Kingdom Come: Deliverance

[Antimatter]

A sequel has been announced and will become available later this year. Feeling inspired, I've returned to the first game, which is a flawed masterpiece. When Kingdome Come: Deliverance released, it got a lukewarm reaction. But with time, bugs were squashed, optimization improved, and more and more players kept discovering its deep RPG systems, which could be compared to Morrowind and Oblivion. A medieval first-person RPG focused on immersion, narration, and realistic sword combat. Unique Czech countryside surroundings. I'm playing with the Czech VO for a more authentic experience.

Here are a few screenshots from pre-rendered cutscenes. They express the vibe of this game.

Below are a few screenshots I took using Nvidia Ansel (this allows you to look at the character from the third-person perspective):

The intro & prologue sections take around 4-7 hours depending on how detailed you want to be in exploration (e.g. would you want to pick all possible locks and get some starting money and relatively solid beginner's equipment, or just complete quests). The game is not hand-holding you much even during the prologue.

 

[Antimatter]

The most reliable way to start this game is to gather enough money to buy your first horse. There is a horse trader in Neuhof, the village not far away from Rattai (your "main base"), and the cheapest horse there costs 1k gold (+/- your negotiation skills).

So my task was to gather this initial sum (I managed to sell some jewelry I found in bird nests and all the junk I had from the prologue, plus I played dice games at taverns; sneaking around and stealing everything unprotected also was profitable) and get the horse. Investing in Boxer (that's his name) was worth it as the horse allows you to carry a lot of extra weight (Boxer can carry 212 kgs, while my main character can only carry 78 kgs without getting over-encumbered). This extra weight immediately means you can loot everything and put it on your horse, and then quickly travel to the merchant you need to sell that loot to. In 10 mins after getting Boxer, I already had 200 Groschen coins (so around 1/5 of the horse's value). While over-encumbered, you can't run, you can't jump, you can't fast-travel (even while I don't use fast-traveling). Now with the horse, I can do all that, and quicker (and fast-traveling is more harm than good in the beginning as actually running around, or using your horse improves your skills and stats, and also can reveal a lot of secret spots/hidden treasure).

My character's leading skills, so far, are Stealth and Lockpicking (quite telling), and his main trait is Charisma (it can work even on guards, especially if you take the Commoner perk to increase Charisma checks chances).

 

[Antimatter]

Neuhof's horse trader also sold saddlebags. Getting the best one cost another 1.3k Groschen coins, and the horse's carrying capacity increased to 412 kgs. This is basically enough to play without the problems of becoming over-encumbered even if you gather everything. Henry must sleep at night, so he returns to his bed every day, and the horse allows him to increase capital quickly.

After sorting out carrying capacity, Henry could start adventuring fully, trying hunting animals and searching for bandits for the first time. Honestly, these (along with gathering herbs) are activities this game is known for, they are fun, and the way the perk system works (the further you advance in skills, the more appropriate perks you gain), these activities are the core of getting successful at the game. The feel of getting your first hare kill is unmatched.

In the screenshot above, you might notice silhouettes of people in the background. Those were the first bandits Harry defeated.

 

[Antimatter]

Yeah, the more I play, the more I see that approaching this game as a sandbox and not forcing the main quest is a safe way to level up the character, get equipment, perks, and just become better at the game as the player.

When I first played K:CD, I wanted to see the story out, so that is why at this point of the game I pursued some story quests that had difficult combat (and nasty ambushes on the way to them). If, however, you relax a bit and just naturally do what you feel like doing, the game becomes more pleasant and your character development becomes more steady.

Here is Henry learning to read, even Latin:

There is no book so bad, that it is not in any part useful.

Now when Henry can read books, he can train skills just by reading books every evening. And training skills means being able to use better weapons.

What I like about K:CD is how truthful all armor looks, and also I enjoy how different parts of the armor are called (and it's neat to read in-game descriptions for this or that item).

The game uses a 20-slot armor system! Not 6, not 10, but 20! This realism is very much appreciated.

Here is Henry visiting Talmberg, a town he just recently fled to as a wounded nobody. The progress is significant.

 

[Skatan]

I love the layers on layers system they use for armor. Having a game actually take historical accuracy at its core is amazing. The funny thing is that to me, as a light-hearted hobby historian, this system is way more cool both aesthetically and game-play wise than any fantasy creation in any other game. Ever. Real armor looks so much better and cooler than the generic tropey stuff I see in most games. I guess I am in a very small minority of players here though who prefer this style.

 

[Antimatter]

(I had to pause the run due to my vacation)

KCD:2 slipped to 2025, but at least we'll be looking at the new gameplay trailer at Gamescom very soon.

 

[Antimatter]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a strange mixture of historical drama and The Hangover

Lads, larks and lots of medieval history.

www.pcgamer.com

Very promising!

 

[Skatan]

I rewatched the trailer a second time and some things I felt after watching (just some rambling if anyone wanna discuss, heh):

It looks quite similar to KCD1, ie not much more beautiful. At first glance it looks like it's the same graphics etc, although Antimatter mentioned smoother movements. It's been too long since I played KCD1 to identify that myself. I played KCD on an older computer with lower graphics settings, but still thought it was a very beautiful world to walk around in. My favorite past time was to dress light and go into the forests hunting, just my Henry, a bow and the scenery.

The fighting is hard to assess from the trailer as it feels like they use a controller. The movements are either scripted or a controller as they seem to smooth compared to mouse and keyboard. I had hoped they would have improved the impact of slashes on people. I loved their take on fighting, making it much more realistic than other games, but in KCD2 I see they still have no actual slashing impact from swords. The sound and kinetic impact effects from a full-blown slash from a longsword should be stronger than what we see here. With proper edge alignment and power, the slash can go through fabric "armor" and cut flesh. It's a bit PG13 still, I would have much preferred even more realism, faster kills and less RPG/Health pool aspects of non-armoured combat. The shield breaking outside the alchemist fight looked just plain bad. Shields don't explode and disappear. Again, would have loved an even deeper realism here too. But I'm nitpicking, since overall the combat in KCD was superior to any other game ever made and I'm sure KCD2 will be as well.

I am curious to how they will implement the RPG aspect of Henry in KCD1 vs KCD2 w.r.t. skills and levels. What is the canon Henry that will be moved into 2? My Henry was a ninja killing machine, marksman and expert tailor but shit at alchemy/herbalism etc. Will we get a point buy to remake our Henry at the start of the game or import a save? I am assuming, and hoping for, the latter. But that also makes us very strong from the start of the game, so then how to make the game interesting there and enable further leveling of skills etc? Looking forward to learning more about this later.