Yeah, the game just assumes you've played the first one and there isn't a great introduction to the gameplay mechanics -but this shouldn't deter you because you can work it all out fairly quickly and if you missed the fairly quick tutorial screens, everything is in your journal.
I played a bit of the first game but it was one of those beasts that I never tamed - and so going into 'The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings', you may need to do a bit of catching up. The Witcher was a game based on a series of books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski (And-reej Sap-kov-ski), and followed the story of Geralt of Rivia - one of the few remaining 'witchers' - who are kind of superhuman monster-hunters with cat-like eyes.
