GB Feature: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Review
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The voice acting matched the quality of the writing, my only negative note being Geralt has the tendency to be a bit monotone, though this disinterested, abrasive attitude kind of matches his personality. The characters generally talk with vaguely British accents, and combined with the unique idioms written for the game it helps immerse the player into the fantasy world. To further improve on this, the Elves have their own ancient tongue which is occasionally used for multiple lines, with translations in the subtitles. A language that often sounds very Dutch to my ears, an effective method of crafting a fantasy language by borrowing from non-English languages. Dwarves speak with unique, Gaelic accents. The sound and music overall is strong, appropriately designed for different areas and combat situations. One oddity was the music being at such a high volume at times I had to turn it down just so it wouldn't drown out the characters talking.And while I'm at it, I'd like to point you over to our The Witcher 2 subsite which now contains all of the game's journal information, as well as new abilities, mini-games, and signs pages to complement the extensive equipment database and other content. Enjoy!
The writing of both the main quest and side quests is pretty much consistently excellent. In many cases, the game surprises you with unexpected turns as new facts come to light, in a politics-heavy rollercoaster of a plot that sees multiple fashions turn on each other, and people aren't necessarily on the side you expect them to be on. What's more, pretty much every character, whether they take a side in the struggle or remain mostly neutral, have believable motivations, even if they're not always what they seem at first glance.
