Planning Your Game

You are Geralt of Rivia, witcher, a monster-hunter framed for the murder of King Foltest of Temeria. You must clear your name by tracking down and identifying the true kingslayer, then bringing him to justice. You’d much rather be focusing on your ravishing lover, Triss, or recovering from the bout of amnesia you’ve suffered from for months, but both of these goals must wait.

After you set out on the kingslayer’s trail, you quickly find yourself forced to make decisions with far-reaching consequences. Your allies beg for your help and your actions have a profound effect on the complex politics of the north. You’ve set out on a journey to find the murderer, but by the end of your travels you may have forged a new kingdom, unraveled a sorcerous conspiracy, or rescued a lost princess.

To put it in plainer terms, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is a game that can become very different depending on choices you make during your playthrough. These decisions affect not only the game’s storyline, but also side quests, equipment, and Geralt’s character attributes. This variation can make replays rewarding but may also result in confusion or disappointment if a choice has consequences you don’t enjoy.

Before you begin a trip through The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition, it’s best to have a plan. So before you dive into the walkthrough, take a moment to read this section, which explains in broad strokes how this game is structured and what you should know about playing through it.

Major Decisions

The most important decision you make in the game is at the end of Chapter 1, when you must decide to ally yourself with either Vernon Roche of Temeria or Iorveth, the elven freedom fighter. The entirety of Chapter 2 and much of Chapter 3 change depending on which ally you choose. In addition, in Chapter 3 you must choose between your ally from Chapter 2 and Triss Merigold.

The walkthrough flags major decisions when you come to them, but the game-altering nature of the choices means you cannot simply read this walkthrough straight through from beginning to end. The walkthrough covers all the possible content in the game, so it includes coverage of quests and situations that won’t occur in your game. Instead, when you make a major decision, you are told to turn to a certain page that matches up with where you should be in your game. If you wish to see all of the game’s quests and scenarios, you must replay it while making different choices.

If you are a story-focused player who intends to play the game multiple times, this guide recommends allying with Iorveth on your first playthrough, then Roche on your second. On these playthroughs, follow your ally when you choose between him and Triss in Chapter 3. To do a playthrough focusing on allying with Triss, ally with Roche in Chapter 2 and then Triss in Chapter 3 (although you can ally with Triss in Iorveth’s version of Chapter 2 if you wish).

Just as the decisions you make throughout the course of a game change which locations you visit and quests you can complete, they also affect your ending. There are eight possible endings to The Witcher 2, dictated largely by the choices you’ve made at major points in the game. Each ending has its own “final board” cutscene that sums up the choices you’ve made. Generally, choices that influence Geralt’s allegiances or whether a given NPC lives or dies can influence the final board, though not all choices of this nature do so. The walkthrough points out decisions that influence your ending. You can flip to the “Endings Guide” section to see a flow chart that shows how the various endings fit together.

Quests

The Witcher 2 presents its plot as a series of quests, with the option to take on additional side quests as Geralt explores the world around him. Since where Geralt is in the story usually dictates which quests he can complete, quests are covered in a suggested order for completing them in the walkthrough. Many quests are time-sensitive and are automatically failed if you progress the story such that Geralt leaves an area with quests incomplete. It’s usually clear when the game is giving you a bit of downtime between plot points that you can use for completing side quests. Completing quests intelligently is crucial to leveling up, since many quests offer hefty XP rewards for completing them and may offer bonuses for completing them in certain ways. It is extremely difficult to reach the game’s level cap if you’re skipping side quests.

If you do not want to follow the walkthrough as you play, but instead want to consult it only for information on specific quests, then turn to the index. Search for the quest’s in-game title to find out which page of the walkthrough begins covering it. For complex quests like The Assassins of Kings that can be progressed in each chapter, you may use the index to find where coverage for what you do for that quest in a specific chapter begins.

When it comes to making decisions that affect individual quests, you need to be careful. It is possible to refuse or fail many quests by saying the wrong thing. There are even situations where you can die in a cutscene if you say the wrong thing. The walkthrough tracks all of these instances on a quest-by-quest basis. Each version of each chapter offers a suggested order for completing quests, which you can follow by simply playing along with the way the section is written. In addition, a player who wants to play mostly “blind” and consult the walkthrough only when stuck on a quest can do so. Simply use the index listed at the back of the book to look up which page of the walkthrough describes the quest you’re currently engaged in. All quests are indexed by their in-game title.

The guide also notes other things story-oriented players can do to get extra information about the setting, usually by obtaining certain books or speaking with certain NPCs.

Difficulty Level

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition on Xbox 360 offers four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Dark. The PC version of the game contains an unusual additional difficulty level, Insane (see sidebar). This walkthrough was written on Normal difficulty, but it can also be used on Easy and Hard difficulties. Simply keep in mind that enemy placement and behavior may differ slightly on Easy and Hard. Also, all quick-time event (QTE) sequences are removed on Easy difficulty. Players who wish to play on Dark difficulty are advised to read the “Dark Mode” section. Note that Dark difficulty is not intended for a player who is going through the game for the first time.

Enemy strategies provided in the walkthrough are general, as factors like difficulty level and character build can have a profound effect on which strategies work best in a given game. Especially on lower difficulties, every enemy encounter can be handled in a variety of ways. Even on Hard difficulty, combinations of items and skills may work very well for you that wouldn’t work well for the average player or for other Geralt builds. Consult the “How to Build a Witcher” section for more information about developing Geralt.

Achievements

For players concerned with racking up Gamerscore in The Witcher 2, the walkthrough provides information on where you can easily nab certain achievements. The “Achievements Guide” section provides a complete list of achievements.