2011 Platinum Chalice Game of the Year nominees: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

GamesRadar’s Platinum Chalice awards begins this Friday, so to stoke anticipation for the occasion we’re revealing one of our five Game of the Year nominees each day this week. Be sure to check out the videos for the previous days’ nominees, Portal 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The Chalices will be posted on Friday afternoon (Pacific time), after which we’ll reveal a video of our winner.

While Portal and Zelda are obvious contenders, a slightly less likely candidate, especially for the many gamers that don’t play on their PCs, is The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. We had a feeling the second Witcher would be amazing, since we loved the original, but we didn’t expect to be so mesmerized by some of the most witty, mature writing we’ve seen in gaming, combined with possibly the most detailed graphics ever conceived, and a world and story filled with layers and complexities and political intrigue.

Is The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings your favorite game of the year? Are you a PC elitist or hater? Let us know in the comments, and keep an eye out all week for the rest of the Platinum Chalice nominees.

Matthew Keast
My new approach to play all games on Hard mode straight off the bat has proven satisfying. Sure there is some frustration, but I've decided it's the lesser of two evils when weighed against the boredom of easiness that Normal difficulty has become in the era of casual gaming.