Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – A Sequel Worthy of a Knight

Ever had the urge to move to a remote village where no one really knows you, and to become a blacksmith or an alchemist while fighting bandits and finding yourself influencing who the next king will be? If you did, you are in luck because Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has been out for a while and is a fantastic game. Even if you have no such urges like normal people, I am sure there is much more the game can offer to you. A quick disclaimer though: when I’m writing this article, I’ve only been playing the game for 30 hours. So you can look at this review as a “first impressions” kind of review.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a story-driven open-world RPG where you play as Henry of Skalitz, a blacksmith and the loyal bodyguard and adviser of Sir Hans Capon, Future Lord of Rattay. You are tasked to deliver a message to Lord Otto von Bergow. However, during this journey, things do not go as planned, and we find ourselves in a real predicament. In essence, KCD II is a game where you try to survive the harsh environment of 15^th-century Europe. No matter what you do, there is always a stronger presence than you, and you have to maneuver the intricate politics of a heavily divided Central Europe of the time. The story of the game is massive, as after playing for 30 hours, I am still in the first act. There is no shortage of quests to do, as we are presented with hundreds of side quests, most of which are also capable of influencing the main story in some capacity. These quests are placed naturally in the open world.

One of the biggest strengths of the game is its open world. The open world feels vast and always alive. Wherever you go, there is always something to do. If you go to dense forests, you can hunt or forage. When you go to little villages, there are people there who give you elaborate side quests. The NPCs do not feel like they exist; almost every NPC in the game has a routine. Even sitting and observing the NPCs is fun in itself because they interact with other NPCs and go through their daily duties. They also have great memories. If you try and rob someone (or steal from a house), if you are seen going into the room that you are stealing from or near the person that you are stealing from, the NPCs connect the dots and turn you in. If you keep being a nuisance for the village folk, they will refuse to talk to you or serve you, which effectively locks you out from that region for a while. Small details like these are just the beginning of what makes the world of KCD II alive.

The combat system and progression system are also fairly well-tailored but lacking in some aspects. There are many weapons to choose from, from swords to polearms to picks. Many of the medieval weapons are present in the game. You can even use handguns, which were just becoming prevalent in Medieval Europe right about when KCD II takes place. However, even though they are very effective, they are very primitive. There are some obviously better weapons in the game. Longswords and swords are immensely better than any other weapons you can use, so it makes the combat system a bit worse-tuned than other systems in the game. After you learn some combo moves from different trainers and upgrade your skills, the combat system becomes somehow trivial as well, as you can mostly use your newly learned skills to win easily against most opponents. So, it can be said that the combat system can benefit from minor tweaks so that other strategies can also be viable.

The skill progression feels very natural because the more you practice your skills in the world, the faster you level them up. As you level your skills up, you become a better combatant, a better alchemist, a better thief, and a better polemician. The system does not feel grindy, however, you hit max level on most of your skills before coming close to actually finishing the game. This makes it feel like your progression comes to a halt after a certain point in the game. Adding more skill levels and skill perks might make this less of a problem in the near future.

Overall, KCD II is one of the best games I’ve played in the last ten years. It has an amazing storyline, phenomenal voice acting, extremely fun core gameplay, and the most alive open world I’ve seen in a game. If you like the medieval aesthetic and knight romances, you should definitely give Kingdom Come: Deliverance II a chance.

Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: Warhorse Studios
Platforms:  Microsoft Windows and Mac OS
Release Date: 04 February 2025
Genres: RPG, Medieval, Open World
PEGI: 17+

The featured image and the second screenshot were taken from Warhorse Studios’ official wallpaper pack: https://press.warhorsestudios.cz/kingdom-come-deliverance-2/gallery/

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