Sorry guys, we just don't get it. Maybe if we were more familiar with the Witcher franchise, we'd be able to wrap our minds around CD Projekt's April Fools' Day goof. It's created a fake game titled The Bard: Saviors of Queens, a trailer and dev diary for which are posted below. It's about a guy who kills dragons and bandits while bedding as many women as humanly possible.
Here's our problem: Isn't that also what The Witcher is all about? It's been a while since we played it -- there's a very real chance that we're confusing it with CD Projekt's earliest title, The Lusty Swordhand. Still, on the April Fools outrageous-o-meter, this one falls on the "potentially could become a real thing" side of the spectrum.
GoG.com has announced that its version of The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings Digital Premium Edition will be the only version to ship without any sort of digital rights management. In a press release, managing director Guillaume Rambourg noted that, "DRM is not an effective way to combat piracy," adding that user experience has always been his company's "main concern." Of course, it's also worth noting that developer CD Projekt owns GoG.com, so it's understandable its version would receive a few perks.
If your main concern is to play The Witcher 2 without jumping through extra hoops, it looks like GoG.com is the way to go.
Polish developer CD Projekt charmed a lot of PC-playing RPG fans with its first game, The Witcher, and now the studio is using that solid foundation to build the sequel, subtitled Assassins of Kings. The first game used a heavily modified Aurora Engine (from BioWare's Neverwinter Nights series), but The Witcher 2 runs on a new graphical engine of CD Projekt's own design and features a revamped combat system.
At a recent meeting with the developer, I played through one of The Witcher 2's sidequests, which amounted to roughly an hour's worth of gametime. It was enough of an introduction to convince me that if you liked the first game, you'll enjoy the second. There's not a lot of innovation in the sequel, but CD Projekt again proves itself to be a skilled developer of the PC RPG.
#pc
Provided, that is, you decide to play the role-playing title on "insane" difficulty. Which gives you one life. For a game that could take anywhere from 30-60 hours to finish. More »
The Witcher 2: Assassination of Kings will include "permanent death" as an ominous feature of its "Insane" difficulty option. Eurogamer spoke with CD Projekt gameplay designer Mateusz Kanik, who explained that players can save the game on Insane, but if they die that career string will be disabled for reloading. However, the developer does plan on adding a "resurrection scroll; maybe DLC or something."
The harsh design decision comes from CD Pojekt's admiration for the notoriously sinister Demon's Souls' lovingly abusive relationship with the player. Kanik added that there will be an achievement "for sure" for beating the game on Insane. Come on, CD Projeckt, at least offer up one of those Witcher heads for the accomplishment, considering death is on the line.
Look, we abhor violence, but you've got to admit these shots of a burning field and the ensuing conflict between two forces in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings look quite nice. We'd never condone violence but, in this setting, we'd certainly stop and stare for a few.
During a recent press conference, Polish video game developer CD Projekt discussed the possibility of its upcoming RPG sequel, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, getting a console port. Speaking to Eurogamer, CD Projekt CEO Marcin Iwiński said that while the game's technology does support multiple platforms, it'll be a matter of "we'll see" in the months following the May PC launch. "We know how many players, especially in the UK as well as in the US, play on Xbox 360," he said. "We are pretty good at maths. That's all I can say for now."
The Witcher 2 senior producer Tomasz Gop, also likely to be a math pro, explained that the porting process isn't a last-minute consideration. "We're doing a reality check every half a year or so. We take a level from the game and we try to put it inside our engine, because it's console capable on Xbox 360 and PS3," he said. "It's doable."
Gop noted that developing for consoles alongside the PC version hasn't been an option, prompting the team to exercise caution first. "Three reasons: time, people and money. We have not released any console games yet. That's why we're approaching this topic with even more caution."
Remember that trailer for The Witcher 2 -- the one that showed off the many, many approaches you could take to springing the game's white-haired protagonist from prison? During a press conference (which was thankfully attended and filmed by Polish outlet Polygamia), developer CD Projekt showed off a few other evacuation procedures one might use during the mission, demoing a bit of the game's UI in the process.
Check out the demo after the jump, but be forewarned, on the off chance that you're at work this hallowed Thanksgiving Eve -- said videos contain breasts. And we don't mean turkey breasts. We mean actual breasts. Like, on a lady.
CD Projekt is worried about piracy -- specifically, as it concerns the developer's upcoming, adult-oriented RPG, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings -- and understandably so. As a single-player-only PC title, The Witcher 2 is awfully ripe for pirating. However, the Polish developer is hoping to counteract these illicit acquisitions by more doggedly pursuing those who play the game illegally. CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiński recently told Eurogamer that "we are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies" to hunt down gamers who download The Witcher 2 unlawfully.
Such offenders will be sent a letter demanding they pay a fine -- the sum of which was left unspecified, though it will be more than the game's suggested retail price. Though it sounds a bit like the RIAA's anti-piracy scare tactics, Iwiński said, "We don't want to be so harsh, but there is a chance that this might happen to some people if they download illegally." Or, in other words, don't make CD Projekt use its angry voice, because it's going to hurt them a lot more than it's going to hurt you.
In a late night missive from Polish publisher CD Projekt, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was given a solid release date: May 17, 2011. Project lead Adam Badowski admitted that the launch had been moved back "a few weeks" to allow the PC action-RPG more development time. "We've decided to the move the launch date back a few weeks to afford us more time to polish the game," he said.
CD Projekt also teased "hot news" to be served up during the publisher's autumn conference on November 18, including details of the game's Collector's Edition, pre-order specifics, and more. If you can't make it to the conference in person -- it's in Warsaw, Poland, after all -- it'll be streaming live on both the official Witcher 2 website and the game's Facebook page starting at 12:30PM EST sharp on November 18.
In the meantime, GameStop appears to have already launched the game's collector's edition listing, showing a $130 price tag and ... umm ... like, a ton of stuff (listed after the break). It's a good thing you have about half a year to save up all that dough!
The Witcher 2 has apparently been downgraded to a "potential" console release. Speaking with Eurogamer, senior producer Tomasz Gop said any "potential console release" wouldn't join the PC launch next March. Regarding the status of the console version, the representative merely offered a "no comment."
Following up with company spokesman Tom Ohle, he informed Joystiq: "We never did confirm a console release of [The Witcher 2]. The situation is still that we do want to bring the Witcher franchise to console gamers at some point, and we've buit an engine capable of console development... but have made no formal announcements of plans for a console release."
Although the game is looking mighty fancy on PC, we've yet to see The Witcher 2 running on any console. CD Projekt originally planned for the first Witcher to make its way to consoles, too, though that project was canceled reportedly due to financial issues.
The video after the break gives us a look at the nonlinear gameplay of The Witcher 2, as told through a fireside round of tall tales, tongue planted firmly in cheek. The important part: You don't want to mess with this Witcher guy. He'll kill you dead. Seriously, dude is mean.
Here we are, just three short days away from the inaugural PAX on the East Coast, and CD Projekt has gone right ahead and confirmed the sequel to the hack-n-slash RPG The Witcher via the first official trailer, posted on GameTrailers. As suggested last September, the new trailer reveals that The Witcher 2 will be subtitled "Assassins of Kings," though a publisher and proposed release date have yet to be confirmed.
Additionally, no mention of projected release platforms is made in the trailer, and GameTrailers only lists "PC," seemingly refuting earlier claims that The Witcher 2 could arrive on consoles. Check out the full two-minute reveal after the break.
