PC RPG fans should be very happy today, because a new high-definition YouTube video provided footage of the previously unannounced title The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.
CD Projekt RED has confirmed that it is genuine footage of The Witcher 2 being shown and that the game is in development, but otherwise do not wish to comment. The YouTube video in question is an old early alpha video intended to entice publishers to sign on the new game, which displays 5 minutes of narrated in-game footage.
I’m a big fan of The Witcher myself – it ranks amongst my favorite games of all-time – so I peered over the available footage for any hints of what changes are to come in this sequel. Read my findings below.
CD Projekt RED has spent some time improving their engine. The Witcher 2 still has the same atmosphere and visual style of the original game, with dark colors and predominantly realistic environments and characters. But it adds the most stunning particle effects I’ve seen in a RPG thus far, with dust floating on the wind, beautiful HDR-lighting and sweet fire effects.
New physics effects powered by the Havok engine also make a strong showing, with barrels being crushed under falling opponents and dust motes swirling up when using Witcher signs. It is almost certainly going to be one of the best looking RPGs when it’s released, but then, so was The Witcher.
Based on the video, much of the gameplay is very similar to the first game. We don’t get to see any interface elements other than the well-known attack icons from the first game. Obviously the fighting system is as we remember it, with sword attacks relying on timing and Witcher signs available as magic attacks.
But CD Projekt RED has changed things up a bit with bloodier finishing moves and Quick Time Events in boss battles. Ordinarily quick time events wouldn’t be a something to applaud, but if the video is any indication of what we can expect, then it’ll be little different from the kind of combat that was present in the first game. You’ll just have one extra little button to time at certain intervals.
The combat does seem like it would look more cinematic with QTE segments, but in most all games I’ve played with Quick Time Events, these have merely resulted in distracting from the core gameplay. Thus making the game less fun. Hopefully CD Projekt RED can pull it off where other studios have failed.
Towns are still as lively as they were in the first game, with NPCs going about their business. A new day/night cycle should make it easier to immerse yourself in the game’s world and villagers now actually respond to your actions.
The video demonstrated Geralt destroying a stack of crates, which elicited varying responses from nearby soldiers. None of them actually did anything to Geralt, but the comments on his actions made the world appear more believable.
The static character animation during dialogue was one of the few flaws of the original game, but CD Projekt has revamped this for the sequel. The dialogue scene shown displayed much more convincing character animations and especially notable were the widely varying facial expressions.
There were a few issues that were clearly due to the alpha state of the product. Performance was not really up-to-scratch, but that is normally something that gets touched up late in development. And the dialogue in the game seemed to consist of placeholder voices.
One scene depicts a dragon destroying a village, pretty pyrotechnics included, but suffered from some serious stuttering. Again, this was alpha footage, and The Witcher (especially after the Extended Edition) performed well enough. So I have every confidence that this will merely be an awesome, well-performing, scene in the final game (if it makes the cut).
Overall it just looked like a very solid continuation of The Witcher. No major shake-ups, but The Witcher didn’t really need that anyway. More of the same is good in this case, and CD Projekt RED looks set to give us a bit more than just that.
I for one, can’t wait to see what the final product will be like! And I’m keeping some money handy for that Collector’s Edition that is sure to come.
The YouTube video in question has been embedded below.
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