The Warhorse Studios have great confidence in the quality of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. How can you tell? The test accesses were available weeks ago. MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz and MeinMMO author Johanna Heuck reveal how much fun the renewed trip to medieval Bohemia has been.
For the record: I thought Kingdom Come Deliverance was really good already in 2018. Despite the slow start and all the rough edges, bugs, technical glitches, and potential frustration points, the first trip to medieval Bohemia is one of the most fascinating gaming experiences of the past decade for me.
Warhorse’s first project simply has a lot of heart and soul. The mix of role-playing game and medieval simulation works really well. And if you can deal with the cumbersome, challenging systems, all genre fans can expect an immensely satisfying and fascinating adventure that clearly stands out from the uniform AAA productions of other developers.
Recently, for example, Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and Drova rotated on his hard drives again. He spent almost 60 hours with Kingdom Come Deliverance at its release. With Part 2, it has now become significantly more hours.
You can check out the amusing CGI trailer for the launch of KCD2 here:
What do I need to know about Kingdom Come Deliverance 2? If you haven’t played the first part and haven’t heard much about the sequel, here are the basics: KCD2 is a single-player role-playing game in which you control the blacksmith’s son Heinrich from the first-person perspective through medieval Bohemia of the 15th century.
The medieval RPG offers a strong story focus, but also an open world where all residents have a realistic daily routine – similar to, for example, the role-playing series from Piranha Bytes (Gothic, Risen, Elex). You can expect quests, convincingly re-enacted activities like alchemy and blacksmithing, horse racing, dice games, and much more.
However, the medieval simulation encompasses not only the game world but also the main character Heinrich. He needs to eat, wash, sleep, take care of his armor, and improve learned skills through constant practice. Through his decisions and appearance, he gains or loses reputation and sometimes influences the fate of residents in the game world.
Tangible progress in Kingdom Come Deliverance
As for the second part, my anticipation was, of course, high, also because I desperately wanted to know how the authors would continue all the open narrative threads from the first part. At the same time, I hoped that the sequel, despite its larger scope, would be released with significantly more polish.
I can say this: KCD2 still has rough edges, bugs, and little issues – such as the AI of the NPCs, which sometimes reacts incomprehensibly to Heinrich or can be easily outsmarted in combat – but these rarely disturbed my gaming experience to the point where they were almost negligible (aside from the increasingly longer loading times). It was quite different with Part 1.
However, there is also progress in the actual content and systems compared to the first Kingdom Come Deliverance. The developers have found solutions to criticisms about, for example, the save system or the combat, without trivializing everything.
Part 2 also looks great; the in-game sequences are often strongly staged, the scope has nearly doubled, the entry is significantly less sluggish, and it’s usually very enjoyable to listen to the voiced dialogues (mostly because some voices of side characters fall short in quality).
The legacy of Gothic
Speaking of dialogues: They are also fun because they are credibly written. When you talk to people from the working class or the poor district, you might think you’re back in the infamous Minental from the first Gothic – curses and flying fists included.
Another parallel to the best RPG series from Germany: If you enter private property, get into the wrong bed, or even just look at someone else’s belongings askew under the gaze of the owner, the fun ends. If you do not seek to escape, you’ll catch slaps in the face. If Heinrich even pulls out a weapon in the heat of battle, he’ll have half the city guard on his back.
And at least in the first few gaming hours, the open world is for Heinrich just as dangerous as the Minental was for the nameless hero in 2001: Take a wrong turn, and you’ll fall into a trap set by a group of bandits that will wipe the dirty floor with poorly equipped leisure heroes.
Continue on page 2 with the open world, Johanna’s assessment, and reasons why Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 might not be for you despite all its strengths.
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