The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Preview

Destructoid offers a new preview based on a demo showing of the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, covering the Dandelion/Succubus story we’ve seen in recent previews.

Another major change is the combat system. You don’t have to keep switching between combat styles anymore — everything occurs in real time, and Ohle compared the new setup to Batman: Arkham Asylum. You have quick attacks (left click) and strong attacks (right click); holding Ctrl slows down time somewhat, allowing you to swap weapons or choose and cast spells (Q). Blocking at the right moment will parry an incoming attack, which gives you an opportunity to counter, while the space bar can be used for dodging.

To fans of the first game, this might sound like a cop-out, but from what I saw, it certainly doesn’t mean that enemies are any easier to take down. In fact, Ohle almost died in a fight with a single large beast because he wasn’t quite powerful enough for the area. Unlike most modern Western games, enemies in The Witcher 2 don’t scale to the player’s level — as Ohle put it, (If you wander into the wrong place, you’re probably going to get your ass kicked.)

Combat is tied to the game’s four skill trees: training, swordsmanship, magic, and alchemy. You can now change your appearance depending on the items you have crafted and equipped; there’s nothing too outlandish, since CD Projekt wanted to remain mostly faithful to the canon of Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher books, but you’ll be able to customize Geralt’s looks within the bounds of the fiction. The studio has also revamped the inventory management, a major gripe with the original game.