Choices and Consequences that Matter
Three opening scenarios multiply out to a full 16 different endings. That kind of scope is staggering, when you stop and consider the potential routes necessary to bridge you from one point to another through the game world. In fact, during our presentation, we were privy to the entire game schematic – a tangled mass of plot points, missions and interconnected events and scenes that looked more akin to a circuit board wireframe than anything.

In practice, The Witcher 2 really does build on the first game's impressive choice/consequence backbone. Characters live and die by your decisions and entire missions become available or are never seen depending on your stance.

In one example, the non-linear nature of the game allowed the developer to demonstrate two entirely different paths and radically different outcomes for the same area. Geralt, imprisoned and tortured in an underground dungeon, must escape. However, depending on whether or not you decide to play the game using stealth (and whether you were merciful to a particular character earlier on), you'll take two very different paths through the sprawling dungeon –and encounter entirely separate plot-developing side-characters and quests. With intricately written scenarios like this, we're guessing a few replays are going to be very much warranted. Roll on, 2011.
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