Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is ensuring that a large audience of Xbox 360 and PC gamers will get a chance to take in the epic role-playing game, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition. Making its console debut, this sequel from developer CD Projekt RED puts players in control of Geralt of Rivia in a fantasy adventure that adds over four hours of new content to the story. As a professional monster slayer who becomes embroiled in the political turmoil in the Kingdom of Temeria, players enter a world full of turmoil as mighty forces clash behind-the-scenes in a struggle for power and influence. Michal Platkow-Gilewski, head of marketing at CD Projekt Red, talks about what’s in store for gamers in this exclusive interview.
For those who haven’t played The Witcher games can you explain what this universe is all about?
Our universe is based on the novels of Andrzej Sapkowski, a famous writer who created a saga called The Witcher. In our game, players get to play the role of the most famous Witcher ever, Geralt of Rivia.
Who are the Witchers?
They are specially trained monster slayers. They were raised in the special case of people who treat themselves with poisons that would normally kill people, but they made them stronger for them to survive. They undergo really intense training and they are ready to enter the war and kill the monsters.
This game originally appeared on the PC. Can you explain what this enhanced edition will bring to the table?
We have our award-winning PC game. After the PC launch, we started to work on the Xbox version. We thought about what we could do to make it better, and we listened to the community. For example, they told us make the third arc a little bit longer, so we added some more content. The Xbox version has all the content from the most updated PC version, including all the DLC content. In addition, we added new stuff. We added four hours of additional gameplay, three new main characters, new locations and a lot of cinematics and movies. There’s around 36-minutes of new cinematics, including the CG intro made by Tomasz Bagiński, an Academy Award nominated director. Because we had to create the game from scratch and adapt it to the console and its engine, we had to work on many assets to make them as good as we wanted. I’m pretty sure we achieved that thanks to our proprietary RED engine.
What do you think it is about this game universe that’s unique?
First of all, we wanted to create a game for us as well, because in the Red Studio, we are all gamers and love RPGs. We had a brainstorm about what is the pure and essential RPG for us, and it’s a character and story-driven RPG game. We put a lot of effort in the story. If you make a choice, some consequences have to follow it. On every step of this journey, you have to think about what you’re doing. It’s not about the Karma system, whether you’re doing right or wrong. There are no good or bad decisions; they are all within the big field of grayness. You have to think with each decision what consequences it will bring.
How do decisions impact the gameplay?
At the beginning, even a small choice may make a difference in the future. This is essential for us. We are all gamers who like combat, as well, so the tactical combat was also one of our main goals to achieve. It’s not only about the fighting, but also about how you fight. You can use different fighting techniques. You can use trucks, grenades, and bombs. You can use Witchers magic, which is a special science, so you can stun your enemies and burn them in the fire. You have a lot of options. Each of these can be used in different ways, as well.
To learn more about The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition‘s decision-based gameplay check out our “Major Decisions” tips and strategy. Seasoned Witcher 2 players can also enter a Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings sweepstakes.
