Dark, muscular orchestral scoring with Eastern European folk elements that hit way harder than people remember. The Witcher 2 soundtrack from 2011 set the template that Witcher 3 would later perfect, and going back to it now is kind of staggering.
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"Assassins of Kings" opens with this aggressive intensity that tells you immediately this isn't a gentle fantasy game. "Dwarven Stone upon Dwarven Stone" has weight and grit baked into every percussive hit. "The Wild Hunt" is genuinely unsettling, all spectral choir and tension.
Then "Vergen by Night" and "A Quiet Corner" give you these moments of stillness that make the combat tracks land even harder. "Howl of the White Wolf" is just Geralt's whole identity in one track. If you played Witcher 3 but skipped 2, this soundtrack alone will make you go back.