I have both, and am finally able to start playing, but i'm curious if the game is sandbox in nature or if its like dragon age? Personally i hope its more like the Elder Scroll Series.

Thanks for any feedback / comments.

The Witcher 1 & 2 are not sandbox games. They're closer to Dragon Age than Elder Scrolls, but still really not that similar.

Each Chapter is a new map/set of maps that does not allow return to the maps of previous Chapters, although within each Chapter some wandering and non-linear exploration is allowed. The reason here is the that the story is first and foremost.

This also means you're playing a predefined character already - Geralt the Witcher. You won't be making an archmage or an armored paladin.

Thanks for the feedback. Character development is not a problem. I just really like it when i feel like i can do whatever I want with character. I hate linear RPGs.

That said I've read all of the Witcher books, and found them to be seriously great. IMO way better than game of thrones. I'll give game 2 a try at least because i pre-ordered III. (The books are seriously that good.)

One more thing: I have to admit that the following statement on the Witcher III pre-order page made pull the trigger a couple of days ago:

"A huge and limitless open world yours to explore freely"

A game world as rich in details needs to be closer to the sandbox experience than to the linear side. Looking forward to it big time.

I guess it depends on what you mean by linear. The story itself has several branching points, a major one in TW2's Chapter 1 in particular changes the entire rest of the game depending on how you choose. The games are defined by choice and consequence. So if you're talking about doing anything in terms of the story, you have a ton of choices and options.

If you're talking about doing anything in terms of getting a house and decorating it with stuff or whatever people do in sandbox games, then the Witcher games don't offer that.

I think you'll find that despite the smaller maps of the Witcher games, they are much richer in detail and feel more real and alive than anything in the Elder Scrolls games.

TW3 promises the open world as you noted, so hopefully combined with the attention to detail and authenticity of the previous games, the third installment will be the ultimate open world story-driven RPG.

It's not THAT linear - the main quests have to be done to progress the story to one of three locations [excluding the intro] (you visit all three by the end) - but you can do side-quests and other stuff in any order in these locations.

Answering your thread title question: no, The Witcher 2 is most definitely not a sandbox RPG. It's not linear, as well, but it's far from being a sandbox game.

What's great about The Witcher games is their high replay value via a huge multitude of story choices and consequences, no two playthroughs of the games are the same. And since the consequences of your choices come later in the game (often during later chapters), it prevents you from the usual save scumming associated with RPGs, when you want to achieve a certain outcome, immediately, and keep reloading saves until you get it right. This is almost impossible to do in both The Witcher games that are out now, at least regarding some of the big, ambiguous moral and plot decisions you have to make (sometimes even choices you've made that you thought were of no huge consequence will influence the development of your personal Geralt's story).

If you're looking for Skyrim, well, stick with Skyrim, The Witcher 2 is nothing like it and, to be honest, I'm glad it's not. Maybe you'll get luckier with The Witcher 3, at least it's open-world, though I'm not so sure about the sandbox part of it, as CD Projekt RED has stated they plan on keeping with their highly acclaimed stapled story and character development of previous titles, and that kind of clashes with the notion of a "full" sandbox game.