This hand-to-hand melee fight was actually a quick time event, which made me wonder if all of the weaponless melee combat would be like that. Thankfully, the guys from CD Projekt RED assured me that even though there are QTEs in certain sections of the game, they only added them where it fits and to spice the game up a little. It's just there as something on top of the main combat system, to give certain encounters that extra little "Ok, Geralt is pretty damn awesome" touch. Although I'm not the biggest fan of QTEs, I have to admit that it did look pretty sweet to me as a bystander.
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Having escaped from his cell, Geralt has to make his way out of the prison. This is where the non-linearity and player choice comes into play. Do you just go on a rampage, killing every guard in sight? Or do you take the stealthy approach, extinguishing torches to create darkness and then breaking necks from behind? Geralt's magic medallion allows him to see enemies in the dark  with a glow and also highlights things like water, which creates noise if you walk through it.
If that sounds a bit too stealthy for you, don't worry. The stealth aspect won't be something you can do in the whole game. Although certain sections will allow you to take the stealthy approach, this isn't a core mechanic where you choose between straight-up action and stealth gameplay for the whole game. Because the stealthy approach is harder, you will get more XP by taking it.
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Even though we only got a taste of The Witcher 2 in alpha form, I have to say that this is definitely something to keep your eye on. If you played the first game then you already knew that, but feel confident that so far it looks like everything you probably want from the sequel. The combat seemed smooth and refined over the original. The fact that the developers shrug off things like QTEs and stealth as "just little things we added to make it more fun" only adds to the confidence that at the core, they already have a solid game in their hands.
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