Any astute readers of mine (currently about zero) will know that I have played The Witcher 2 in the past. They will also know that I haven't posted in a month. Oops. Life happens.

I remember telling someone that I would play this over the summer. That was two years ago. The Witcher 2 is an RPG based off a series of books of the same name. The games take place either after or in a different timeline than the books. I remember reading the first book, and it was pretty good.

The Witcher 2 opens with Geralt in the most exquisitely rendered dungeon I've ever seen, explaining what happened during a huge battle just three days before. It ends in him being framed for regicide. He gets out, then travels up river to a backwater swamp village with an elven terrorist problem. At this point, the plot diverges, due to the plethora of gray choices that this series is known for. The story eventually ends up in an ancient mountain city where there's a sorceress convention, and that guy who killed that king everyone thought you did. At the end, you fight a dragon. I recall the first time I played that I revealed a very cool secret about it, but because I choose different this time, I could not do the same things.

The combat revolves around swordsmanship, five magic spells, and bombs. Witchers carry two swords: a silver sword for creatures and monsters, and steel for people, who might be the real monsters. There's a great deal of crafting in this game, and it's required on higher difficulties. Gather ingredients for potions, which you mix and drink.

The political situation in this world makes the Middle East look easy to figure out. I mostly avoided or ignored it. The main character's name is "Geralt of Rivia", and none of the games take you there, nor has anyone spoken about it, nor is anyone else from there.

This game is a very serious and in depth RPG with gray moral choices. Unlike some games, you can't tell which choices are good or bad; nor are they even color coded, like some games are. I would not call this game gritty, but it's not all brightly colored and light-hearted either. I would almost say that this game is prettier than Crysis, and that's not counting the bare boobs and butts in this game.