The story in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings starts some time after the action that happened in The Witcher. Some of the choices the player made in that game have effects slipping into this game, if a savegame exists, although it is not immediately clear. Here we find Geralt in a prison cell, accused for the assassination of Foltest, king of Temeria. An interrogation begins, where we get to play through the events leading to this unfortunate situation. A prison escape follows, and Geralt begins his efforts to clear his name, and to navigate the tense political situation following a wave of royal assinations. In addition, Geralt continuously works to recover his memory, which is still a bit foggy after the beginning of the first game.
Similar to the first game, it is the story that is the main attraction in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The choices made by the player have a very big impact on the story itself, often in ways that are not obvious at first. The choices are not between a clearly good or evil alternative, but between two less than ideal expected outcomes, in a rich and complex world. The world is also very nice to look at, but it felt as if its size was rather smaller than in its predecessor. There were not as many places to visit in each of the game’s chapters, but this was instead compensated by a larger variation of things to do, and a tighter tempo in the storytelling. The romantic parts are also better integrated, and not as stupid. For some reason I had problems with the difficulty level in the first chapter of the story which I did not have otherwise. I don’t know if it was due to me being a slow learner or if those fights were actually meant to be harder.
The game is quite old by now, but I don’t care. I enjoyed it a lot, and I am happy that I still have the third game in the series to play, the one that people say is the best.