Witcher 2 Xbox easy difficulty is easier

Witcher 2 developer CD Projekt Red will make the Xbox 360 version's easy difficulty setting easier than the PC version's.

The mature role-playing game launched last month to critical acclaim, but some reviewers raised concerns about its brutal learning curve.

The game starts out tough before becoming more manageable later on. Specifically, some have pointed to the game's prologue as being too hard.

But the Xbox 360 version, due out later this year, will make things "smoother".

"We definitely do want to tweak parts of the difficulty elements of the game," senior producer Tomasz Gop told Eurogamer. "Definitely we are thinking about the easy mode. It should be easy.

"Due to the feedback we had, we already have done some tweaks for the balancing of the game, especially the prologue of the game. And there will be more. We are working on that already. But that's for the PC.

"That's going to be included in the box of The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 and also things that will be done exclusively for the Xbox 360 version to make sure it's a native console game. Tons of stuff.

"Controlling with mouse and keyboard, these are considered to be the king of controllers for the PC. For the console it's going to be a pad. So it requires smoothing out. We will do it. We have that in plan, that's why we're speaking about adaptation, not a simple port."

Gop moved to reassure fans that, on settings other than easy, the Xbox 360 version will still present as tough a challenge as the PC version.

"It's going to be hardcore without any doubt, on higher difficulty settings," he said. "You know what you're asking for.

"But on the easy difficulty setting it might be slightly smoother than the one we have for the PC. It's a good thing, to give both kinds of player, casual and hardcore, the same kind of experience. We do want to make it accessible."