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Background

Patch 2.0 of the game brought a proper tutorial that will get people into the gameplay of The Witcher 2. It starts with our beloved witcher landing on a small dock in the wilderness.


Walkthrough

The first few moments of the tutorial explain tutorial toggling, free-roam camera, the basic movement in the game and the toggling of walking and running.

Moving the mouse enables you the free roam camera, typical for most third person games. The movement using the keyboard is performed with the standard "WASD" buttons, while switching between running and walking is done with the "Caps Lock" button. Opening previous tutorials is done using the "Tab" button.

Soon enough, you'll approach your first loot, in this case, a corpse. To manage the items that you've just looted using the "Left mouse button" and "Space" (which loots all the items automatically), open the inventory screen by pressing "I". While in the inventory screen, you can use "Tab" to cycle between item categories, remove them by dropping them onto the right spot or pressing "Delete" and equip and read them by double-clicking them. You should replace your boots with the ones you've found, and read the paper to learn about the arena.

Opening up the journal is done with "J". This is where all the quest info, lore and crafting recipes are placed. You can once again browse through the categories with "Tab" (or just select them) and quest tracking is done by double-clicking on the chosen quest or pressing "Space".

Follow the dark path until you reach a wounded knight. Simply click on him to interact and start a conversation. After your dialog, you'll get a quest to concoct a potion for the injured lad. Take a few steps back and loot all the herbs in the grove. Use the medallion ("Z" key) to highlight all the items that can be interacted with.

You should have acquired white myrtle petals, scleroderm, bryonia and celandine. Go into meditation mode to prepare the potion. That is done by bringing up the radial menu with "Ctrl", then picking the middle option and then picking alchemy. With the formula you gained from the corpse you looted earlier, you'll be able to brew a healing potion. Head back to the knight and give the potion to him.

Once you ask him what had happened, he'll say that he had been attacked by monsters before making it to the arena. As a result, he gives you his invitation and you'll be able to continue on your way towards the arena.

Unfortunately, you'll be stopped at the gates and will be forced to meditate until dawn. Go into the meditation mode once more ("Ctrl") and choose meditate option this time. Select the time (in this case, dawn) and interact with the door once again.

Inside the arena, you'll get basic combat training and maneuvers. The first thing tutorial shows you is to pull out the steel (using "1") and silver (using "2") swords. Afterwards, you'll learn to lock onto your target by pressing "Alt". Aim at the skinny guy, then the fat one and finally at the armored knight. Perform a combination of fast attack ("Left-click") and strong, slower attack ("Right-click") on the knight.

After learning how to dodge using the "Space" button and parrying with "E", you'll learn about riposte attacks (which have to be trained in the actual game). While fighting an opponent, you'll nice the cross icon changing into a sword. This is the time to strike and Geralt will perform a counter-attack.

Using "Q" will cast the currently selected sign from the radial menu. In this case it's Aard. Stun your opponent and then execute him in a single blow. Afterwards, you'll learn of the various effects that opponents can apply on you. There's incineration, poisoning, bleeding, blinding and freezing. Intoxication is caused by drinking too many potions.

After the mage hits you, use Quen to shield yourself. You can do this by pressing "8" or selecting it in the radial menu and using "Q". Upon shielding, a gargoyle will spawn nearby. You can mind control him with the Axii sign by targeting him and pressing "9" or selecting the sign from the radial menu.

The next sign that's explained is the Yrden sign. It's one of the most potent signs when dealing with 1v1 situations. Just place it on the ground (using "6" or selecting in the menu) and lure the opponent into it. He'll get stunned and you can get several free hits on him. This time however, use the Igni sign ("7") and burn the gargoyle down.

Next thing to do would be to loot all the items in the nearby chest. There are bombs, traps and throwing knives inside. Bring up the inventory screen to place them in your quick slots. Just double-click the items and they'll be placed in the pockets. Select the bombs and use "R" to aim at your opponent. Release the button once you're sure the bomb will hit him.

Now place the traps in the same fashion and lure the enemy on top of them. You'll need two traps to take him out. Note that you can stack traps on top of each other. Using daggers, aim at the mage and defeat him as well. Daggers have a small crosshair which provides accurate shots.

After doing that, you'll learn how to level up. Go into meditation mode ("Ctrl") and then head into character development. Spend your skill point in the training section and then mutate one of the abilities with a small black dot on them by pressing "Enter". Use "Space" to add the mutagen to the ability slot.

Tutorial's end draws near. In the nearby chest, you'll find several stuff that will assist you in the following battle. Drink the potions from the meditation mode and then selecting potions. Coat the blade with the oil by double-clicking it in the inventory screen and once you think you're ready, step into the red circle.

There will be several opponents coming your way. At first one by one and then they'll start spawning with closer delay times. Defeat them all with the knowledge you gained previously. Watch out for the golem at the end, it can hit pretty hard. After the fight's over, the game will try to assign a difficulty setting for you. This doesn't really mean anything and you can still pick whichever one you prefer once you start the game.