Like Diablo 2, Steel Battalion, and a handful of other games before it, dying while playing The Witcher 2's "Insane" difficulty will permanently kill your character. Kanik explains that players will be able to save their adventure, but if they die that Witcher career will no longer be available for reload.

Hardcore? Absolutely; however, the dev does plan on adding a "resurrection scroll; maybe DLC or something." Players can expect an achievement to be tied to completing the game's most unforgiving setting.

According to Kanik, the decision comes from the team's admiration for Demon's Souls--known for its brutal difficulty, which puts those who completed it in an elite class of people we'd want by our side when we venture into demonic regions, like the snowy tundra of Northern Canada.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings launches on the PC in May 2011.