The Enhanced Edition of the Witcher 2 is out today. The patch adds 10GB of new cinematics, quests, tweaks and balance fixes to add another layer of polish, and to address players' biggest criticisms of the game. I sat down with level designer Ziemak Marek to ask him about the Enhanced Edition updates, but first I had to know, is this the last update for The Witcher 2? Is it finally finished?
"It's finally finished!" he laughed. "We're really happy with it."
So, no more updates at all? "Nothing I can really comment about," he said. "right now we feel that this is the most polished and refined version of The Witcher 2. I don't think there's going to be a need to change something. I think this time we improved everything we wanted to."
Marek explained that the additions made by the Enhanced Edition are targeted at addressing players' biggest complaints, namely that the third act didn't quite deliver on the promise of the first two.
"That is the feedback we often had from the people, that act three is not as big and satisfying," said Marek. "People were expecting more from the game, so we definitely wanted to address that through making new cutscenes, a new outro movie, adding new adventures, to improve the experience at the very end of the game, because it's a very important part of the game."
Feedback from players and reviewers has formed an important part of all the changes that CD Projekt have made to The Witcher 2 over the course of the last year. "If you're the type of fan whos brave enough to write a mail and have suggestions and know what can be done in a different way, then that's totally great," he said, "because you as a fan or a journalist share your experience with us, and we know how to improve the game. We get a lesson for the future."
Marek wouldn't be drawn any further on what the future will hold for CD Projekt RED, but it's been a good year for the developers. We learned in February that The Witcher 2 sold more than a million copies in 2011. They'll no doubt shift a few more units on PC with the release of the Enhanced Edition, and still more on the consoles. If you have a copy of The Witcher 2, it should update to the Enhanced Edition automatically through the game's launcher, if not, grab it from The Witcher 2 site .
