcher, this game is going to make you gasm repeatedly.  I'm so psyched I can hardly wait!

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings comes out for PC on May 17th and will retail for $49.99.

SPECIAL NOTE:

Steam is currently offering a 5 dollar discount when you pre-order The Witcher 2 this week, putting it's retail price at $44.99!