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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition has recently become available for Linux and I'm happy to report that it plays well. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is an action, role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt RED and published by Warner Bros. (Note that only the Enhanced Edition is published by Warner Brothers). The game was originally released in May 2011 for Microsoft Windows, with a follow-up release in 2012 for Xbox 360. Although it was released for Linux early in Summer 2014, it wasn't until mid-August that I was able to play it without any crashes or glitches on my Ubuntu desktop. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is undeniably one of the best additions to the rapidly growing Linux video game library.
When I found out that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition had become available for Linux, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I immediately went to the Steam Store to buy the game, but I first looked up the Minimum and Recommended System Requirements for the game before making the purchase. Not to my surprise, I found out that my graphics card was not listed. In fact, only Nvidia graphics cards were listed; no AMD or Intel graphics cards were supported. According to the System Requirements at the time, you needed to have a GeForce 9800 GT 512MB or better AND it specifically said:
We recommend the following drivers: • nVidia - nvidia binary driver 331.79 or later • MESA based drivers (e.g. “nouveau”) are not currently supported. • Intel integrated graphics are not currently supported.
What a bummer! Even though I had a more than capable graphics card, I wasn't able to play the game. After continuously checking on the Steam Forums and The Witcher 2 Steam Store page, three weeks later I finally saw that other Linux gamers had been successful in playing The Witcher 2 with AMD graphics cards. I went through the trouble of installing AMD's Catalyst 14.2 Beta graphics driver from AMD's website and successfully played the game on my computer. Apparently, AMD acknowledges that there is a substantial enough amount of Linux users to maintain Linux drivers as current as Windows and Mac drivers. Things are definitely changing for the better in the Linux gaming world and it is affecting desktop Linux as a whole.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition was well worth the hassle and the wait. As soon as I started playing the game I was instantly hooked. The main character, Geralt of Rivia, an undead mutant, is the title's witcher, who uses swords and sorcery as part of his combat repertoire. The game-play is very smooth from the beginning and improves as the game progresses. The graphics are phenomenal throughout the game but especially stunning during the cinematic cut-scenes. Often, while being absolutely captivated by the striking animation and the intricacies of the plot-line, you are suddenly thrown into intense combat situations which require quick reflexes in order to stay alive. The storyline, rich in magic, politics, romance, revenge and fantasy, is a little hard to follow at first but it doesn't take long for it to start making sense as the game gets going. As an RPG, the story takes different paths depending on your decisions made while in dialogue with other characters. The voice-acting dialogue is superb and accordingly fits the wide variety of characters you encounter in the game. The character development portion of the game is not to be taken lightly as it has a very direct effect on game-play and each point should be spent on abilities that will enhance your playing style. Perhaps my only complaint about this game is the ridiculously short and seemingly incomplete tutorial at the beginning of the game. It seems like you have just started playing the game when the tutorial ends and you are left to play the game with less than 25% of knowledge of your full capabilities. Saying that The Witcher 2 has a steep learning curve at the beginning is an understatement. I had to re-play the tutorial a couple of times before realizing that I'd be better off looking for help elsewhere, like for example ign.com. I first played using my keyboard/mouse because I couldn't get my Razer gamepad controller to work; besides, the game was originally released for PC and later for the Xbox360 game console, so using the keyboard/mouse is how it was meant to be played. After looking for help in the Steam forums, I was able to get my controller to work for this game. In the process, I noticed the high level of commitment given to the game's Linux port as evidenced by one of the developer's efforts to get my controller to work.
Minimum System Requirements: • OS: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Steam OS • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo • Memory: 4 GB RAM • Graphics: GeForce 9800 GT 512MB (1280×720, low) • Hard Drive: 25 GB HD space
My Gaming Setup
I played The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition with my custom made desktop PC consisting of an AMD FX-6100 3.3GHz CPU, an Asus M5A97-EVO motherboard, a Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, 8GB of Kingston Hyper X RAM, and a 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive. The software used was Ubuntu 14.04 LTS with Unity and AMD 14.2 Beta Catalyst proprietary graphics driver.
Conclusion
Pro's • Stunning detail, deeply textured scenery, amazing cinematic cut-scenes make the graphics in this game some of the best I've ever seen for any game. • Multi-accented voice-acting breathes life into each of the many diverse characters. • Politically intriguing plot with shades of magic and a touch of romance teleports you into a medieval fantasy that keeps you at the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. • The role-playing genre is taken to new heights with The Witcher 2's radically different consequences highly dependent on your choices. • Easy to navigate, once you get the hang of it, whether you use keyboard/mouse or a controller gamepad.
Con's • Tutorial is much too short and may as well not even exist for all it teaches you. • Proprietary graphics drivers REQUIRED to play this game.
All in all, this is one of the best games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. If you don't mind using proprietary graphics drivers in your system and you're into action-adventure, role-playing games, then spend the $19.98 that Steam is asking for this game.